Ask HN: What's something I can do with a spare, modern laptop?

Install Linux and attempt to do advanced stuff that just work in Windows and Mac but requires tweaking Linux. Spend hours looking for solutions on the Internet. Then brag about your achievements online.

Re: Ask HN: What's something I can do with a spare, modern laptop?

#8

Post by quickthrower2 » Sat, Sep 30, 2017, 5:44 AM UTC

Maybe donate it? A school, library or student may need one.

Re: Ask HN: What's something I can do with a spare, modern laptop?

#9

Post by mindhash » Sat, Sep 30, 2017, 9:37 AM UTC

For personal use: Mine bitcoins. Run as VPS. Host websites for local businesses. Charge for usage. If you have GPU, then sell usage by hour for Deep learning students.

For social good: Donate to old age home.. arrange a sharing schedule between a group of students who can't afford.. mine bitcoins and donate what you earn.. work with a local shop to arrange internet access and support unprivileged people to find jobs online .. donate to a prison .. lotsa options though I am not sure if you meant give away ..

Re: Ask HN: What's something I can do with a spare, modern laptop?

#10

Post by alcio » Sat, Sep 30, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

mindhash wrote: post #9

For personal use: Mine bitcoins. Run as VPS. Host websites for local businesses. Charge for usage. If you have GPU, then sell usage by hour for Deep learning students. For social good: Donate to old age home.. arrange a sharing schedule between a group of students who can't afford.. mine bitcoins and donate what you earn.. work with a local shop to arrange internet access and support unprivileged people to find jobs…

Mining bitcoins on a modern laptop is utterly useless. All of the mining is done on specialized hardware nowadays. Revenue would be less than pennies per year on a CPU.