I have had a number of people ask me what they should do with their old laptops once they are done with them. Most of the people don’t really want to get rid of their old machine, but if they knew some other way to use it or give it a new purpose, they would be willing to keep it. So here are five great ideas on what you can do with your old laptop.
- Give it to your Child
I know this might be an obvious one, but chances are that your child will be thrilled to have a computer of their own. Unless they are heavily into games, an old laptop will work perfectly for their school work and Internet browsing, though the battery may not be useful anymore.
- Use it as a Home File Server
Even though the hard drive space that you will find on an old laptop isn’t usually too large, they still make a good machine to use as a home file server. You can store your pictures, music and movies on them and have everything stored in one central location. The best part is that they use little power, so it is good for the environment and your power bill.
- Use it as a Media Player
Having an old laptop kicking around is a great way to bring your living room into the 21st century. The notebook can be connected to your television and can be used as a DVD player, movie player, picture viewer and even radio (via Internet radio) and can replace a number of devices in your living room, making it less cluttered.
- Use it as a Television
With the addition of a simple USB TV Tuner card (for as little as $30), you can turn your laptop into a television. This can be a handy as it can be used in such places as the kitchen or in your workout room, or other places where you don’t quite have the room. Also, since it is portable, you can take it with you anywhere in your home, which in itself is pretty convenient.
- Automate your Home
Another often overlooked use of an old notebook would be to use it to automate your home via X10 devices. These devices can be used to control every aspect of your home and definitely bring it into the 21st century.
Even though these are only five uses for an old laptop, it is a start. So, instead of throwing it out, reuse your faithful laptop as it will be useful for years to come.
I don't want to sound all foreboding here, but I would suggest to everyone to have an up to date backup of all the important information on your laptop. Learn from my mistakes and don't go through what I did over the weekend.
You see, things were going great on Saturday, I got a lot of work done and I felt good with myself. It was hot outside and so inside my home it was hot, but I thought nothing much of it. Sure, the laptop was whining a little more than usual, but it is an older one, so it didn't bother me much.
I woke up on Sunday and while I was sitting at the computer, it froze and made a weird noise and I shut it off. I left to run some errands and didn't come back until later at night.
When I came home and turned it on, I was in for a surprise - the hard drive was dead. I fiddled with it for about an hour, and tried to find everything that I could on how to fix it, but I was unsuccessful.
I had to wait until Monday to go to the computer store and get a new hard drive, and then I began the arduous task of reinstalling Windows and all my software. I didn't realize how much of a pickle that I was in until I went to restore the information from my external hard drive.
It had been three months since my last backup.
Great. Now, I was kicking myself because I run my business off of the notebook, and honestly I would never know what I had lost.
What I learned from this experience is that I need to do a backup at least once per week and I have picked Friday that I will hookup my external drive to my notebook to back it up. I am also looking into online backup solutions, and I might do a post on them later.
Just remember: backup your laptop!
It seems everyday I get a lot of questions regarding what you can hook up to your laptop. What people don't understand that a notebook or laptop is just a smaller version of a desktop computer. You can hook up a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and printer to it just like a regular computer. Today I will talk about the ways you can hook up a printer to your laptop.
Direct Connection
You can hook your printer up directly with a USB or a parallel printer cable (if you have an older laptop and printer). This can be handy if your notebook doesn't really ever leave the desk and is used as a desktop replacement. It also is the most secure method as no one should be able to intercept your documents on their way to the printer.
Wired Network
If you have a network at your home or office and have a printer that is network capable you can use a network printer. Basically, the printer hooks up to your network with a network cable just like other computers on your network. You can also just share a printer that is attached to a computer in the network allowing other computers to print to it. The catch is you have to have the computer that is attached to the printer turned on. Wired networking is definitely a cheaper option if you have more than one computer at your location.
Wireless Connection
If you have an existing wireless network in your home and have a wireless printer, you can setup your printer to print from anywhere in your home or business. Sit on the deck, or in the board room and you can print without the messiness of wires in your way. Be aware that a wireless connection is never 100% secure, so you may want to wait till you can hook up with a wire to your printer to print documents that require some discretion.
It seems that everyday, I talk to people interested in purchasing laptops. Well, I guess that was obvious, being that I am an electronic salesperson. The biggest problem I run into is that most people don't know what to buy, or what they need in terms of a laptop.
Basically everyone I talk to has to decide what the main purpose of their laptop purpose will be: business or pleasure. The reason I make this comparison, is that there is some difference between a computer that can handle working on writing a paper for school and one that can allow you to play cutting edge games. Sure, the game playing computer can do work as well, but the business machine may not be able to play the games you want to.
Don't get too fixated on price. I have had a lot of customers buy the cheaper computer only to return it a few days later because it doesn't do what they need it to do. If the computer you need costs $600 more than a cheaper one, consider this: that works out to a little more than fifty cents per day if you keep it for three years. Don't let the $0.50 per day hold you back - you just might regret it.
Most people go shopping for the machine based on the hardware specifications of the computer. Some examples are the processor speed, memory, harddrive, etc. But in your search for a new laptop, have you considered what kind of software comes with it? Probably not.
What you can expect on your new laptop (I am assuming you bought a machine with Windows on it - Linux and Mac based notebooks will be different) are the following:
- Some trial software for anti-virus and spyware. Some examples are Norton Internet Security and McAfee Internet Security. Typically they offer you a ninety day trial after which it costs $40-$50 to renew it for a year.
- CD and DVD burning software comes standard on most models. The only ones I have seen that don't come with anything in the last few months is Gateway. It is better to get some sort of burning software as opposed to the built in software in Windows.
