Have you ever went to a thrift store before? I've been starting to go to them, to see all the computer stuff. The annoying thing is that every day you go into them, every thing is in a different spot. I got an awsome mac se/30 from a salvation army for 25 bucks. I also got a cheap Packard Hell, opps I mean bell, 15" CRT. The image was always blurry and was stuck to the sid (had controls but pictrue coulding move any more). I also got a HP Vectra 386 w/ ps/2 keyboard for $7 at a goodwill. Every day they always have boxes of keyboards, rows of monitors, and some PCs and macs.

I've went to several Salvation armys, ACB thrift store, Goodwill, St. ?? thrift store, I also went to some no name thrift store in CA.

I live in milwaukee wi.

edit: oh yeah, they always got a thousand inkjets w/ no cartiges, cable, driver, manule

Yeah! I go to many thrift stores in my area, (Orange County, CA). There are certainly some bargins to be had... I purchased a 27" TV for 100bucks... Works wonderful for almost 2yrs now. can't beat that deal.

Computer parts are of course (as is basis) but you can get some great stuff if you know how to do minor repair on things...

For the silver spoon people out thier, thrift stores may not be your thing but for average, recourcefull folk they are great.

Buyer beware...

KC

If you want a real eye opener , go to a few thrift shops and ask how much computer stuff is going straight into the dumpster. The ones in my area get more of this stuff than they can handle. It's also amazing how many people don't bother to erase their hard drives (shudder)
Is there a cheap way to send older computers to developing countries?

Is there a cheap way to send older computers to developing countries?

Yes, there is, I volunteer occasionally at a place called Tech Corps of Wisconsin, They recycle, and refurbish used computer equipment. While they mostly focus on getting low cost computers into area schools, and homes of underpriveleged inner city kids, they have sent lots of computers to Africa. Check out thier site at http://tcw.org/


JohnTzu

I love thrift stores too, although the goodwills in my area (Arizona) sometimes overprice stuff. My grandpa works at a thrift store, and they give us stuff....

I got a sweet Altec Lansing 2.1 surround there, and a couple of DSL routers... and a monitor! (17 inch) all for free!!!!!


It may be 'cause I have inside connections, though.....

anywho, thrift stores are teh r0x0r, and don't be afraid to dig, dig, and open, and ask for a screwdriver, :P, etc.

be careful how many systems you get though, the age of Pi's is out, your oldest comps should be PII's at a thrist store. (I was alive back in the day, when 386 was what was in thrift stores.... ) {I'm 15, back in the day, LOL)

slackwarebilly

I love thirft stores and have seen working comps plugged in and screen on for around $150.00 I live in Houston. Goodwill is where I found a modem that worked with Linux too before I got DSL for $5. I also found a great router swtich still in the box.

You can turn old computers that can't do much on their own into X stations. You can effectively add more usable computers this way. I've been trying to get my mom to take me to goodwill for some time now...

I've found an old PII and a Cisco switch at a thrift store... makes a great router with a couple of cheapo $10 NIC's I picked up (and both had $5 rebates )