Every year, my workplace holds a raffle to give away the computers that the IT department is retiring that are still in good working condition. I’ve participated without fail every year since I joined the company in the hopes of getting one of the actually pretty-decent computers for my personal use or a laptop that will get me through a few years of mobile computer usage (aka, writing) now that my old laptop can’t handle running a word processor on top of the OS. Eigth years in a row, I lost. There’s not a lot of computers and this is a popular program. This year, though, I almost missed it because I’ve been so distracted with other stuff going that I forgot about it completely and only managed to sign up at the last minute because the IT department sent out a message saying that not many people had signed up for the raffle. Since it was simple, thanks to the addition of a digital sign-up form, I filled it out and then promptly forgot about it again. I’ve had enough other stuff going on lately that some little lottery I wasn’t going to win didn’t seem like it was worth the mental space it would take to remember it. Which is why I was so surprised when I got the email congratulating me on winning the drawing. It took a little messaging back and forth for me to be certain this wasn’t some kind of scam or phishing attempt (seriously, both the IT and DevOps teams write their emails and messages like some kind of crappy phishing scam), but I was able to fill out the form and go pick up my brand new, 9-year-old-but-refurbished PC.

Now, unfortunately, I have to figure out what to do with it. There is no way, short of essentially rebuilding the entire computer (and it would be better just to redo the whole thing and get better parts) for me to turn it into a low-end gaming PC. I could use it as a server for some online games I play, but the only thing I play in that realm these days is minecraft (and that only theoretically since I haven’t played it in well over year) and I’m not sure this old computer is up for running anything more modern. I could also turn it into some kind of personal media server, but I don’t know where to even begin with that, much less if this computer would be a good fit for it (obviously I’d also need some kind of external hard drive, too, but that’s not a huge barrier for me given how willing I am to splurge on a few terabytes of storage). Beyond that… I have no idea! I have no need for a personal computer since my current one does everything I need and while it would have been appealing to have a lighter, less powerful but more easily moved gaming PC to occasionally travel with, that’s also not something I need. Hell, I’m not sure if I even WANT it. Being forced to go without my PC and Final Fantasy 14 while I’m traveling seems like a healthy thing for me given how forcused I am on the game when I’m at home. I’ve already got plenty of handheld gaming options, especially now with my once-again-growing pile of Switch 2 games, and even more books to read. I don’t need to lug a computer around with me.

I could probably donate it somewhere or give it to a friend who needs ANY kind of computer, but that enters into thorny territory pretty quickly given that I had to sign an agreement that I wasn’t going to sell this device without receiving prior approval from my employer and I’m worried about the ambiguity of giving it away for free thanks to some of the language involved in the agreement. This would probably be the best use of the device, in terms of actually doing something good with it, but I also don’t know anyone who wants a basic computer like this. Everyone either uses their phones or has a much stronger PC (or Mac) these days. I thought about using it as a streaming device, something to run or manage potential game streams from or to use as an upload device for the videos I’ve begun to make, but I’m not sure it’s strong enough to do even that (and my computer is strong enough to handle all that while I’m doing other things with it). I mean, maybe the uploading part since YouTube has probably kept things pretty streamlined and I’m pretty sure most of the strain would go on my internet connection, but this thing is so old that I’m not sure it could even play an HD YouTube video without hiccups. That said, I might be massively underestimating this thing because I did have one just like it for many years at my current job and it worked just fine for everything I tried to do with it. I mean, I watched most of two seasons of Critical Role on it over lunch breaks and that was never an issue.

I need to stay focused on this, whatever I do, because I have a tendency to hoard electronics out of a desire to avoid creating more electronic waste and absolutely do not have the space to keep a useless old Dell tower around unless I’ve got an actual plan in mind for it. Maybe this is the prompting I need to create digital backups of my physical media or physical backups of my digital media. I could use it to bridge the gap between the two. That would also mean I could probably set it up as a digital media server, too, and it sure would be nice to have access to some digital shows now while I’m protesting every streaming service except Dropout TV for one reason or another. I mean, I could pop-in a Blu-Ray or DVD, but I think my PS5 doesn’t like DVDs and none of my DVD compatible players like Blu-Rays and I’m not super interested in needing to get up to change discs around all the time, either. I’ve been suckered in by the convenience of never needing to remember what episode I’m on anymore to the degree that I don’t even think about whether or not I need to change discs between watch sessions now. I’ve booted up so many DVDs of shows I own only to be told that I need to swap to a new DVD because I coincidentally stopped watching at the end of the last episode on the disc and didn’t realize it. It’s a small thing to complain about, but it’s pretty much all I’ve got in terms of things motivating me to actually do something with this old computer, so I might just focus in on that for a while longer, until the small pique I feel drives me to action.