Old laptop – what to do?

The battery is gone, HDD on its last legs, RAM small. Performance is good enough. To fix those would cost me some 150 quid.
New laptop is too costly, netbooks are small and still some 250 quid.
What would you suggest? I like the laptop I have, but….

Show it in a bag to someone in the street and then relieve them of £650? You could even give them the laptop rather than a load of potatoes if you were feeling generous.

Alternatively you could use it for many such scams and end up with something really flash for almost no effort at all.

On a more serious note, what’s your budget for a replacement?

How old is the laptop? Pretty old I guess so not worth spending much on it as you’ll probably need to get a new (faster) one soon anyway.

Maybe get something 2nd hand if can’t afford a new one. Or look for someone selling one cheap on the high street but double check you’re getting what you think you’re getting.

What would you suggest? I like the laptop I have, but….

If they’re the only problems, performance is good enough, but money’s tight, just replace the hdd- you should be able to get one secondhand for buttons, or new for around £40.
Battery’s not a necessity, nor is more ram.

http://www.val-u-computers.co.uk/

dunno in the same-ish position, computer is annoying slow due to crap amount of ram, but that ram will cost me 1/4 to 1/2 of the price of a new much better pc…. arrggghhh!!

What type of ram do you need? I have some stuff sitting around, probably not what you need but worth checking.

BTW anyone got any DDR PC2-5200 memory (0.5 to 2GB would be nice)

Assuming your laptop came with Windows then replace the HDD and install Ubuntu, dual boot with Windows.

Ubuntu runs swiftly on less Ram. It does of course depend upon what you use the laptop for. If you’re considering a netbook then it suggests you use it for basic word / spreadsheet processing and the internet.

Replace the battery and install ubuntu. You will probably quickly delete the windows install.

It’s a Dell D600 running Xubuntu at present. The processor is Pentium M 1.3GHz, RAM needs to be PC2700 (1GB for £25 – Kingston).
I use it to browse the web, read STW, kill time generally.
The battery when new lasts a few hrs, approx. 4-6, can fit 2 of them.
HDD is cheap enough, 250GB for £45 is easy, but I’m tempted by the solid drive (SDD?) as I don’t need more than 30GB anyway.
I have a decent desktop, another hi-power laptop, this one is for killing time only.
BTW My budget is really tight as I’m still jobless.

You could run ubuntu off a USB memory stick, no? Thereby removing the need for a disk or more ram 🙂

I have a decent desktop, another hi-power laptop, this one is for killing time only.

I’m tempted by the solid drive (SDD?)

BTW My budget is really tight as I’m still jobless.

😕

You can, but… Xubuntu is lower resource than Ubuntu and it runs ok. I need/want more RAM for entertainment purposes 😉
Besides, a 32GB stick is as costly as the HDD I reckon.

got a couple of stick of 256MB’s & a 512MB of PC2700, which you can just have if they’ll help. Drop me a line and I’ll get em posted out to you.
(jobless too, so what goes around)

Laptops soon become ‘beyond economical repair’

I have a HP Pavillion that’s not more than 3 or 4 years old it needs a new battery & wireless NIC
£30 or so will have it back to good as new but I still don’t think it’s worth it

z1ppy, thanks, I’ll be emailing you in a second
uplink, do you need me to take this burden off your shoulders? I can even swap for a P2-powered (not sure of the word power here) Thinkpad 😀

uplink, do you need me to take this burden off your shoulders? I can even swap for a P2-powered (not sure of the word power here) Thinkpad

I’ll pass I think, it does OK hard wired to a desk for now 🙂

I have a variety of RAM floating around, not sure if there is any for laptops though…..will check.

I had a hard drive fail on me on an older laptop. It was 40GB SATA, but all the newer drives are SATA2. My lappy wouldn’t recognise the new drive, either because of the SATA2ness or it being over 120GB, I’m not sure. It might be worth poking about on Dell forums to check, before you splash cash on it. Oh and I still have the SATA2 250GB drive sat here on my desk if you need one, I managed to source a working second-hand one to keep me going.

Got 512mb PC2700 DDR333MHz 200 pin SODIMM chip sat in my desk drawer if its any use. Was working when I took it out my Think pad.

Welcome to it if its any use.

Lads, thanks a lot. I’ll come back to you later as my mother-in-law’s daughter needs me to go to Tesco with her.
ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI

I have a 512 stick of pc2-4200 444 RAM & a 60GB SATA drive from a previous dead laptop sat here doing nothing if you want them?

I have a HP Pavillion that’s not more than 3 or 4 years old it needs a new battery & wireless NIC
£30 or so will have it back to good as new but I still don’t think it’s worth it

hey Uplink, I’ve got a Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN 3B MiniPCI Adapter you’re more than welcome to have. Let me know

Actually I’ve also got a two unused cardbus wifi cards (1 x Netgear and 1 x Edimax) that I’m happy to give to deserving homes!

It seems there’re plenty of unwanted or obsolete computer/laptop parts around. Good to see we’re still humane despite our disagreements over “the important issues” such as what car for a grand? or should I go 29’er?

In the post mate.

J

hey Uplink, I’ve got a Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN 3B MiniPCI Adapter you’re more than welcome to have. Let me know

D’you know, I think I may have one of those kicking about too – thanks for the offer though & the memory jog 🙂

ebay – “retro” + “collectable” = sorted

HP COMPAQ 311C-1020SA Cheap reconditioned unit.

A high performance Netbook with larger 11.6″ screen. My mate has one and rates it highly. He’s had a few high spec laptops through work and is an IT expert, so i trust his opinion.

Have a look at some reviews.

I might get one if I can get one at the right price, but the going rate on Amazon has recently leapt up from £239 (delivered) to £299! WTF!

Spongebob, when you’re jobless and have a bike to finish, how can you spend £200 on a netbook? Especially when there are people around who’ll help you so you won’t have to.
I’d love a new Samsung netbook, or an HP or whatever is great, but unless this week’s European Lottery numbers come up as expected I won’t have it.

vinnyeh – Member

I have a decent desktop, another hi-power laptop, this one is for killing time only.

I’m tempted by the solid drive (SDD?)

BTW My budget is really tight as I’m still jobless.

It’s the result of my businessman’s days. Those and severe debt too 🙁

BTW anyone got any DDR PC2-5200 memory (0.5 to 2GB would be nice)

Laptop or desktop memory? Will have a look see if I can help, I’m up your way Friday anyway so if I find anything could pop it by…

Hairy, might be able to be persuaded to part with a 120GB 5400rpm laptop HDD, it’s currently Mac formatted iirc (though obviously you can sort that quickly and easily), it had about a years use before it was replaced with a 320GB in my Mac as 120 was too small for me.

Hairychested – Member

Spongebob, when you’re jobless and have a bike to finish, how can you spend £200 on a netbook? Especially when there are people around who’ll help you so you won’t have to.
I’d love a new Samsung netbook, or an HP or whatever is great, but unless this week’s European Lottery numbers come up as expected I won’t have it.

Fix your one with scrounged components then!

Or go lurk at your local tip until someone brings an old PC to chuck away.

Or “pike” one out of your local charity shop wheelie bin (they can’t sell non-PAC tested kit, so they throw everything).

when you’re jobless

Your not the only one!

Mboy, desktop please

z1ppy, will have a look, definitely had some laptop RAM of that speed, not sure on the desktop front.

mboy, keep me posted if you can, please.

Thanks a lot, chaps. She’s flying now. Your generosity has resulted in my having a toiletSTW forum laptop 🙂