I'm running a variety of old laptops at my house. Our needs are pretty basic there - web browsing, YNAB, photo and music storage, and Minecraft. When one hits a bump (battery craps out, keyboard breaks, needs a new hard drive, etc.) I get online and figure out how to DIY fix it. Parts are cheap, and since we've got a couple in rotation there's no big hurry. That's been the educational value for me. I've got Ubuntu installed on one (the one that needed a new hard drive and I couldn't find the windows installation materials for it), and I'm really enjoying learning about the various software options. Again, our needs are pretty minimal, but it's been an inexpensive way to maintain computers and learn about them as well.