Donated Hardware

[mikeprice]

My desktop hardware plans look like this: 1) can we replace the Windows PC with a Chrome Box? 2) Can we replace the Windows PC with an AppleTV and drive everything from the teachers' iPads? Thin Clients were also considered, of course, but we determined the cost would be greater than implementing options 1 and 2. This is done on a subject-by-subject basis; for example, English could go Chrome Box, Maths could not.

 

Your environments will of course be different, but I would encourage you to think beyond "this PC is old and slow, I must buy a new PC" to "this PC is no longer suitable, what should I replace it with?".

 

or even - thsi PC is olfd and slow - what can I replace it with - AND is there something else it can be used for

[enjay]

or even - thsi PC is olfd and slow - what can I replace it with - AND is there something else it can be used for

 

That too. All of our PCs sit on at least two, often three, desks in their time here.

[difinity]

It's not necessarily the age of the hardware but the quality of it. Power supplies (especially cheap ones) will start to act up due to failing capacitors and the contacts will oxidise on hard drives causing read issues long before the motherboards and CPUs become obsolete. Either or both of these issues will show themselves as failing PCs, both are easier and cheaper to fix than replacing whole machines. Power supplies can be reconditioned with new capacitors and the contacts are easily cleaned with a pencil eraser.

[NB9457]

It's not necessarily the age of the hardware but the quality of it. Power supplies (especially cheap ones) will start to act up due to failing capacitors and the contacts will oxidise on hard drives causing read issues long before the motherboards and CPUs become obsolete. Either or both of these issues will show themselves as failing PCs, both are easier and cheaper to fix than replacing whole machines. Power supplies can be reconditioned with new capacitors and the contacts are easily cleaned with a pencil eraser.

 

We replace HDDs and PSUs for fun here!

 

My cut off point for 'old' hardware is Core2, if anything below that now breaks, be it PSU or HDD, I use it as an excuse to bin them as P4s, Atoms and Pentium Ds have well and truly had their time now!

[difinity]

We replace HDDs and PSUs for fun here!

 

Whilst I appreciate replacing the capacitors in power supplies is not the norm for most and swapping is easier, there is no reason hard drives should be swapped without checking for oxidisation first. For years I was just changing faulty drives until I learned this trick, now I save lots. Costs nothing to clean them.

[dry]

For years I was just changing faulty drives until I learned this trick, now I save lots. Costs nothing to clean them.

Interesting. Are you taking HDDs apart or just cleaning surface rust off the exposed PCB?

[difinity]

Interesting. Are you taking HDDs apart or just cleaning surface rust off the exposed PCB?

 

I just remove the PCB, flip it over and clean the oxidisation off the copper contacts. I

Have a look at my photos in this thread. http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/176960-does-leaving-hardware-all-time-make-slower-2.html#post1516699