8 Practical Uses for Your Old Laptop

“This holiday, you pull the wraps off a brand new laptop and
open the lid to your shiny new mobile companion. The first thought
you might have is to consider which apps you should install first
and what’s the fastest way to load the up the hard disk with music
and movies. Of course, you inevitably have to think about your old
laptop, and what price you can sell it for on Craigslist. But
before you dump an old laptop or retire it to the den of forgotten
gadgets, here are eight practical ideas on how you can extend its
life.

“This holiday, you pull the wraps off a brand new laptop and
open the lid to your shiny new mobile companion. The first thought
you might have is to consider which apps you should install first
and what’s the fastest way to load the up the hard disk with music
and movies. Of course, you inevitably have to think about your old
laptop, and what price you can sell it for on Craigslist. But
before you dump an old laptop or retire it to the den of forgotten
gadgets, here are eight practical ideas on how you can extend its
life.

“1. Run a Home Server for File-Sharing

“One sensible use for a last year’s netbook is to turn it into a
network-attached storage server. This allows you to store files on
the hard drive, assign user groups, and access the drive over your
home network. Most of the popular NAS applications — such as
Openfiler and Nexenta — provide a few options for how you install
the NAS software. You can load it up as a distro that actually
takes over the laptop or as a client that runs in Linux or Windows.
These open-source tools are similar to Microsoft Home Server and
many offer a Web-based console to control the NAS from a remote
computer, so once you set up the NAS on your netbook, you can leave
it to sit idly next to your router and never have to even open the
lid.”

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