2ndLife series is a blog journal of the electronic gadgets that I have dumpster dived and refurnishing process (update apps, reinstall operating system like Linux) to make them usable for my simple needs, mainly watching and downloading Youtube videos, reading mangas and running torrents.
Since I have been dumpster diving and come across gadgets such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, I decided to write on how I actually refurbish these gadgets and giving them a second life to be useful, hopefully until hardware breakdown (quite unlikely since most that I have refurbished actually lasted longer than hardware failures, except when I find that I have too many and decided to throw away to make space for newer gadgets.
For laptops, I have currently Asus, Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Apple laptops. Only the Lenovo laptop was given to me and I purchased the Asus as a desktop replacement (15 inch). Most of the time the laptops that I dumpster dived is usually working laptops, but due to Microsoft forcing consumers to upgrade, especially Windows 11. For those with hardware issues such as screen issues or broken hinges, then I would salvage their components such as RAM, hardisk and Wireless network cards. I mainly focus on those laptops that are at least Windows 8 since their specifications are usually speedy enough and mainly due to that their weight and design has become lighter and slimmer since the introduction of Windows 8. I prefer slim and light laptops whenever possible. I do dumpster dive laptops similar or actual netbook or netbook alternatives. Since these laptops have slow CPU speeds, limited RAM capacity and restricted screen resolution (only 10 inch models. 11 inch models does not have this restriction), I am using them as a challenge to see what Linux can make them at least usable due to their low hardware specifications.
As for Apple Macbooks, I initially do not take them but after I managed to reinstall the operating system from MacOS to Linux, I started refurbishing them. Even though they have only 2 USB ports, they make up for their hardware superiority compared to budget or enterprise laptops from various brands. I was surprised when I played with Macbook Pro A1502 model or Macbook Air that I dumpster dived. After installing Linux Lite into them, their lower specifications do not make them slower using similar hardware specification laptops. This gives me an interest to dumpster dive them to refurbish them for my personal use and laptop collection.
I also dumpster dived both Android and Apple tablets and only Android phones. These gadgets that I found and refurbished are mainly for manga reading, video downloading and watching and running torrents. I still prefer to use 7 inch tablets due to size and weight ratio, means small and light enough to travel with. Bigger tablets I do refurbish but keeps them until I need them. I do charge them occasionally to prevent the batteries from going flat. I use mainly Android tablets and keeps Apple tablets mainly.
This provides an explaination of what 2ndLife series means and easier for reference if anyone is interested in refurbishing gadgets, like me.
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