Brian Lawrence wonders:
>does anyone know of any 
>place within the metro area that will take ANY computer 
>equipment for free?

If you live in Minneapolis, residents can offer a maximum of TWO items
for pickup, free of charge each recycling day (every other week).  I've
recycled laser printers, dishwashers, monitors, and other gear with no
problem.  At least in my neighborhood, the trick is to put items out
that morning to avoid scrap dealers parting out the valuable copper and
leaving a mess of broken plastic (illegal, but at least the metal gets
back into the use stream).
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/garbage-large-item.asp