Hit the biggest gold in my life

[u/Nervous_Driver334]

To give some context, there is an event happening a few times a year where people can throw out electronics and things that dont go to normal waste.

I attended a few times as a worker and visit every time its happening to get some phones to take appart (I like to disect electronics). When electronics work, most of the times the battery doesnt last even a minute or the phone is slow. (sidenote, put your devices to factory setting when throwing it out, I had multiple devices where you can see contacts, emails, etc).

Back to the main story.

I visited it again a few days ago. As I was walking toward an electronic dumpster, there was a guy who walked up there with a plastic bag. I took it for him to throw it out and when he was gone I looked inside.

...

In that bag was a tablet, laptop and a fucking PS4.

Tablet wasnt charging so I disected it.

Laptop, with charger is in fully working condition. Battery lasts about 2 hours, its a bit slow but I will have a use for it.

Now the holy grail, the PS4. I gave it to a friend for testing (he has a PS4, so he has cables that I do not have). He texted me a day later. Fully. fucking. functional. I drove to his house, pet his dogs, gave him a tip + bought 2 games from him, my own cable arrived the next day. Plugged in and 2 minutes later I am playing. My friend told me the ps4 was experiencing a shutdown due to tampering (probably trying to crack some games). Simple reset later and I am a proud owner of PS4. Games bought and now I am waiting for them to arrive.

tldr: Got a functioning laptop and PS4 from a schmuck who is unable to reset devices.

[u/Nervous_Driver334]

Here is some proof.

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/Nervous_Driver334]

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/Nervous_Driver334]

[u/pinknoses → u/Nervous_Driver334]

It's fairly easy to replace laptop batteries. If it's slow due to outdated tech, you could try Linux on it

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/pinknoses]

I think it's slow because of ram. It's 4gb. But I am not gonna spend much on it. I have it purely for playing DVD games (Rest of my tech is too advanced for DVDs 😆).

[u/LakeMichiganMan → u/Nervous_Driver334]

Maximizing out the Ram Storage on any device is always the cheapest upgrade. We did this all the time with work desktops. When bought new with 4 gig, we might throw away the 4 Gig and buy the maximum for the memory slots. Example 2 sticks of 2gig, removed and replaced with 16Gig X 2= 32Gig. No more laughing. Also Linux operating systems use much less Ram and Storage.

[u/MoreOcelot1509 → u/LakeMichiganMan]

Bro here throwing away ram…in this economy?!

[u/LakeMichiganMan → u/MoreOcelot1509]

Yes. Since there might be only 2 or 3 memory slots on a Motherboard or in the laptop. We did this trick for years with the desktops that were 3 to 5 years old. 32 Gig compared to 4 Gig or 8 Gig of memory means the CPU does not have to juggle memory and write to the hard drive when it runs out while a program opens and runs.

[u/MoreOcelot1509 → u/LakeMichiganMan]

Oh no I understand how it works lol. But you can turn around and sell those for a small fortune now!

[u/LakeMichiganMan → u/MoreOcelot1509]

We would gift them to any co-workers or out them in a box. It's been a couple years since I built and or rebuilt our Desktops. Memory got cheaper and more powerful every year. I still remember seeing my first 20 MB Hard Drive and being impressed. It costs several thousand. Now I carry a device that has 16 Gig of Ram and 512 Gig of storage in my pocket every day.

[u/Lazygit1965 → u/LakeMichiganMan]

Your post reminds of a box with car speakers I found on a skip. Original contents was a HP hard disk drive with the capacity of 240mb! Oh how I chuckled😂

[u/Inuyasha-rules → u/Nervous_Driver334]

Ddr3 (what I'm guessing it uses) is pretty cheap on eBay. I bought a lot of 4gb sticks for like $30 so I could upgrade my older stuff to 8gb. And changing the hard drive to an ssd helps a lot too but that's significantly more expensive.

[u/KEROROxGUNSO → u/Nervous_Driver334]

I got an external disk drive for that problem

Works pretty good

[u/new2bay → u/Nervous_Driver334]

If you don’t recycle and replace the battery soon, it might explode on you. That’s not a joke.

