Laptop components

3D view of a representative thin laptop, open

Laptops combine circuit boards, batteries, speakers and structural metals. Designs with hard disk drives can also contain magnets in the drive assembly.

Protect your data before reuse or recycling. A laptop’s storage technology and battery design help determine how it should be handled.

Find a recycling program

Magnets in small speakers

Rare-earth magnet applications include speakers. Whether a specific laptop speaker uses one, and which alloy, depends on its design.

Separating the speakers from the battery and circuit boards keeps each material stream intact.

Cutaway drawing of a representative rectangular laptop micro-speaker, cut along its length: a rectangular magnet and pole plate in a steel yoke, a copper voice coil in the gap and a domed diaphragm on a plastic frame. — A representative rectangular micro-speaker, cut along its length. The dashed lines trace the magnet’s field across the gap at each end, where the copper coil sits; current in the coil moves the diaphragm. The motion is exaggerated here.