what happens to old hardware from LMG projects?

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

after watching this video:

in which Linus just ripped apart a vintage Mac with his bare hands, i'm wondering, what happens to old hardware in general once it's been used for projects?

 

for example, the sleeper featured here:

before it was gutted, looked to have some off the shelf hardware in it that could be used to make a sick retro gaming build. even if the system as a whole didn't work when LTT tested it. like, say the PSU is dead. the floppy drives, gpu, cpu, and maybe the board if it's standard can still be of use to someone.

 

so, when old pc's/hardware is gutted to make a sleeper, does that hardware end up on eBay so that someone like me who is in to vintage hardware can get to enjoy it, or does it get the treatment the PowerMac in the first video got (basically being ripped apart by force)?

 

i'm very curious of this, considering that selling the hardware on ebay is in LMG's best interest. they could just take a picture of all parts, list it as a bunch of retro hardware, and if it sells LMG makes a few dollars. i understand not individually listing all components on ebay, but there is no excuse IMO for not just listing it as a bunch of vintage hardware.

[Master Disaster]

I would assume that anything working is added to inventory and warehoused for future projects. Makes sense to keep hold of old working hardware IMO.

[vanished]

When the value of parts is so low, it's not really worth their time to sell it frankly.  That, plus they could use it for other projects means they're probably just storing it all away.  Unless it got to the point where the cost of the floor space to hold it was worth more than the item itself, they would probably just keep it all.

[Windows7ge]

To my knowledge Linus stockpiles it in the warehouse like how he does his data hording addiction.

 

Never know when he might have a use for it.

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

When the value of parts is so low, it's not really worth their time to sell it frankly.  That, plus they could use it for other projects means they're probably just storing it all away.  Unless it got to the point where the cost of the floor space to hold it was worth more than the item itself, they would probably just keep it all.

I imagine the amount of times Linus has chucked something out or sold it on only to need the exact thing again in the future is probably in triple digits by now. It always happens, you throw something out thinking you'll never need it then a few months later you need the exact thing you chucked away and end up having to buy one.

[Enderman]

They have an entire warehouse filled with old hardware that they reuse for future projects.

They rarely sell anything.

[MrFixitBlankFace]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

They have an entire warehouse filled with old hardware that they reuse for future projects.

They rarely sell anything.

Which is sad.

They should really give away stuff...

[Enderman]

8 minutes ago, MrFixitBlankFace said:

Which is sad.

They should really give away stuff...

It's a business not a charity.

[Euchre]

8 minutes ago, Enderman said:

It's a business not a charity.

How much did you pay to join the forum?

 

They don't sell hardware. They sell branded merch. They sell your eyes and ears to advertisers. Leftover stuff that they used in projects are already paid for, one way or another. They could sell them, but that's not really the business they're in, and giving some things away to the people that make them their money is a good way to make them feel involved.

[cafe]

3 minutes ago, Euchre said:

How much did you pay to join the forum?

 

They don't sell hardware. They sell branded merch. They sell your eyes and ears to advertisers. Leftover stuff that they used in projects are already paid for, one way or another. They could sell them, but that's not really the business they're in, and giving some things away to the people that make them their money is a good way to make them feel involved.

the forum is very disconnected to the youtube channel

[Euchre]

1 minute ago, RelativeMono said:

the forum is very disconnected to the youtube channel

Over on the right, every new video shows up the moment it is up on YouTube. There's a thread for every one of them. They ask for input on videos on this very forum. They suggest you join in many of the videos.

 

It is only as disconnected as you let yourself feel it is. LMG is a well organized enterprise, and produces respectable products.

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, Euchre said:

Over on the right, every new video shows up the moment it is up on YouTube. There's a thread for every one of them. They ask for input on videos on this very forum. They suggest you join in many of the videos.

 

It is only as disconnected as you let yourself feel it is. LMG is a well organized enterprise, and produces respectable products.

To give an example of how it really is disconnected, hackintosh.  It's changed now but for a long time we banned any discussion of how to make one on the forum, which made it real awkward when they'd make videos showing the whole process lol

[harryk]

10 minutes ago, Euchre said:

How much did you pay to join the forum?

 

They don't sell hardware. They sell branded merch. They sell your eyes and ears to advertisers. Leftover stuff that they used in projects are already paid for, one way or another. They could sell them, but that's not really the business they're in, and giving some things away to the people that make them their money is a good way to make them feel involved.

Giveaways are much harder than you might think. Each country and even state has its own laws regarding gambling and giveaways which LMG would have to figure out. Then you have to pay to actually ship the item. Then depending on destination there is VAT and import taxes. In the end it winds up costing much more than its worth to just give out free stuff. There was a situation which Kyle (Bitwit) recently discussed where he ended up paying more than the PC's value to ship it overseas to the winner. 