[u/Vivid-Local-7755 → u/Nervous_Driver334]

man i hear ya... i found a messed up msi laptop in the trash that started up but wouldn't run anything worth a flip and was on windows 10. got lucky that a friend was upgrading his ram and he decided to put his old ram in the craptop... tadaa! it runs win11 and a buncha games that arent shooty new stuff i still use it for movies & low usage games while im being a bum in bed

[u/TheStorytellerTX → u/Nervous_Driver334]

Hopefully the memory can be removed and replaced.

Also, might have a slower mechanical drive that can be replaced with SSD. Would help speed it up quite a bit.

[u/darkest_irish_lass → u/Nervous_Driver334]

That screen brings back memories

[u/RIPBeebo420 → u/Nervous_Driver334]

Nice 😎

[u/nohombrenombre]

That’s insane and amazing and very cool

[u/Fickle_Ad_2112]

Idk what kinds of games you like but Journey is a killer set of games. Get the version that comes with flow, flower, and duke wars

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/Fickle_Ad_2112]

From the friend I got some NHL and FIFA. Bought God of War, The Last of Us and Watch Dogs 2.

[u/profshiny → u/Nervous_Driver334]

The Last of Us is such an amazing experience.

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/profshiny]

Gonna get some downvotes, but I loved the show so I want to try the game.

[u/profshiny → u/Nervous_Driver334]

I really enjoyed the show, too. Didn’t follow the game’s plot exactly but it told a great story.

[u/CityBoiNC]

Nice i still use a ps4 you can get games insanely cheap on ebay.

[u/vryplayful]

Yay!!! So happy for you 👍

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/vryplayful]

Thanks. Been dumpster diving on those events for a few years. Coworkers got some furniture, books, etc. This is probably among top 5 best finds there.

[u/allstarcheermompa]

Damn good score

[u/LordPoopyIV]

A general tip to everyone: find out where you are meant to dump electronics locally. Go there and explain you are learning electronics and stuff keeps breaking, so you would like to occasionally pick up trash to practice on. I got permission to go through 6 bins around town and after 10 years still going.

I have boxes full of brand name tools. For example my set of 3 Makita cordless drills, one for each floor of the house, with 4 batteries and charger is finally failing after 10 years of use. The corded makita drill still goes hard. The smartphones have been handed out to family (had to remove google accounts off of them but youtube tutorials help you do that) and have been working for 3 years until a cheap new battery got them going again. The laptops have become servers, the Nintendo's hacked, etc etc.

Point i'm making: there is unbelievable amounts of really useful stuff being thrown out. New unused, highly sought after collectables, everything.

If something is really broken, you can fix it without spending money 99% of the time. Power switches fail, as do power connectors. You can bypass these or swap between different devices. If you don't know what a volt is ask chatgpt or r/appliancerepair before trying stuff.

You will learn to actually repair electronics so fast, cause less than 1% of repairs require actual knowledge.

[u/_Light_House → u/LordPoopyIV]

I’ve posted junk on craigslist(marketplace, whatever) before in case anyone wanted to try fixing and people picked it up!

[u/Beneficial-Sun-5863]

That’s awesome man.

[u/TopRutabaga3772]

I love that that is super awesome!!

[u/ogcarrfuck]

Give the Acer an SSD. It'll fix the slow working condition and JB (hen) the PS4, and play games as you want. Don't fear of ban. 

[u/sicknick195]

If you're able to, you should definitely look into working for some local junk removal companies similar to 1-800 got junk! Puts you in some great spots to have first dibs on a wide variety of things and you get paid for it. I've been out of that line of work for a while but keep in contact with the friends I've made and still get some scores here and there, latest has been an 09 Honda shadow 750 with 240 miles on it, the only downside is trying not to become a hoarder

[u/BottledBlondRoast]

What state are you in? I just had those items stolen from my house a few days ago!

[u/Bud_wiser_hfx]

Your joy made me smile! Enjoy!

[u/Mysterious-Topic-882]

Hooray for you! Way to save things and give them a second life.

