19 broken laptops

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planted: 24/07/2021last tended: 15/03/2023

I got 19 broken laptops from a friend at the makerspace. He'd gotten a big batch of laptops off eBay for £120, from someone who used to work somewhere in IT and had accumulated them over time with the intention to fix them. Eventually, unfixed, their partner had asked them to be rehomed…

I thought I'd take the ones from my friend and use them as a bit of a learning experience. I'll try and fix them, and in the process take some notes on it all. Things like the disassembly, what's inside, what the problem is, what can I do with these old laptops?

For those that I fix that are still worth using, I'll give them away to someone.

For those that are completely end-of-life - I'll do some upcycling with them.

Here's the list:

  • Apple PowerBook G4
  • Acer Extensa 5620Z 15” Yes
  • Acer Aspire 7720 17” ?
  • Sony Vaio PCG-7N2L 15” ?
  • Apple MacBook Pro A1150 15” ?
  • Apple MacBook A1181 13” ?
  • Acer Aspire 5338 15.6” ?
  • HP Pavilion dv9500 17” ?
  • Toshiba Satellite Pro C850-10N 15.6” ? CD drive issue
  • Acer Aspire 5733 15.6” ? Not all keys work
  • Dell Inspiron 1564 15.6” ? No RAM, does not power on, stupid RAM cover
  • HP Stream 11
  • Acer Aspire S3 ? Powers on but reports 6GB RAM, no hard drive, bottom cover off
  • Lenovo Ideapad 100S
  • Samsung RV511 15.6” ?
  • HP 655
  • Acer Aspire V3-571G 15.6” ? GPU issue
  • Targa Traveller 1534 15.6” ?
  • Apple PowerBook G4 15” ? Cracked LCD it looks like

1. Elsewhere

1.2. In the Agora

1.3. Mentions

Recent changes. Source. Peer Production License.