Laptops nowadays can do anything a desktop computer can, some can perform even better, they were created to be a portable computer and are now outselling desktops. New and better laptops are being created every year now, meaning people are upgrading and selling their old laptops or throwing them away, so go and hunt for some broken or used laptops! Of course you can find them on eBay, craigslist, and some sites sell them in bulk for a low price, if your lucky you can find some thrown away around your area on garbage day, i've found a few broken laptops this way.
Laptops has almost everything a desktop has, except it doesn't have any PCI boards or power supply box. It uses a battery to supply its power. Also, older laptops tend to have more metal than newer laptops. Remember, always check if any components on the laptop work! It will always be worth more selling it as is, than selling it as scrap. Here are the components that will fetch you the most money and whats in them. For a more in-depth explanation check Computer E-Scrap
- RAM - Gold Connectors
- Heat Sink - Usually Copper or Aluminum sometimes Brass
- Hard Drive - Aluminum, Steel, Palladium, High Grade Board. Some laptops have internal hard drives.
- Disk Drive - High Grade Board
- AC Adapter - Has a Small Transformer
- CPU - Has Gold
- Motherboard - Has Gold
- Battery Connector - Has Gold
- Mini PCI Wireless Card - Has gold rings
- Antennas - Tips of these wires have gold
- Laptop LCD - Has Copper or Aluminum sheeting
To take apart your laptop start by taking out the covers on the bottom, once you do that it should look like something the picture to the right. The CPU should be under the Heat Sink, and the rest the picture should explain. Now taking out everything.
- RAM - loosen the plastic tabs and pull it out
- Heat Sink - take out the screws and pull it out
- CPU - some laptops have levers to pull and it pops out, and some you have to unscrew 1/4 of the way for it to pop out
- Mini PCI Wireless Card - take out the antennas and loosen the plastic tabs and pull it out. Throw this in with your high grade boards pile.
- Hard Drive - It should come out just by taking it out and then pulling it out. If that makes sense? But you'll know what I mean.
- Disk Drive - There should be a tab that you can push, and the tab should pop out when pushed, then you pull the tab and the disk drive should come out too
- Motherboard - To take this out, you have to take out the rest of the screws on the bottom of the laptop, and then just rip out the whole cover by force, it should be easy, now just take out the rest of the screws and wires connecting it to the LCD and take out the motherboard.
- Antennas - You can just rip these out easily and cut off the gold tips, I usually throw these in with my gold fingers pile.
- Battery Connector - This is the piece on the motherboard that connected the battery, you can cut this out. I throw this in with my gold fingers pile.
- AC Adapter - This is Kind of Like the power supply in desktops for Laptops, you can throw this into pile #6 and further scrap it.
- LCD - Now I don't think the LCD has any value unless it works, correct me if i'm wrong, but it does have some antennas and copper or aluminum sheeting that you can take out. It should look like something like the bottom picture when you take everything out connected to it.
Now that you've taken everything out you should sort it out for selling. Check out the computer E-scrap guide to see how sort and sell these items for the most money. Now go and have fun scrapping your laptop!