How to Prepare Your Laptop Before Donating

You Don't Need to Be a Tech Wizard

Donating your old laptop? Brilliant. You don't need to do anything fancy — we handle the hard stuff (like certified data wiping) at our end. But if you want to get it ready, here's a quick 10-minute checklist.

Step 1: Back Up Anything You Want to Keep

Photos, documents, that folder of recipes you've been hoarding since 2019 — copy them to a USB stick, external drive, or upload to Google Drive / OneDrive. Once it's donated, it's gone for good.

Step 2: Sign Out of Everything

Log out of your email, browser, and any apps. Don't forget the sneaky ones:

• Google Chrome — Settings → "Sign out"
• Microsoft Office — File → Account → Sign out
• iCloud — System Preferences → Apple ID → Sign Out
• Spotify, Netflix, etc. — sign out from each app

Step 3: Remove iCloud Lock / Find My Device

This is the biggie. If your MacBook still has "Find My Mac" turned on, we can't refurbish it. Go to System Preferences → Apple ID → iCloud → turn off Find My Mac. For Windows, go to Settings → Accounts → remove your Microsoft account.

Step 4: Leave the Charger In (If You Have It)

A laptop without a charger is like a car without keys. If you've still got the power cable, chuck it in the box. It massively increases the chance the laptop gets reused rather than recycled for parts.

Step 5: Give It a Quick Wipe Down

A damp cloth on the keyboard and screen goes a long way. Nobody wants to open a box and find crumbs from 2021. A clean laptop = a happy recipient.

That's It — We Handle the Rest

Once we receive your laptop, our team runs a certified data destruction process (NIST 800-88 standard) on every single drive. You'll get a destruction certificate as proof. Then we refurbish it and send it to someone who needs it — a student, a family, a community group. Your old laptop gets a second life. Zero effort from you.