Sending old PCs to Africa

[Steve]

When a PC can't load the latest application in a split second, or the newest games don't play at the framerates we would like, we either upgrade components, or build/buy a whole new PC. Those of us who might throw that unneeded computer away should be aware that it can be send away to be refurbished and then forwarded on to give it a new life in Africa, Latin America or Easter Europe.

For those without the opportunity to use a computer at all, even an old PC is going to be immensely useful. You don't need hyperthreading or a gigabyte of RAM to use OpenOffice.org or some cheap/free office package.

The BBC's Click Online has a story on one company taking our unwanted computers and sending them on to places like Africa.

After-school computer lessons and clubs, which use the newly arrived PCs, are proving popular.

"The computers really have improved the education technology because we no longer write in class, we come and put our notes into computers," said Sammy Okombe, a pupil at Kilgoris Secondary School.

So, what will you do when you next want to get rid of a computer?

[iranu]

Minimum Specs for Computer Aid International http://www.computer-aid.org/home.htm

Pentium II Processor rated at 233 Mhz upwards
Celeron processor 266 Mhz and above.
AMD K6 Processor 300MHz and above.

Monitors should be RGB (Colour VGA) 15" or 17". We cannot accept monitors larger than 17".

We are in great need of power cables, keyboards and mice.

We also will accept other peripherals and spare parts including:

IDE Hard disks greater than 2GB, CDROM/DVD ROM Drives, CD Writers, multimedia peripherals, USB devices/cables, multimedia cards (Video, capture etc), Modems, Sound Cards any blank media etc.