Can't upgrade to Windows 11? Here are 14 other ways to use your older laptop
Before you get rid of your old laptop, find out if there other ways to use it at home
This post was originally published on “Window Shopping.” It is also part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts.
I would never be someone described as a hoarder. I don’t even like seeing a full email box or a scrolling list of phone numbers on my smartphone. I wipe both out every single Sunday morning. But there’s something about people giving away computers that makes me want a room full of them, not just because I’ve ruined two motherboards when almost-new laptops fell off of folding tables — one because I dropped a cereal bowl on it and the other because I stood up too fast and the table flipped over. A backup laptop would’ve done me so much good at the time.
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Then, there was the time that I had the bright idea to replace my own keyboard instead of just buying keyboard stickers. Although I can install electric and non-electric bidets, replace light switches, unclog bathroom sinks and tubs, put up fiber drywall patches, repaint walls, and remodel a bathroom ceiling and accent wall with wallpaper, computer repairs are where my do-it-yourself talents die out completely.
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That doesn’t mean I want to give up on old computers or smartphones just yet and head to the nearest ecoATM at the mall. I’ve already found an easy way to reuse old smartphones and make them into indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras. And one of those ways can also work for laptops too.
Check out that suggestion and 13 other ways to reuse and/or recycle your old laptops that aren’t compatible with Windows 11.
1. Turn your old laptop into an indoor surveillance camera.
You may have a laptop so old that even burglars would say, “Nah, I’ll pass.” But security apps like AlfredCamera can easily turn your old laptop into a camera monitor or the camera itself. Sure, you’ll have to leave the laptop on and it may eat up some extra electricity. However, if you’re going out of town and want to keep tabs on rooms that don’t already have a camera view, here’s your chance. This network-dependent app requires a camera device (a smartphone or your laptop camera) and a viewer device (a smartphone or laptop to view what you’re recording). You also have the option to switch from Viewer to Camera whenever you like.
You are not required to have a home broadband Wi-Fi network. For mobile devices used as cameras, you can use mobile data (4G/5G), a mobile hotspot from another device, or put an active SIM card into it so it can use cellular data to connect. But if your old laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet port, which is rare unless it’s an ultra-slim laptop, losing your Wi-Fi connection will temporarily stop AlfredCamera from recording and taking motion-activated screenshots. A power outage can also ruin this online security system, which is the one reason why hardwired surveillance cameras are better.
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2. Use your old laptop as a CD/DVD player.
Finding a newer laptop with a built-in CD/DVD player is extremely rare. Sure, you can buy an external drive, but it becomes clumsy moving it from room to room or while traveling. And buying a DVD player can sometimes feel like buying a VCR. You can find them, but don’t expect to see them in your local retail stores. If you have a DVD player already but don’t regularly use DVD lens cleaner to keep it in good condition, there may come a time when DVDs get stuck inside (like the ‘80s and ‘90s days of VHS tapes). Don’t underestimate your free backup drive that’s already available on the older laptop.
3. Make your old laptop the go-to streaming TV box.
If you already have YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, Tubi, Pluto TV and other streaming apps on your smart TV, you may think having the old laptop for streaming is pointless. But if there’s a room in your home with an older television or a TV that cannot stream, this old computer can be your new TV. Consider Unified Remote to create the equivalent of a TV remote control for apps. Additionally, smartphone apps make it easy enough to navigate programs like Spotify music without standing up to change each selection on your laptop anyway.
4. Use your old laptop as your digital recipe book.
If you are in the habit of watching streaming channels to copy the latest recipes, you may be bringing your laptop back and forth from your home office to the kitchen counter. Your old laptop can stay in one spot, and you can watch Nard Dog Cooks and We Cook Vegan as many times as you want. Bake fresh rolls, blend homemade soy milk and roll up homemade dog treats all in one space. You can even use the desktop and My Documents folders to organize your recipes. Or, if you have an outdoor bar, you can make this laptop your go-to for your mixology dreams and entertaining guests with drinks you’ve never heard of.
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5. Make your old laptop your e-reader.
