What should a business do with its old computers?

Every office has that cupboard: a few laptops from 2019, a desktop that stopped booting years ago, and a pile of chargers nobody can match to anything. Before ordering new machines, it is worth deciding what happens to the old ones. There are five main options.

1. Keep them in the cupboard

Easy, common and the most expensive in the long run. The machines lose value every month, and each one still holds company data: email, files, saved browser passwords.

2. Sell them yourself

Photos, listings, dozens of messages, meetings and haggling, and making sure the data is really gone before a stranger walks off with the laptop. Fine for one machine; for ten or twenty, the hours usually cost more than the price difference.

3. Donate them

A good gesture, as long as the machines are still useful and the data is wiped properly first.

4. Recycle them

The right path for machines that are truly finished. But plenty of equipment businesses consider worthless, faulty units included, still has trade-in value.

5. Trade them in

Hand the old machines to your supplier and get credit toward the new equipment. With ITStore trade-in: free pickup anywhere in Israel, lab inspection within 1-2 business days, an itemised quote per machine, and credit you can use on any brand. Decline and we return the machines at no cost. Business customers only; for Apple we accept Apple Silicon (M1 and later) only.

What about the data?

Deleting folders and emptying the bin is not a wipe; most of it can be recovered with free tools. Every machine that leaves the business needs a full, unrecoverable wipe. In our trade-in each computer is wiped and you get a deletion certificate with its serial number.

Before a computer leaves the office

1. Back up what you need and check the backup opens.
2. Remove it from Apple ID, Microsoft account and MDM.
3. Release software licences tied to the machine.
4. Record the serial number.
5. Wipe it fully and keep a record.
6. Collect chargers and accessories.

Replacing several machines anyway? Tie selling the old ones to buying the new ones. See our business computing equipment, or send us a list for a no-obligation quote.

Read next: when to replace business computers and wiping data before a computer leaves the business.