Never* Obsolete: Giving New Life to your Old Computer

Planned obsolescence is the at the center of the modern computer / technology industry. It has been for a long while, in fact.

When it comes to computers, the cost of staying on the cutting-edge adds up astronomically fast (both in terms of money and human life). But realistically, there's nothing keeping you from using older tech until it literally falls apart.

Well, not nothing of course. Modern life demands that we "upgrade" with relative frequency if we want to keep access to the software that lets us work, communicate with our loved ones, etc. But within every decade-old laptop is a world of opportunity. Here are just a few things you can do with your old Inspirion besides chuck it in the e-waste:

Preface:

Someone was going to have to break this to you, and I'm sorry that it has to be me... you're gonna have to install Linux. I know, I know.

The main issue with keeping Windows XP on that old hunk-a-junk is security. As long as a device with out-of-date software is connected to the internet, you put yourself at risk of leaking sensitive information, having passwords stolen, and potential legal trouble if you find yourself engaging in any dubious internet practices (wink wink).

Modern versions of Windows and macOS are really only build with cutting-edge hardware in mind. That being said, these day's it's incredibly easy to get Linux up and running on your computer. I would recommend Linux Mint or Kubuntu for folks familiar with Windows, and Ubuntu or Pop!_OS for folks who like the macOS user interface. If your computer is REALLY old and crotchety, try something like Puppy Linux or LXLE.

All of these can be set up with little to no experience. All you have to do is download an .ISO file from the relevant website, then write it to a USB flash drive using a tool like balenaEtcher. The only fiddly thing is that you may have to change some options in your computer's BIOS, which may require some online digging for instructions.

Now that you've got your Linux distro of choice up and running, you should have a snappy, good-as-new computer! Let's get into some fun you can have with it:

1) Normal-ass computer:

Probably the least interesting option, but definitely worth mentioning. Oftentimes, installing a lighter, modern operating system is really all you need to make an old laptop or desktop usable again for word processing, web browsing, watching movies, etc etc.

If you can't really afford a new computer but need one for college, work, etc, consider throwing Ubuntu on there and seeing if that doesn't solve most of your issues.

2) Home theater PC:

Old laptop + Wireless keyboard and mouse = Free Roku / Apple TV / Smart TV / Whatever!
If you can pick up a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse from a thrift store, as well as an HDMI cable (or VGA or DisplayPort or whatever is on your device), you can turn an old PC into a stuff-watching system that puts just about everything else to shame.

Simply plug the computer into your TV, and you're effectively done. You'll probably want to play around with screen resolutions and UI scaling in order to make it easy to use from a couch-type-distance, as well as disabling sleep mode on a laptop if you're using one (or at least disabling sleep mode when the lid is closed).

Bonus points if you learn how to pirate movies and shows, then you don't have to pay a cent for streaming services.

3.14) Pi-hole:

Pi-hole is a very cool program - a network-level ad blocker. What that means is you can set it up once, and as long as it's running, you won't get ads on any device connected to the network. That includes phones, tablets, game consoles, etc. It has a very simple installation process, and can be toggled and configured for specific sites and devices that may not take kindly to getting adblocked. Having no ads on your phone is LIFECHANGING!

4) Game console:

Get a gamepad (probably also from the thrift store), install Retroarch on the computer, and set it to open automatically on startup. Load the hard drive up with game roms that you got legally, and NOT from places like the r/roms megathread github! (wink wink) Pretty much any computer made in the last millennium should be capable of running retro systems up to and including the Playstation 1 and Nintendo 64. As a bonus, you can play some old / modern indie PC games on there as well by use of Wine (or the increasingly available native Linux ports)!

5) Game server:

This requires a little more technical know-how than other use cases, but typically an old computer running a modern Linux distro is more than sufficient to run a server for Minecraft, Quake III, whatever games you want to play with your friends. I've been hosting a Vintage Story server on a laptop from 2011 for the last few months, and it's working like a charm!

The fiddly bit is figuring out how to set up a static IP address and port-forwarding on your router, but a few hours of searching around should get you sorted on that. Server software is typically free for online games, and the price of paying for dedicated hosting can add up quick. Host your own at home!

6) Literally anything else:

It's a computer! You can do all kinds of stuff with it! The only thing you SHOULDN'T do is throw it out because there's something newer or shinier you could get instead.

Save some money and help cut down on the insane western consumption of conflict minerals by reusing your old junky tech!