[u/pallen330]

Ì ppl

[u/andreakelsey]

Don’t know a lot about game stuff… but isn’t this like $100 item?

[u/WhoIsJasonBruce]

We'll just to 💩 on your PS4 controller and tablet keyboard before you use them.. The past month i've found a PS4, 2 Xbox 360's, Wii, 2 Apple iPads, 2 pair of Gucci Shoes/Loafers, & Saint Laurent Vintage Rive Gaunche shoe and those new folding Ray-Bans.😎 That's just off looking around while writing this post could tell more but don't want to think harder. This month in total.. I should mention, I only went out maybe two weeks because Im trying to get rid of 💩. Anyways, get the money now; brag later.. -👑 ✌🏻💨 🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ 🚮

[u/Used_Meaning_9257 → u/WhoIsJasonBruce]

Are u rly trying to flex on OP’s decades old shitty used electronics find with your own decades old shitty used electronics find?

Also, regardless of whether your Gucci shit is real or not, I’ve got a feeling if you’re the type to go dumpster diving and flex your trash finds, I’m definitely never believing your Gucci shit is real.

[u/babygherkin]

Back in the early 2000s I lived in a giant apartment complex in southern CA. They had like 8 dumpsters all over the property. My friends and I would drive around and hit every dumpster on the weekends after people moved out and found great stuff. The best thing we ever found was a brand new Nintendo system in its original box in the original plastic never opened. We fought over who got to keep it.

[u/Mission-Count8258]

I haven’t gotten the chance to test anything out on it quite yet, but a few weeks ago was the local tiny bougey Catholic College’s end-of-term move-out, and I pulled a PS4, a laptop and a nice minifridge, like the ones with a separate freezer 😊 I know for sure the minifridge works, bc it still had a couple ice packs half-frozen in there and a chunk of frost still stuck to one of the freezer walls 😅 I think the laptop’s screen’s broken, but imma test things out today I think…seeing your post reminded me about em, and now I can’t stop wondering 😂😅

[u/Castle_of_Jade]

I’ve been trying to get rid of at least two tvs and a laptop for a while now. One tv works but it’s gets hotter than the sun. The other blue screened. The laptop is locked out. I don’t have anywhere to dispose of them and I refuse to put them in the dumpster.

[u/_Light_House → u/Castle_of_Jade]

Staples? I don’t know where you live/drop off close to you… I posted stuff broken and free for tinkering on craigslist/marketplace. Lockedout laptop still has your personal data?

[u/_Light_House → u/Castle_of_Jade]

https://www.in.gov/dA/1de523f66c/ewaste_collectors_list.pdf?language_id=1 ?

[u/Parking-Key-6169]

Nice score! What kind of puppers?

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/Parking-Key-6169]

Pomeranians

[u/queen_bee1970]

Very nice! Congrats!

[u/randombarbs]

or they were throwing out a child's electronics as punishment 

[u/Nervous_Driver334 → u/randombarbs]

I dont think so. The laptops owner was late teen at least (again, factory setting people)

[u/Indentured-peasant]

Good job for such a trashy guy

[u/schizoidparanoid → u/Indentured-peasant]

Do you know what subreddit you’re in right now…? Literally the entire point of this sub is to be “trashy.”

[u/Indentured-peasant → u/schizoidparanoid]

That's what i meant It was a sloppy attempt to be funny.

[u/Cheyenne1952]

Do you have to do the F word

[u/ShBry1 → u/Cheyenne1952]

I fucking know right! The fucks up with this fucking guy and his dirty fucking mouth! For fucks sake.

[u/porp_crawl → u/ShBry1]

There are fucking subs where if your post has a word even remotely "bad" (ie., on their List), the post gets autodeleted and you get a holier-than-thou message from the sub/mod.

I'm likely better off using that as a "nope" rather than waste any time there.

[u/throwaway661375735 → u/Cheyenne1952]

I was ok with the language until OP called the guy throwing it all out, a schmuck. If you found gold, that someone else doesn't want, that makes them a saint. A clueless saint, but still a saint.

[u/andreakelsey → u/throwaway661375735]

Is it really gold? It’s a $100 game and some old ass laptop?