- Microsoft Works come standard with most computers. The only one I have seen in stores that doesn't include it are Acer notebooks. If you are not familiar with Microsoft Works, it is the watered-down version of Microsoft Office.
- A sixty day trial of Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition. You can find Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and One Note (think of One Note as a doodle pad). You typically don't find Acer Notebooks with the trial included, but you can download it for free off the Internet.
- If your notebook has a webcam, you will find some webcam software included. HP for example, included muvee AutoProducer with their webcam equipped notebooks.
- If your notebook has a Light Scribe Drive (found on HP and Compaq) there is also Light Scribe labeling software included.
- You will also find other free software on there such as Adobe Reader.
It seems not too long ago, I wrote about laptop batteries and their lives. Based on the previous article, my laptop battery should be nearing less than 50% of it's capacity.
Well, I am sad to say I think it is closer to zero.
Just the other day, while out on a consulting job, I decided to show a client some examples of some websites in an effort to give them some ideas. Turning on my laptop, I booted up windows and was ready to show them the samples... and then...
"Battery low, change battery or plug in immediately"
Needless to say, I got about five minutes of power out of it.
That sucks.
So, off to find a replacement battery. I will let you all know what kind of prices and places I was able to find a replacement.
Till then,
Take care.
To be honest, most people wouldn't consider the amount of power there computers use, rather, just like appliances, most of us consider them to be a necessary cost of life. But I thought it would be interesting to know how much it costs me to have my laptop on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So I did a little experiment.
I went over to my local hardware store to purchase a energy meter. This device just plugs into any wall outlet an measures the amount of power that passes through it. You can also set the rate that you pay for each kWh (kilowatt hour) from your utility company to figure out the cost of running the device.
After setting up the program to run for a few days I came up with the following result:
My laptop uses an average of 30 watts per hour.
Now, with all the concern regarding greenhouse gas emissions, I went online to find some calculators to find out how much carbon dioxide is a result of me having my laptop on all the time.
Using my laptop results in about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year.
Feeling a little guilty (I am killing the world for my children) I checked into what I could do to offset these carbon emissions. I came across one site that stated that a tree can absorb about 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. So to make up for the carbon emissions my laptop generates, I would have to plant about eight trees.
In conclusion, I urge you to think about what effect you and your computer use has on the environment. Chances are in our lifetimes we won't have to deal with the consequences of our actions but our children will.
Customers expect that laptop computers and laptop accessories should be cheaper and available easily in third world countries’ computer markets - but the fact is that is not currently the reality. Among cheaper laptops acer laptops perform very well. Laptop accessories should be purchased keeping in view laptop compatibility. Customers should be well aware of laptop guideline uses for better performance of their machine.
I had the opportunity today to try out a laptop hooked up to a LCD TV with an HDMI cable. I used the same laptop as the last time (an HP notebook). This time I connected it to a Sharp Aquos 40" LCD TV valued at $1899 CDN.
Let me just say Wow. Even without installing the drivers for the display, it looked wonderful and it is amazing to see all the space available on the desktop.
I only ran into two problems. First, be sure to set the aspect ratio so that it is not stretching the display in any way. In the case of the Sharp, I set the aspect ratio to "Pixel for Pixel". Secondly, none of the desktop backgrounds from Windows Vista looked exceptionally great on the screen. This could be due to the fact that the wallpapers were not the correct resolution for the screen. Also, standing right in front of a screen this big, I would not expect it to look so good anyway's.
In conclusion: HDMI on a laptop works great provided the TV or monitor supports the resolution and you have the aspect ratio set properly.
I am sitting here blogging. I have been typing for two hours or so. And do you know what? My wrists hurt.
This is a sign I need to take a break. In fact, I should have taken a break a long time ago. You should take a break at least every half hour. If you don't, you run the risk of getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a painful, progressive condition related to the compression of a key nerve in the wrist. It can start simply as pain in the hands progressing to numbness, loss of strength and finally loss of function. Even though there is surgery available to reverse most cases, take a break every once in awhile - your wrists will thank you.
People tend to get really excited owning their first laptop. Their is definitely a sense of freedom when you can take your notebook wherever you go. Here is a list of some places you shouldn't take your notebook:
1. The beach
Sure it may seem like a good idea to take your laptop out with you while you catch some rays, but please reconsider. The sand at the beach is not good for the insides of your notebook and can damage it.
2. On your motor boat
Ok, sure it may be cool to take your GPS software out on the lake and mark those good fishing spots but water and laptops are not friends. There is definitely a good chance of the notebook getting wet, and a chance that it could fall in the lake.
3. The tub
Sure a good soak in the tub is great, but leave the laptop out of it; it has the same problem as the motor boat: water.
4. Winter camping
I suppose it would be ok to take it with you if winter in your part of the world is warm. Up here in Canada, the -40 degree Celsius is not so good for the laptop. Without proper warmth, the screen can freeze and crack.
5. Outside in your vehicle on a hot day
If it is hot outside and your laptop is going to be in your car, leave it in the trunk. Why? If you leave it in the passenger compartment, the heat inside could cause parts of your notebook to melt.
Computers rapid change into laptops is taking place all over the world in offices and homes. A major concern is the life of the laptop battery which matters a lot for the user. Some branded computer firms claim their batteries have a longer life - for example acer laptops. Every laptop has some typical feature which distinguishes it from the other; for example a toshiba laptop is very beautiful in shape and fully loaded with all accessories. The most important thing to do is to understand laptop guideline uses. A user must be well aware of stolen laptop guide for enhanced security of his machine. A problem apparent in third world countries’ computer markets is shortage of used laptop accessories.
