What do you do with an old laptop and some free time?

by Jawa Lunk | January 3, 2009 at 03:56 am

1743 views | 63 Recommendations | 11 comments

Well, I skinned mine with my company logo and my name...

For about $1 in vinyl construction tape and $5 of colored vinyl (which I cut myself), I transformed my boring old laptop into an advertisement and conversation piece.

If you think about it, how often are you out with your laptop in public?

So why not turn it into a billboard for your projects?

Something to stirr up conversation about your company?

I did just that for less than $10, and now it's an eye catching showpiece.

The great thing about vinyl, is that if you get bored with it, or want to advertise a specific item or product, it peels right off without any damage to your computer.

And it is more weather resistant than your computer, so you don't have to worry about it peeling on it's own and looking shabby.

We may end up making these as mod-kits for everyone in the office!

It's simple, cheap and only took me about an hour.

It would have been quicker if I had everything in kit form instead of making as I went along.

This could be done with any laptop for anything!

You could even change it up for holidays, special events your attending...really anything!

The only thing I didn't add to it was the group web address.

I think people are tired of seeing www.whatever.com everywhere now, and if we talk, my business cards have all that info on them anyway.

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Uwe Paschen

at 04:15 on January 3rd, 2009

I like it. I just take them for part to build new solar powered systems I need or want.

Jawa Lunk

at 05:28 on January 3rd, 2009

Yeah, I belong to a couple FreeCycle groups who give unwanted items to others instead of throwing it away into the landfills.

This laptop was going to be thrown away, but the person asked me if I wanted it...so I said yes, and the only thing wrong with it was a bad hard drive.

So I saved it from the landfill, and got a nice laptop at the same time!

Who says recycling doesn't pay off?

This laptop is a P4 2.5Ghz with a DVD player and all the bells and whistles including wireless networking and blue tooth...

azzayindia

at 07:35 on January 3rd, 2009

you lucky b...d

Terri Potratz

at 07:54 on January 3rd, 2009

What a great idea! And lucky you for nabbing yourself a free new computer :)

Jawa Lunk

at 09:06 on January 3rd, 2009

Well I just installed the new hard drive, and its working perfectly!

Now I have to come up with a project for recycling bad hard drives....I have about 8 of them in my workshop right now...most people may not know this, but your NOT supposed to throw them away.

They contain toxic bits...but also rare earth magnets!

So I'm sure I can come up with something...

Terri Potratz

at 09:12 on January 3rd, 2009

Hard Drive Clock?

Jawa Lunk

at 09:16 on January 3rd, 2009

HAHAHAHA....are you a mind reader???

Two seconds after I posted, that thought came into mind :D

I will post another article after I build some stuff :D Great thinking though! That may be the way I go!

Amy Judd

at 11:12 on January 3rd, 2009

I added the tag 'recycling' too so that it can go in that channel. Good story!

158

at 17:50 on January 3rd, 2009

Good ideas but I am tech challenged.

Jawa Lunk

at 02:49 on January 4th, 2009

Well, if you look at it this way...when you find someone wanting to off a computer, 9 times out of 10 it's because they want a better one, and the other time is because something is wrong with the computer.

A computer is like a puzzle, with many smaller pieces making up the whole.

Sometimes if one of those pieces is broke, the whole will not function...but I have got many computers that were unwanted, changed a part or two, and made working ones out of them.

Most older computers work just fine for surfing the internet, wordprocessing, music, etc...

Most people do not need all the power that most computers have today.

I have recycled computers for both my sons, my wife, my youngest daughter and my 19 year old.

ALL of them were made from recycled parts, with only 1 or 2 replacements parts purchased.

And I kept the old broken parts until I find a place to recycle them.

Even if you had to hire someone to fix the computer for you, it would still be way cheaper, and save our landfills, by doing so.