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Breathe
New Life Into Your Old PC |
Can
you teach an old PC new tricks? Before you trash your obsolete
system, think about these alternative uses.
The main reason
that we find ourselves needing to replace (or upgrade) our
systems so often is that, as computer power increases, new
software is written that takes advantage of the latest PC
technology. If you want to run the most current versions of
common applications and take advantage of the newest toys, you
pretty much have to stay on top of this vicious upgrade cycle.
So assuming
you've recently bought a state-of-the-art computer, let's figure
out what to do with the old PC you're replacing. The first, and
easiest, option is to repurpose it. While a 3-year-old PC won't
run the latest programs with ease, it should be perfectly
capable of handling basic e-mail, word-processing, and Web
browsing--the most common task for home computers.
Best
bets for reuse
Monitors are one
component in PCs that haven't evolved quite as rapidly as the rest
of the system. If you're happy with the screen size of your old
monitor, there is most likely no reason to buy a new monitor when
you upgrade your system. (Monitors are the most problematic PC
component when it comes to toxic materials though, so see the next
section for details on how to dispose of them properly if you're
upgrading your monitor.)
Modems have
topped out at 56KBPS. If you have a dial-up ISP connection and
your old PC already had a 56K modem, there's no reason not to
reuse it as well. Internal modems can simply be unplugged from the
expansion slot of your old PC and slotted into a similar spot on
your new machine. CD-ROM drives may be reusable also, if you don't
crave the latest, fastest state-of-the-art drive for games or
rewritable capabilities.
In some cases
your hard drive may be worth trying to salvage. Usually you will
find that hard drive technology improves so rapidly that, by the
time you are upgrading a system, your old drive will seem puny. If
that's not the case, check the interface type of your old drive to
see if it can be used in your new system. Just about all PCs will
support ATA/IDE drives, but only some will support SCSI or
Firewire.
If you're into
squeezing every last dime out of that old PC, there is a secondary
market for used computer components, and most of these items do
have a limited resale value. Monitors, modern RAM and decent-sized
hard drives are all good bets for bringing in a few bucks.
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