Tips for buying hardware?

[m654321]

Here in the UK, you can get good quality stuff for free (including old computers ) that people would normally throw out in their garbage, through an organization called Freegle: https://www.ilovefreegle.org/  I'm always surprised by what folk throw away!

For example today I'm picking up a Packard-Bell Easynote Ajax-C3 and a Medion Mim 2080 laptops. Maybe not the world's fastest PCs, but man they're free! Apparently both are dragging their heels on Win7, so I'm going to bring them back to life by 'LL-ing' them, then give them away to those that need a PC but can't afford one.

Due to real global concern about the environment, I'm loathe to buy brand-new, particularly electronics gadgets, which are really bad for the environment and are becoming an increasing problem. Getting laptops that would otherwise go to landfill & pollute, plus the thrill of getting them up and running again on Linux, and giving them away for free is something I enjoy and get great satisfaction from ...