Money Saving Computer Hacks (Not to be confused with computer ha

If you have an old desktop computer (or Laptop) laying around with a DVD Drive and an HDMI port, hook it to the TV and use it! You could save anywhere from 40 to 200 dollars.

Bonus if the OS is obsolete and you upgraded it to Linux to keep using it!

Double Bonus: You don’t need the internet to do this.

Buy a flat screen TV of your choosing instead. Smart TVs are better, but so long as your computer has an HDMI port, you’re fine with any new tv on the market.

Some TVs are the same price or close to the same price as a computer monitor. Aside from that, it’s cheaper than buying a TV and a Monitor because the TV can double as both.

With smart TVs you can wirelessly connect a laptop to use it as a second monitor as well instead of just using the TV with the one computer.

Materials:

1 Wireless Gateway or Router with a USB Port in the back (I’m on a budget and am using an old Verizon Gateway for DSL made by D Link)

1 External Hard Drive (Either a Portable or a Stationary One - I used an old My Book by Western Digital that was made around 2008 that has an extra power supply cord in addition to the data cable but you can use a portable HDD as well).

Process: Hook the External Hard Drive’s data cable into the router’s USB Port, and hook the other end into the External Hard Drive.

Activate Storage on the router (if you have to; it should do it automatically).

Open your Windows Explorer.

Type in \\YourGatewaysAddressHere (Type in the Routers home network IP address, not the words I put there, like for Comcasts Gateways, it would be \\10.0.0.1 you would be typing; for Verizon it’s different, and varies depending on your router model). You can check your router’s IP address by opening the Command Line Interface in Windows (CMD), and type ipconfig

Whala, you have access to your cloud storage from anywhere you can access your router! This is not as good as a cloud storage device you can get somewhere like Best Buy, Amazon, or Staples, but it works for the time being.

If you use a portable HDD, you can also unhook it from the router as needed and toss it in a case and then in your bag to take on the go!

Take your old, obsolete PC and turn it into a Linux Box.

1. Research different Linux Flavors.

2. Choose your Linux Flavor (Distro).

3. Download your chosen Linux Flavor.

4. Download Rufus.

5. Create bootable USB ISO using Rufus and your chosen Linux Flavor ISO.

6. BACK UP ALL OF YOUR IMPORTANT FILES ON AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE OR EXTRA USB FLASH DRIVE.

7. Reboot your PC. Hit ESC as it reboots.

8. Boot from USB Drive.

This is by no means meant to be a permanent replacement for a Windows Computer, but Linux has come a long way. It’s completely open source, but not everything you want in terms of programs are going to be available to you. There’s also a lot to do with installing your programs so be sure to research how to install programs, how to install repositories, etc. This is really meant for people willing to learn new things, or people trying to get away from Windows but do not have enough for a Mac. That being said, Linux is the OS that Google Chromebooks are based off of but Linux is much more in depth and requires a good learning curve.

If you can master Linux, you are ahead in the computer technology race.

And trust me, your command line interface will be your friend.

BUT the point is, if you want to run Linux, you can either get a cheap Raspberry Pie 3 Model B ($35USD just for the motherboard! You can get a complete kit sans Mouse and Keyboard for under 160 and that includes a touch screen monitor, case that can turn it into a tablet like device, heat sinks, Operating System SD card, HDMI cord, and a ton of other things), or you an recycle an old PC that you have that is in good working order but is obsolete (Like say, Windows XP or Windows Vista). 

I did it with an old Dell Studio 540 Slim with a 2.0 gHz Pentium Processor, 2 GB RAM, and a 500 HDD. It originally ran Windows Vista. I deleted Windows Vista and installed OpenSuse, setting it up as not only a computer with a Graphic User Interface hooked up to my TV, but I also set it up to double as a file server. The computer was built in 2008 or 2009 as a top of the line computer specifically to handle the games of the time. My mom had spent about 2500 USD on it, so it seemed like a shame to just junk it after 9 or 10 years, so when Vista went obsolete, my mom gave it to me to help me with school work (I might have also put some work into the machine previously when we had a power surge and I did a better diagnostic than Dell did and was able to fix it - Dell swore it was the motherboard that went bad. I ignored them after arguing for about twenty minutes with them, replaced the power source instead of the motherboard, and haven’t had a single problem out of it since).

These money saving hacks are supposed to allow you to continue to use old equipment or cheap equipment so you may save the money up to buy the appropriate equipment that you really should be using and get the best of the best.

These suggestions are by no means as good as brand new, top of the line equipment, but can go a long way in helping you to save up to afford the equipment you should have to do the jobs that these hacks will let you do.

I will not only be discussing money saving hacks, but a few other computer related aspects as well, and debating the merits of different types of products and why you should save your money up to buy them (if they are worth it).