What's the point in breaking down laptops?

[aph]

I am majorly confused.
I get the point of breaking stuff down for better value.
But laptops are a pain in the lower back. Took almost 1 1/2 hours yesterday for one to break down with electric drill and all.
For the little that comes out of it it seems not worth it due to the 'time is money' idea.
Strangely the local e-waste buyer pays more for laptops per lbs than desktops/towers.
Is there something I am missing?
TIA
Martin

[mthomasdev]

I am majorly confused.
I get the point of breaking stuff down for better value.
But laptops are a pain in the lower back. Took almost 1 1/2 hours yesterday for one to break down with electric drill and all.
For the little that comes out of it it seems not worth it due to the 'time is money' idea.
Strangely the local e-waste buyer pays more for laptops per lbs than desktops/towers.
Is there something I am missing?
TIA
Martin

Yes!
A good screen is worth at least $4. Good 2 gb laptop memory is $4 a stick. Good hard drive are a dollar and up. Battery is $0.70 or more a pound. Take the items you can and sell the rest as either incomplete or complete depending on your buyer. Strongly suggest you check out the buyers here.

[mikeinreco]

I am paying double on laptops compared to desktop scrap

[junkfreak]

This is why researching archives is so beneficial.
That said I learned the hard way too! Lol
A lesson learned is knowledge.

[aph]

Thanks for the replies.
I figured it's a numbers game.
Obviously some stuff breaks down faster and easier than others.
I guess sometime soon when I have a few dozen laptops I higher someone on a pay per piece basis for them.

[matador]

I'll pull RAM and HDDs for more than scrap value, and some screens. As for complete disassemble, though, I don't.

It's much quicker and easier to pull a stick of RAM than to tear the whole machine apart.

[webuyselltradestuff]

ALWAYS ALWAYS check Ebay for the model you are breaking down...you can sell them as a PARTS machine many times for a SIGNIFICANT amount more than scrap value. If it boots, even the screen can be worth $10-20 with the rest stripped...again as parts.

ALWAYS check stuf 1st there before tearing it apart...many times it is FAR FAR more profitable...and saves you time.

[grouchyolddude]

I am majorly confused.
I get the point of breaking stuff down for better value.
But laptops are a pain in the lower back. Took almost 1 1/2 hours yesterday for one to break down with electric drill and all.
For the little that comes out of it it seems not worth it due to the 'time is money' idea.
Strangely the local e-waste buyer pays more for laptops per lbs than desktops/towers.
Is there something I am missing?
TIA
Martin

Ive ran into a cpl of those laptops... >

[NewbyScrapper]

Ive ran into a cpl of those laptops... >

I run OVER them with a '76 El Camino, if the screen is toast

[Scrappah]

I would say do twenty or thirty breakdowns yourself and then run the numbers to see what the return is for the time invested.

Laptop screens should be tested for functionality before you ship them. A good one can return 4.00$ but one that tests bad on the other end is probably worth less than 20 cents. ( you'd take a net loss on shipping. )

The failure rate for laptop drives is pretty high. Even if they spin up many have cyclic redundancy check errors due to a head crash into the platter. They should be wiped & tested before you ship them.

The big thing that spoils the fun is that laptops tend to get accidentally knocked over while they're powered on. It only takes one fall to destroy the screen & HDD and that's where most of the scrap value is.

Best to do a trial run before paying someone to do breakdowns.

[directrecycle]

as you get more experienced tearing them apart the time it takes becomes significantly less

[jimicrk]

I scrap PC's, laptops and phone systems and some of the phones have very small boards. A Nortel M7208 phone has a small board and it takes 12 to make a pound and maybe 20 minutes to take apart 12. Current prices for that grade of board are around 1.20 to 1.50 a pound.

I brought home an old NEC PBX the other day after the new phone system was installed. It has 43 circuit boards in it and from the weight and grade I will get about 5 dollars for each board. I’m guessing it might take 30 minutes to remove the boards and plastic tabs and pack them in a box ready to sell. So that’s 215 dollars in 30 minutes.

The point I’m trying to make is you can’t take 1 laptop apart, or 30 and say it’s not worth it. You need other types of really good scrap to make up for the crap.

[jimicrk]

Here's another example for you.

I just spent an hour breaking down a small NEC phone system with 16 phones and a small battery backup.

There are about 12 dollars worth of circuit boards, insulated copper wire, batteries and steel.

Sometimes it might only be 5 in an hour or it might be 500.

It all depends on the kind and amount of scrap you get.

[Scrappah]

Just an opinion: E-waste is a specialty but i really don't see it as being any different than any other kind of scrapping. If you go into it with the expectation that it's long hours and hard work for a very modest gain you won't be disappointed. From time to time you hear about somebody finding a diamond in the rough but that's really more the exception than the rule.

Definitely not a get rich quick opportunity !

[jimicrk]

Just an opinion: E-waste is a specialty but i really don't see it as being any different than any other kind of scrapping. If you go into it with the expectation that it's long hours and hard work for a very modest gain you won't be disappointed. From time to time you hear about somebody finding a diamond in the rough but that's really more the exception than the rule.

Definitely not a get rich quick opportunity !

I totally agree. Long hours and hard work.

I'm still looking for that legendary ounce of gold in the PC's I scrap.

[travistemple202020]

when your prepared with the right tools and the right mind set things go fast. 8hrs goes real quick and gains are amazing. it takes me less than 5min sometimes 7 if its old or has many screws to change up, using a small finger held precision electric screw driver that I finally broke down last month and bought a couple of them for different sizes and a full rage of bits and cutting heads. I love laptops I get butt loads of them off people not willing to tear them down or buy them in auctions for that same reason.
even with smaller board for newer models most on here still pay, $4 screen, $2 board, 50cents hard drive, 20cents processor, 15cents for wifi cards, 10cents for dvd/rom drive. this is for bare bones lower end low weight laptops I get the most of for scrap. that's roughly $7 laptop at least 10 per hour to do for $70hr even minus over head its great money to tear them down if your prepared but this is for lower end of the spectrum and not even resale on items