Upgraded to a flat panel and have a rather large 19" CRT monitor acting as a paperweight. Any idea of alternate uses other than dumping in the garbage and adding to the landfill - - - I've heard that they contain heavy metals which are bad for the environment.

Also, i have some old laptops collecting dust...my company has terrible inventory management. I would like to reformat the machines and just load a web-browser so i can have a wireless laptop for surfing the web when i'm at home. Is this easy to do?

Thanks,

 

Check ebay old laptops go for some nice $$$$. As for the monitor, they really should be put in the trash. Another great thing to put on ebay.

 

You could take it to a used computer store and sell it (Computer Renisance if you have those).

 

fishtank

 

That WOULD be cool. Could fish survive in there ( toxins? ) What would be involbved?

Cut glass in back without implosion.
Remove toxins / phosphorous?
Add water, fish,, pebbles, rubber stopper with aerator and food injector. ?

 

theres instructions on how to make it..

 

Whatever you do, don't throw it out. There's all kinds of heavy metals in CRT displays. Call your local recycling authority and they can tell you where you can drop it off or how you can have it picked up for proper recycling.

I think officemax or officedepot have free recycling of electronics.

 

TWO WORDS: Extended Desktop

I have dual NEC 19" CRT's with extended desktop enabled. Two are better than one.

It kicks ass for Adobe programs as I can drag all the tools to one monitor and work on the other. I don't have to flip back and forth between programs as often. Overall, it's frickin' sweet.

 

You could MONITOR the snow fall.

EDIt: my pic host wont hotlink here. It was pics of the snow accumulation here over 8 hrs of the last blizzard. Made it 3/4th of the way up the monitor.

 

fish tank looks cool; most peeps don't have enough desk space for 2 x 19" monitors - but the dual display idea is cool...

to answer the second part of your question - yep, too easy, install xp (it will offer option to format disk during install) and browse away.