There are actually a few things you can do for a dinosaur laptop (other
than waiting for the asteroid to appear in the sky). Here are my top
three suggestions:
Squeeze in as much RAM as possible. If you have a spare SIMM slot,
put in the largest-capacity module you can find. You may have to throw
away what's already in there--likely a 16MB module--and replace it with
a 32MB or 64MB one. Memory was so expensive five years ago that vendors
often skimped on it, but now that prices have plummeted, you should
pack in as much as possible. (You may also look around for a chip doubler--a SIMM two-for that lets you put a pair of chips where there's only room for a single.)
Get a huge, honking hard drive.
You should be able to dig up a compatible 10GB or 20GB drive. What's
great is that it'll run at 4,200rpm (compared to the 3,600rpm drive you
currently have), which will result in better performance. Save all your
precious data, swap the old drive out for the new, and fire it up
(crossing your fingers that the OS sees the new drive). Take note:
You'll have to preload an operating system onto the new drive or load
it on the fly.
Accelerate. You'll want to configure Windows to run your hard disk and graphics card at their maximum speeds.
Hard
drive: Go to the device manager, select the drive letter, and pick the
Settings tab. Check DMA for best performance. For Windows 2000, go into
the hard drive's properties, open Disk Properties, and check Write
Cache Enabled.
Graphics card: On your desktop,
right-click and select Properties. Select the Advanced tab, then click
the Performance tab. Push the slider all the way to the right.
To all those complaining this post is dated info, you should read the details of the OP's topic... "things you can do for a dinosaur laptop."
There are people still out there on really old machines that either don't have money to buy a new PC or are just not computer literate enough to go buy a new one. Ask any grandmother or grandfather type and chances are she/he is still working off of an old PIII (or dare I say 1st gen Pentium 900MHz??? =P) to send emails to their grandchildren.
To cropp,
Thanks for this informative post. This is great for users who are still using old laptops (and desktops). I typically get discarded machines myself and revamp them using the same steps you mentioned above so that I can give them to kids who otherwise wouldn't have a PC. Afterall, although old; they are great starter PCs that can help jumpstart their technical prowess. Back to basics I say.
This tip is great I have a Sony Vaio F801 with some keyboard probs and probably a hdd problem.
I still think it is a waste to through it way, because I am a Hamradioamateur I can use this laptop still for several things. planning to replace the keyboard and put in a larger HDD but cannot find the amoount of GB that this laptop supports. I have found the maximum amount of RAM (256mb) wich is supported. Anyone any suggestions????
That was true up until recentlly. I just picked up an acer with a dual core, 120gig Hd, 2gigs od ddr,and a dvdrw, for $350, at tiget direct. the parts alone would cost you that and you stll have an old laptop.
I've had this computer for a very long time. And it's been long time that i haven't used it either. Guess i spoilt my inverter. Have sent it for a diagnose. Well if it works out than your thread's gonna be of use. Those old computers have very little memory for ram & hard drive. Thanks for the tip.
Wow, if your laptop is really that old, you probably have better chance with older OS or Linux as mentioned by earlier posts. Or just buy some used laptop. You could probably get something much faster at dirt cheap price.
errr... when was this tip written, in 1999? 16/32 MB of RAM? 20GB hard drive? I haven't heard of such configurations any time in recent memory... thanks for the effort of putting up tips but this is extremely dated information, though I see that it was posted this week itself.
