Wasn't sure if I should post this here or in the IT forum, but living here in Pattaya here goes.

 

I still have a couple of old laptops still around that I need to get rid of. By old I'm meaning that they were running on Vista and XP operating systems, I'm aware I need to extract the HD and destroy it. But I would appreciate any info on where I can dispose of the rest.

Most Thai governmental departments will gladly accept your old laptops as an upgrade to their IT systems. Just go into one of their offices. No appointment needed. 

 

It would be better if you delete the HD to the manufacturer's setting and donate those laptops to needy children organization to use for as long as they can...

20 minutes ago, ezzra said:

It would be better if you delete the HD to the manufacturer's setting and donate those laptops to needy children organization to use for as long as they can...

I thought of that but wasn't sure if they could use such outdated machines that may not work well if at all in todays environment. These machines are  close to 15 years old.

If in Pattaya donate to Father Ray foundation. Delete memory first 

1 hour ago, jwdub12 said:

I thought of that but wasn't sure if they could use such outdated machines that may not work well if at all in todays environment. These machines are  close to 15 years old.

Know what you mean. I have a Gateway laptop from 2007. 1.6Ghz/1Gb Ram. Barely runs Windows XP or even lightweight Linux distros. Not worth spending money on to upgrade. But the HD could be used elsewhere. As scubascuba3 advises, I'd format the HD and donate to Father Ray foundation.

One may think everything has been deleted, but maybe not.

I would smash it into a million pieces and throw it in the garbage.

What are the laptops you want to dispose of? Brand? Age? Model? Maybe someone can put them to use where they are just paperweights to you.

 

For example, I'll take a 10 year old, military spec thinkpad (x or t class) over a new consumer grade laptop from the major players.

I had an HP Pavilion 23 whose hard drive froze, unable to even run the OP. So removed the HD, took the pc to a small computer repair shop in a large shopping mall where it was gladly accepted free.

3 hours ago, gargamon said:

What are the laptops you want to dispose of? Brand? Age? Model? Maybe someone can put them to use where they are just paperweights to you.

 

For example, I'll take a 10 year old, military spec thinkpad (x or t class) over a new consumer grade laptop from the major players.

Indeed I in fact am looking for the body (casing) for a Lenovo Ideapad S400.  The laptop works fine but the broken case interferes with the cooling fan.  One mans rubbish................

5 hours ago, jwdub12 said:

These machines are  close to 15 years old.

These machines might do a good job running Linux. I would give Mint or Puppy Linux a chance. Surely good enough for going online or doing light work.

Computer shops will often give you a few hundred baht for an old computer, as they will usually be able to profit using parts in repair jobs. If you give it to them for free, I think they will always accept it.

 

3 hours ago, gargamon said:

What are the laptops you want to dispose of? Brand? Age? Model? Maybe someone can put them to use where they are just paperweights to you.

 

For example, I'll take a 10 year old, military spec thinkpad (x or t class) over a new consumer grade laptop from the major players.

No there nothing of any real value like that just a low end HP and Acer bought roughly 15 years ago.

I used to work in IT security. The only way to be 100% sure the hard drive info is gone is to open it up and sand blast the platters.

 

Having said that, you most likely don't have anything so critical that a good wiping can't erase it. BleachBit is a free program that will handle it:

https://www.bleachbit.org/features/cost

 

As someone previously posted, Father Ray can usually make use of such donations or there is at least one outfit I know at Tucom that will take any computer hardware off your hands, regardless of condition. I can't remember the exact shop, but if you go there, someone will point you in the right direction.

An inflammatory post has been removed.