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Planning a fleet refresh? Tell us early

· By The Computerbank team

Most organisations replace their laptops and desktops every four or five years. That's a sensible cycle for a busy workplace, but it means we often hear from a donor once and then not again for years. By the time the next refresh comes around, the person who arranged the last donation has often moved on, and the old fleet ends up in a skip or with a broker instead.

So here's a simple ask: if you know a refresh is coming, tell us now.

Why an early heads-up helps

  • We can plan the handover. Collection depends on quantity and distance, so knowing ahead of time lets us sort out drop-off or collection without a last-minute scramble.

  • We can tell you what's worth sending. Give us rough quantities and specs and we'll tell you what we can refurbish and what is only good for recycling.

  • Your paperwork is ready when you need it. A data destruction receipt and a list of what we received, for your asset register.

  • The contact survives the refresh cycle. If your IT or facilities team changes before the next round, we'll still know to get in touch.

What we take

From businesses, schools and government we take laptops and desktops of any brand, monitors, tablets and mobile phones, and surplus hard drives and components. We can't take printers, scanners, loose cables, TVs or other electrical appliances.

Older machines are welcome. Larger refurbishing programs usually only want recent hardware, but if it still runs Linux well, we can put it back to work. If you're not sure your fleet is worth refurbishing, ask anyway. We'd rather tell you than have it go to landfill.

Where it goes

Every drive is securely wiped. Our volunteers rebuild each machine with Linux and more than 70 free applications, then sell it at low cost to concession card holders, students, asylum seekers and community groups. What can't be refurbished is recycled locally. Read how the whole process works.

Get in touch

Even if your refresh is a year or more away, let us know what you have and roughly when, or call us on (03) 9600 9161 during opening hours. We'll usually come back to you within a couple of working days.