While e-readers are better when you can fold them up and carry them around, sometimes the zooming features and scrolling features can be a nuisance for nearsightedness. An old laptop gives you more flexibility to read in your preferred font, color and size.
6. Make your old laptop your at-home audiobook player.
Yes, you can definitely walk around with your headphones on during Sweeper Sunday so you can hear the audiobook over the vacuum. But a laptop may give you more volume control if you want to freely listen and your wireless headphones need to be charged. (Your recipe laptop book could also double up as cooking background entertainment, whether that’s a podcast, music or to finish listening to your audiobook.)
7. Convert your old laptop into a baby or pet camera.
AlfredCamera can come in handy as a baby monitor or a pet camera, too, especially if you let your dog run around freely throughout the home. This can also be helpful with training, especially if you have more than one dog but can’t quite tell who the troublemaker is.
8. Get paid to play game apps on an old laptop.
There are countless apps that pay people to play smartphone app games, such as TesterUp. While the financial experience may result in as many complaints as cash, go-to games that you would play for free (my go-to is Crossword Master) anyway could be better suited on an old laptop. It’ll free up memory from your smartphone and main laptop because gaming apps tend to take up a lot of storage space. If your drive is almost full, this will affect your computer speed too, which is yet another reason to have a separate laptop for all the games.
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9. Prioritize your old laptop for a specific project.
Whether you want to use it as an online journal, business and marketing plan, budgeting book, free online sites for your check registers (ex. ClearCheckbook), interior design and home staging programs, or other do-it-someday projects, this laptop can solely be used for that purpose. No social media. No streaming. Nothing that’ll distract you from working on one specific goal on that laptop. You could even use it as a source of frustration best left in a faraway room until your blood pressure is ready to handle it: tax season, condo association drama, will and estate planning, life insurance shopping or legal documentation.
10. Use it as your smart home dashboard.
Depending on how old the laptop is, it could be used as your dashboard to control your home lights, the thermostat, a central home audio hub, video doorbells, smart locks and pre-programmed appliances.
11. Upload all of your photographs to create a digital photo frame.
If the idea of hammering a zillion holes in your walls, finding frames and shopping for photo albums makes you cringe, a digital photo frame is probably the best way for you to enjoy family photos, travel pics, pet photos and art. Upload them all, and let the photographs rotate on a shelf or side table to enjoy in your home and with houseguests.
12. Make your old laptop your “naughty” place.
This is the laptop where you keep your Finsta (fake Instagram), your alternate Facebook account, that one Twitter (X) account you don’t want to separate from even though you’re on Bluesky, that throwaway email address for people you don’t really want to talk to and those random Internet rabbit holes you go down. Your old laptop is the perfect place to watch streaming sites that may be questionable. Let the algorithms go to town on this archaic laptop. If it ends up with a virus later, who cares? It wasn’t your go-to laptop anyway, and you couldn’t care less about the email address either. Enjoy all of your guilty pleasures!
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13. Listen to your old laptop as a noise-canceling device
Got upstairs neighbors who love to stomp around at bizarre hours? Is their intimacy unbearably loud? Does one neighbor stomp in with work boots from his third-shift job while the other neighbor is an early bird who enjoys opening and closing dresser drawers to plan her work outfits at 6:30 a.m.? Don’t let these inconsiderate people ruin your eight hours of sleep. Use your old laptop as a white noise machine. Enjoy brown noise, thunderstorms, fire crackling, lullabies, meditation music or anything on Headspace’s YouTube channel so you can go right back to sleep.
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14. Add your old laptop to your at-home meditation room
You already have the yoga mat, the candles, the light dimmer, the altar table and a few other supplies for your meditation room. But you may not have a go-to laptop to play the kind of audio that’ll create mandatory peace in the corner of a room or a full room dedicated to relaxation. Add all of your favorite meditation sounds to your playlist, press play and get ready to relax.
If none of these sound appealing to you, go ahead and donate the laptop. There’s probably a college student or someone in K-12 who could really use your old laptop, even if it’s just for writing papers or grading exams instead of programs that require Windows 11. Just make sure to completely clear all of your files and reset the computer back to factory settings beforehand.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “AAC-PACK,” “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday. Thanks for reading!