The laptop form factor has dominated the PC industry since its debut in the 1980s, with an estimated 277 million laptops shipped around the world in 2021 alone. While laptops are popular, they are also quite fragile, and this means that many of the world’s laptops end up in the trash after a few short years of use.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of ways to turn your laptop into something new, but how do you do it? Let’s take a look at some of the different parts you can salvage from your laptop when it finally dies.
1. Turn Laptop HDDs and SSDs Into External/Internal Drives
The first component to consider when you have a broken laptop is the storage inside it. Both hard drives and solid state drives can outlast the other components in your laptop, depending on the type of issue the laptop has experienced. Some laptops even have multiple storage drives inside them, making this a great place to start with your laptop salvage operation.
Older laptops will usually use a SATA interface for storage drives, while newer machines often have M.2 connections inside them. This is an important distinction, as it changes the way that you use the drive once you have it out of the broken laptop.
Some laptops have dedicated panels on their base to give access to the storage drives, making it easy to access and remove them. Others hide their storage deep within the other components, but you can find tear-down videos for just about any laptop like this. Either way, you need to remove your broken laptop’s storage drive before you can continue with this project.
How to Use the Drive
Once your drive is removed, you can determine the type of connection it uses and choose how you would like to use it. With the help of an adapter and some time, you can make your own external drive. Alternatively, you can put the storage drive into another machine if it has the right connection.
It is worth noting that both HDDs and SSDs have limited lifespans that are impacted by the life they have. It’s best to avoid storing vital files on drives like these.
2. Make Laptop Speakers Into Wireless Bluetooth Speakers
Unless your laptop has a lot of damage, it’s likely that the speakers inside it work just fine. Using your DIY know-how to turn laptop speakers into wireless Bluetooth speakers is easier than you might expect. You just need to get your hands on a Bluetooth module that will work with your speakers and some batteries to power the finished product (you can usually use the laptop batteries for this).
3. Reuse Broken Laptop Screens
Much like monitors and TVs, there are plenty of uses for a broken laptop’s screen. You could turn it into a light table for drawing and crafts, build some DIY photography lights, and even make a projector for yourself. Unfortunately, using your old laptop screen as a stand-alone monitor is incredibly difficult and often impossible. You shouldn’t let this dissuade you, though. There are plenty of guides around the web that will help you to make the most of a laptop screen when the rest of the machine isn’t working properly.
4. Turn a Broken Laptop Into a PC/All-in-One
This next idea is for those with laptops that have broken displays. Repairing a laptop display can be a costly job, especially if the laptop has a touchscreen or other advanced features. Thankfully, though, the vast majority of laptops support additional displays with interfaces like VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort.
When your laptop’s screen breaks, you can hook it up to a regular monitor and keep on using it. This works great for those who use their laptop at a desk and don’t need to move it very often. With the number of portable USB monitor options on the market, though, you could also use this out and about if you don’t mind carrying some extra weight.
The way that you approach this can vary depending on your DIY skill level. Leaving the old screen on your laptop won’t hamper its performance, but you could also consider carefully removing it to make the laptop easier to move around.
5. Make a Battery Bank Out of Laptop Batteries
Laptop batteries are one of the first components to die on many machines, with their lifespan being affected by the way they are used. This means that many broken and old laptops have relatively new batteries inside them. Turning your old laptop battery into a power bank is easier than you might expect, as long as you have the right type of battery for the job.
Lithium-ion laptop batteries come in loads of shapes and sizes, but they are almost always made using standard 18650 cells (or something similar). You can buy DIY battery bank kits for batteries like this on websites like eBay and Amazon, and there are countless guides around the web to help you out. Of course, though, it goes without saying that batteries are dangerous, and you have to be extremely careful when working with them.
6. Fix One Broken Laptop With Another
Donor devices are incredibly popular in the DIY electronics repair space. If you have two broken laptops of the same make and model, you can use the parts from one to repair the other, giving you one working machine at the end of it. You have to get a little lucky for this to work out, as the components from the donor have to function for this to work.
Auction websites, local computer stores, and even dumpsters can all be great sources of broken computer hardware, including laptops. Schools and businesses often have machines of the same makes and models, and they will be upgraded at the same time. This provides an excellent opportunity to find donor machines if you know who to speak to.
Salvaging Parts From Broken Laptops
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to get something out of your broken laptops. You don’t have to sacrifice these machines to the trash can, and can even save yourself some money by using everything you can from your old machines rather than buying new gadgets. Good for the planet, good for your wallet, and good for the skills you gain along the way.