What do you do with old tech stuff?
 

I want to get rid of the two Asus travel routers (the WL-330GE) I have, which I don't use. They are perfectly good, so I feel bad throwing them out. None of my friends wants them. I doubt I'd get enough money on eBay to make it worthwhile.

What to do with them? What do you do with old laptops and other tech stuff?

For smaller stuff like a router, mouse, etc., I've always had friends or family willing and able to take them off my hands. I've only gotten rid of 1 old (working) laptop before, and I gave it to my younger brother.

Do you have any friends or coworkers that want them? I always ask friends and colleagues before throwing any tech item out - and I've never had anyone turn me down. You'll likely have to give them away for free, but that's better than throwing them in the trash.

It collects dust in my garage. I promise my self to bring it to the e-waste facility every spring, but it never seems to happen.

Put them on Craig's list?

Cheers.

Sorry, can't resist given the helpful response in the other thread

check out this magic: https://www.google.com/webhp?q=dispose+old+router

Hah! Yes, I know I can throw it out appropriately. I just was looking for other options.

Post it on Freecycle or on a bulletin board at work. You might not get anything for it, but you'll know that it went to a good home.

Mostly, I just hand things down. When I got my 3GS, my gen 1 iPod Touch was given to my utmost grateful sister. When I upgraded the 3GS to the Samsung S3, my dad became the super happy owner of my 3GS (and so on).

There's also "Cheapcycle" which is like Freecycle, but lets you get a few bucks for something without expending much effort.

You might also check to see if Goodwill in your area takes that stuff--it seems to vary by region. I lived somewhere for a while where they were using tech donations to train people in computer repair. Seemed worthwhile to me.

I eBay most of my leftovers...

I always buy everyones hand me downs :)

I bought my iPad 1 , iPhone 4 ,Kindle, Galaxy 7 Tab and Galaxy note used ,

I am hard on stuff , so if I bought it new it would look "used" in a week or 2 anyway

I bought most of it on Craigslist and we have a local once a month Computer / electronics swap meet locally

I will probably go for an iPad 2-3 soon or maybe an iPad mini after the 2nd gen one comes out ,

And yes I buy my cars used too :)

Soarer

I live in a medium density urban neighborhood so I leave mine by the gate/sidewalk and it disappears in a few hours.

I left my AltecLansing dock for my Zune out there this afternoon and it's gone now.

I junk the old stuff. But I am keeping my slide rules forever!

I still have an XT and a 386 sitting around the house.
Boxed up, nevertheless.

In the garbage.

Or out for the garbage men to take.

Working printers get donated to local non-profits. All the old monitors and keyboards are long gone to free ewaste recycling.

Everything else gets displayed at the annual garage sale, but the only stuff that seems to sell are the old cellphones and powercords (which from the looks of the buyers end up at flea markets).

Best solution would probably be to drop at goodwill or some charity that would take the stuff, you'll get a bigger writeoff than you will by selling the stuff.

+1 The little stuff seems to sit in boxes.

Used to do this, but too much effort for too little return. Too many flakes on craigslist. And ebay takes too much time - I'd figure an hour per item to list, box and ship.

Our local Goodwill's are about the only way to dispose of old devices containing CRTs. That includes television sets and Macintoshes.

Me too I guess it is the easy option ,, doing nothing !!!!

I always post them for FREE on Craiglist. Always gets snapped up within an hour or 2. You can also be pretty sure they're going to show up.

It's incredible what kind of stuff people want, as long as it's free. :D

Freecycle is a wonderful thing. It is amazing what ancient crap Freecyclers will gleefully take off your hands. I unloaded a circa-1984 HP scientific calculator last year, among many other things. It took less than 24 hours.

I feel bad throwing still-functional things away. For the non-functional electronics, we keep them in a bag until the annual county recycling day, when they accept things like half-empty cans of paint, used motor oil, dead batteries, old electronics, etc.

As a Mac user, I've been able to trade in my old computers and iGadgets and get a price break on new ones at non-Apple owned Mac specialty stores.

Other than that, I usually keep electronics until they break down, and then it's off to the recycling facility with them.

My daughter uses old phones/remote controls/MP3 players/cameras as toys.

Freecycle and Craigslist are great. Free stuff usually gets claimed within a few days.

Lifehacker also has articles on how to reuse old gadgets if you're into DIY stuff.