[kwlug-disc] Laptop Rescue Mission this Saturday

[William Park]

On Wed, Feb 04, 2015 at 02:54:16PM -0500, Paul Nijjar wrote:
> There is no good reason we have to hold these sessions on a Saturday.
> Sundays are out for me, but other evenings could work. If some people
> would like an alternative day then we can arrange something (maybe
> using a Doodle).

I get free parking on Sat, and that's the biggest reason for showing up.
It's also an excuse to get Espresso...

> - We are pretty short on 2.5" SATA drives, so for now we are not
>   refurbishing any computers that use these drives. This is a shame,
>   because these tend to be nicer laptops than the ones we do get
>   ready. If anybody has working 2.5" SATA drives (any size) that are
>   kicking around after an upgrade, then we could put them to good use.
>   If you specify that you are donating these specifically for the
>   Laptop Rescue Mission, then I will try to make sure that we get one
>   SATA laptop ready for each working SATA drive donated (as oppposed
>   to hoarding these drives for internal use, which is what we are
>   doing now because we are pretty short on 2.5" SATA drives). 

I have 80GB Toshiba disk which came out of a Toshiba laptop.  I'll
donate it.

> 
> We are also having trouble finding markets for the laptops that we
> refurbish. We have sold a handful through Computer Recycling, but we
> are finding that people are reluctant to buy them because: 
> 
> - They are older, and nobody likes older things
> - They do not come with warranties of any kind (and we are pretty
>   explicit about this)
> - They come with Xubuntu installed and not Windows (which I consider a
>   feature and not a bug, but others disagree)

It's losing battle.  New laptops are getting cheaper, and definitely
cheaper than upgrading the old.  I think $250 is the floor for a new
laptop.  Even on desktop side, you can get mini-PC for $130 at Canada
Computers (just add ram and disk).

Your target audience is those who knows how to use these old obsolete
underpowered laptops, ie. us Linux guys.  Now, the question is, how many
more laptops do we need?

Why not use the laptops as bait?  You're organizing some courses/program
with Kwartz Lab.  So, slogan is, "take the course, and get laptop for
free".
-- 
William