I work in the IT dept of a small company that has lots of remote users. Over time, the various dell laptops will have a keyboard break, monitor go out, or motherboard fry. It's really not worth replacing a motherboard or lcd for the business, but is there some organization that will cobble laptops back together for underserved people? The only alternative I have so far is a recycling place.
I'm in San Diego, Ca
Check in your area for organizations that repair and donate computers to schools and non-profits.
There's also organizations like FreeGeek
For the ones that can't be repaired, I have one word for you: Trebuchet.
Dell offer a recycling service, although I'm not sure of the particulars involved with using it.
You may have to look for one specific to your region.
Laptops with busted keyboards / track pads / hard disks make great digital picture frames.
If you bought a series of machines all of the same model, it might be worth holding onto a few of the broken ones as scrap machines to scavenge for parts to fix the others.
This of course assumes that you aren't being kept busy with all of your other tasks, and have some occasional breathing room.
But, if you're really looking for a place to donate to -- some Goodwill stores will take and refurbish computers. I believe they use it for training people in computer repair and then sell the machines through their stores.
You can always try selling them (on Ebay or the like). Some people buy partially working or broken laptops (or even just laptop parts) to get replacement parts. I managed to sell a non-booting laptop for 80 € on Ebay.
Apparently, some people make a decent buck producing refurbished/"Frankenstein" laptops (buy a dozen broken ones, make five or six good ones). Seems everyone wins that way.
The best option is to find a reputable recycler and recycle it. It should cost money, unless a vendor like Dell, IBM, HP, Apple, etc is funding it. Very few organizations can handle used computer donations responsibly, and I'd be especially leery of a group shipping electronics overseas.
The two environmentally and morally hazardous places that these donations are likely to end up are:
You can also save the LCD panels to make yourself a DIY projector -- see http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/HomeTheater/overview.aspx for a tutorial.
If the monitor's busted you could get a large screen with VGA input, an IR sensor/remote combo and use it as a lightweight-ish media centre.
I plan to do this with one of my less used laptops.
There's plenty of places that will take the laptops and ship them overseas to be cleaned up and reused. Your local computer shops probably know who they are. Or check the yellow pages under electronic recycling.
