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Even once you've bought a shiny new replacement, you can give your old computer a rad afterlife. Your old clunker might look like the living dead, run really slowly, or crash when you try to feed it the latest programs, but that doesn't mean it can't be totally useful. Before you get rid of your outmoded machine, try finding a new use for it. When you do want to say goodbye, donate or recycle your computer to keep its lead from polluting the planet, but between now and then, see if you can't have a little more fun with your old laptop or desktop model.
Extra Room
Bill Nye suggests using your outmoded PC as a kind of photo storage cabinet, where you can manage and keep all your digital pictures. You can also use it as a music warehouse, for easy iPod™ upkeep that won't fill your primary hard drive to the brim with a zillion gigabytes of space-gobbling media. Think of your secondary computer as a kind of extra wing of your digital household, one that you can dedicate to storing big, chunky files, or use for a favorite memory-intensive activity like gaming or movie-editing.
Back Your Thing Up
If you've ever experienced that sinking feeling when the computer containing a-ton-of-the-stuff-that-you-really-really-need-for-work-or-school-or-life suddenly crashes, then you know how important it is to keep a regular back-up of your files. If you haven't ever had that particular kind of nausea, you're super-lucky, and should do everything in your power to maintain your perfect track record. To avoid panic and data loss, use your extra computer to keep copies of your most important stuff, so that if your regular PC breaks down, gets stolen, or is vaporized by a mad scientist in some kind of freak accident, your worst-case-scenario won't actually be that bad.
Give It A Chance
On your non-primary computer, you can bring out your inner hacker without any fear of crashes or of disturbing your daily computer usage. With such low stakes, you might want to give a new operating system a try. Dip a toe into the world of open-source by installing Linux. You just might find that you like your new indie interface better than what you’ve been using, and some estimates say that switching to Linux can as much as double the life of your computer, which is definitely eco-smart.
This post was inspired by Planet Green's show, Stuff Happens.
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