If you don't know much about hardware, you can take it apart and learn from the process. Also, mess with your OS, learn new things, break it (in a million ways) and try to fix it. When you're done with it, donate it.

This model? http://www.miniputer.com/Acer/Aspire_3620.html

If it has less than 1GB of RAM it is pretty useless.Ensure your laptop has the latest BIOS https://www.acer.com/ac/en/ID/content/support-product/114;-; before changing to Linux (32bit!!!!!!!), if you do.

It is newer than my laptop... but not a lot.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/27146/intel-celeron-m-processor-380-1m-cache-1-60-ghz-400-mhz-fsb.html

Single core processor makes it no fun to use but it should work for DOSBox.

That was my first thought, but my second thought was that the laptop will likely break before the nut, unless the steel part of the hinge is at the edge of the case (and even then, the lever will probably bend without applying enough pressure).

It's always good to have backup hardware for when your main PC "breaks".

Thanks all for the input.

I have LOTS of backup already ;)

That exact model. 2Gb DDR2 and Intel Celeron M 740 1.7GHz. This thing is a pig even back in the day but it served the purpose over the years.
It had Linux Mint and Puppy Linux installed for a while but now it´s back to XP

I don´t know much, I can repair basic stuff but there is nothing inside I am curious with, I´ve take apart and put it back together 5 or 6 times during the laptop lifetime for routine maintenace...
Also, whenever I want to break my OS (wich happens from time to time) I usually use a new windows install on the desktop. This thing is too slow for internet browsing nowadays, no streaming also. That´s what raspberry is for, and my desktop :D Is too slow for that. Actually I gave it to a older family lady a few years ago but nowadays is painfull to watch someone trying to open facebook and scroll down, so I gave her a more modern dektop (bought 2 Lenovo m57 sff for 25 euros and 2 intel q6600 from Ebay for like 15) since she already had the monitor and keyboard/mouse. That´s why I have the laptop again :D This is a good idea since it has DVD drive and I have a nice collection of music cd's. I'm currently building a set of speakers for fun, might merge the 2 projects I´m not sure this can handle anything above NES, even SNES I have doubts. Thought of install something like batocera/recalbox and donate to some kids to play like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter etc. But the problem is kids I know only care about fortnite and being cool, not about retro games.
And TBH, a raspberry pi would suit much better the emulation task, the problem is raspberry doesn't have a 14" screen.

Crap, of course it handles NES and SNES... I played PS1 titles on my Pentium 3 733MHz (wich is slower I guess) after sell the PS1.

Cook up some starlite and see at which temp the laptop fails/melts (look up "NightHawkInLight" on YT).

EDIT: I actually forgot one crucial thing connected to starlite; test starlite as a thermite shield around the laptop. A Finish (search after "Beyond the press") dude tested NightHawkInLight's recipe for "starlite" and it actually withstood/reflected the thermite (over 2000 C). Will the laptop survive?!? XD

Make silly drawings on it with colour-chalk; if you have kids or you're a kid yourself then this should be second nature to you.

Make a YT series/vlog where you detail every aspect of your life, but always have something to complain about. At the end of every episode you smash the laptop in anger.

Take out the motherboard and keyboard, close the case, clue a mirror on the screen, fill the case with mother earths soil and plant a bonzai tree. (Protip: get some cheap led light and decorate it.)

Take out the screen, peel off the filter, solder on a converter, and make a (bright) lightscreen to light up a room. Can even make it into a drawing board...

Use the HDD as a cup brick.

OC it, create a program that locks the cpu in a loop and use a thermoelectric generator to power the christmas lights.

Do a physics test with some random people on the street. Ask them what lands first; the laptop itself, or the memory chip. Or, take bets on how any seconds it takes before one of them hits bottom in (2m?) water.

Have a (old laptop-) gathering/party by the beach or some place that have a lot of sand and see how far you and others can throw it.

Fill it with some of the worst viruses in the world and try to sell it to the highest bidder.

OMFG those are some good ideas... I quite like the last one :D

I really like the OC idea, actually have some peltier modules that could be used. Efficiency who?
Infortunatelly this chip is locked and the FSB seem hard to OC.

On the less technical side of things, i was thinking about setting up a couple of old laptops with windows 98!

Anyone old enough to remember windows 98 knows this to be the best operating system Microsoft ever made.

If you have an old laptop that is a slug trying to run windows 10, then you go and put windows 98 on it.... the difference in performance will be astronomical! but you are limited by comparability.... BUT i have plenty of games that i like from that era - Games that are designed to run on pc's 30 years old! So from the perspective of those old games, that old laptop looks like a super gaming system!

I actually forgot one crucial thing connected to starlite; test starlite as a thermite shield around the laptop. A Finish "Beyond the press") dude tested NightHawkInLight's recipe for "starlite" and it actually withstood/reflected the thermite (over 2000 C). Will the laptop survive?!? XD

Well, an "artist" allegedly did it and the bid is now 1,345mill. I'm sure there’s a (black) marked for another one :P

Make that 20 years old. 1998 isn't that far away. Would a 1989 game even run on Windows 98? Were MS-DOS games already in existence in 1989? I remember the late eighties as the era of BASIC (but that's because I didn't have access to a PC back then, my dad's computer was a microcomputer and my own owning of a PC would come years later in my thirties, I skipped the whole MS-DOS period and went straight to Windows 98 in the early 2000's on a second hand Windows PC).

I´m pretty sure the only way to revisit a ps2 game in this laptop is through a 240p youtube lets play.
Is already used on the raspberry :D

Funny thing about 2.5" IDE hard drives, they don't require external power, just the usb power.
I'm not sure whats the best MS made OS but my first desktop was with 98. I installed Windows ME soon after. FYIW I kinda get used to blue screens :D
Windows XP was such a good OS compared to ME...

I learn BASIC on a graphical hand calculator used for the high school. When I found out the user instructions book had some basic games that can be programed, my school days became so less boring. Started with easy things and after some time did a copy of super mario, that thing was too slow to be called a slideshow :D never finished it.
Did the snake game (like in the nokia's phones) quite fast by using tables to keep track of tail position.
Still using the same calculator pretty much every day on my work.