 

https://twitter.com/bitwitkyle/status/1148813635692576768

[Enderman]

33 minutes ago, Euchre said:

How much did you pay to join the forum?

 

They don't sell hardware. They sell branded merch. They sell your eyes and ears to advertisers. Leftover stuff that they used in projects are already paid for, one way or another. They could sell them, but that's not really the business they're in, and giving some things away to the people that make them their money is a good way to make them feel involved.

1) The leftover stuff from projects is reused, many many times. Maybe they are doing a roundup of the past 10 generations of CPUs, maybe they are doing a retro build, etc. They need all their old hardware.

 

2) They do giveaways once in a while, big ones, not just a small component or whatever that isn't worth their effort. Most of the time they partner with companies to do the giveaway so that they don't have to handle all the BS logistics with taxes and regulations and lost shipments.

 

3) Occasionally linus will sell something to get money back, but only when it's actually woth the time or effort. For example his old motorcycle, and some expensive kickstarter project iirc. They are busy filming over 10 videos a week, it is not worth their time to make a few hundred bucks from selling low value hardware.

 

4) Selling a regular supply of brand new stocked merchandise through their own store is not the same as selling random used components through a third party website like ebay.

 

5) I already mentioned it is a business. They cannot just give you a random computer part like just any of your school friends. There are many regulations on businesses that they need to follow for any kind of material exchange or giveaway. If they break a law they could have their business license revoked.

[Slayerking92]

1 hour ago, Enderman said:

3) Occasionally linus will sell something to get money back, but only when it's actually woth the time or effort. For example his old motorcycle, and some expensive kickstarter project iirc. They are busy filming over 10 videos a week, it is not worth their time to make a few hundred bucks from selling low value hardware.

 

There is currently a server motherboard for sale on the LTT store.  I forget which project this one was used for.  8 gamers?

 

[cafe]

1 hour ago, Euchre said:

Over on the right, every new video shows up the moment it is up on YouTube. There's a thread for every one of them. They ask for input on videos on this very forum. They suggest you join in many of the videos.

 

It is only as disconnected as you let yourself feel it is. LMG is a well organized enterprise, and produces respectable products.

theres no discussion, even linus considers it disconnected.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

10 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

I would assume that anything working is added to inventory and warehoused for future projects. Makes sense to keep hold of old working hardware IMO.

 

9 hours ago, Enderman said:

They have an entire warehouse filled with old hardware that they reuse for future projects.

They rarely sell anything.

if he stockpiles it why would he tear that G5 apart that likely had a bunch of working parts in it?

[lewdicrous]

The hardware is either stored for future projects or it's sold internally (or externally)

[Master Disaster]

9 minutes ago, Twilight said:

 

if he stockpiles it why would he tear that G5 apart that likely had a bunch of working parts in it?

Because almost nothing inside that machine was standardised. It was all proprietary and therefore useless.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Because almost nothing inside that machine was standardised. It was all proprietary and therefore useless.

it's not useless to a collector of those systems. he could have taken it apart normally and sold the parts he no longer needed.

[MrJrCookie]

They part it, so they can reuse it. I think

[mariushm]

Some parts are given away at fan meetups and various events.

 

Most are probably kept in warehouse in case they need to reuse them at some point in the future.

A lot of things are given to them by companies, so they may not be allowed to sell them.

 

Also in regards to first post... the components in that computer were by no means very rare, hard to find, you can search for them on eBay and various other places and it's not difficult to source such components.

If you expect LTT to put such things for sale after some period, what if they need to revisit the video a year later and build such a system again?

Also, you're forgetting they're not a Chinese eBay seller capable of doing free shipping? People are complaining about shipping costs on a t-shirt or a mug on the LTT store, how much you think heavier hardware's gonna cost to ship?

It often may not be  worth their time to list some hardware in their store, only to get complaints about same product being cheaper on eBay.

 

I would be upset if LTT were to buy a very rare component, like 1 out of 100 or 1000 out there in the world and they damage it or mod it...

 

[Master Disaster]

39 minutes ago, Twilight said:

it's not useless to a collector of those systems. he could have taken it apart normally and sold the parts he no longer needed.

You're talking a few dollars per part at the most, its really not worth his time to worry about it.

[The_Prycer]

It is added to the pile so that Linus may one day finish constructing a castle from PC components. 

[TheOnlyKirst]

On 10/17/2019 at 10:11 AM, The_Prycer said:

It is added to the pile so that Linus may one day finish constructing a castle from PC components. 

the ultimate goal!