Obsolete technology really bothers me.
Today I'm considering the fate of the following:
1 - 15" Dell CRT Monitor, still works great
1 - 17" Dell CRT Monitor, still works great
1 - Gateway computer tower, runs Windows 2000, has a CD drive, a DVD drive, a floppy drive and a Zip Drive
1 - Blue and White G3 Mac
I think the next hazardous disposal in our town isn't until October, but these are slated to go. What bothers me the most is that, at one time, each of these were top-of-the line machines that cost a fortune and made huge profits for the companies that put them out. Now they're just wasted space. I've replaced them with a larger flat panel Dell monitor, so Dell continues to make money, even though everything they've made before 2009 is obsolete.
That's not right. Why are we, the consumers, responsible for disposing of these highly toxic machines, when we didn't make them, and we did not profit from their purchase? Dell (to name one, but all computer manufacturers) should be charged with buying back obsolete equipment, and disposing/recycling them at their own expense. It may cut into their profits in the short run, but it would be a better solution that what we have now.
I tried for a month now to obtain a converter so that I could at least attach a DVD player to the larger monitor. The converters themselves are hard to find (no brick-and-mortar company has one, they're only online), and cost almost as much as the DVD player does. I have newer monitors, so it's not really a necessity, I just hate wasting something that cost that much money.
And I stub my toes on them a lot when I walk around my apartment :( --JB
