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Revitalizing an Aging Notebook On the Cheap

Posted by timothy on from the but-I-want-a-wind-instead dept.

jcatcw writes "Brian Nadel's ThinkPad R50 just hit its fifth birthday, and the years haven't been kind to it. When it was new, the notebook was reliable and fast. Now it's slow and prone to annoying shutdowns. Is it a good investment to revamp a notebook that's worth about $350? It sure is, because this old notebook will get a new lease on life for about $125 — a bargain, considering what it could cost to replace." On the other hand, upgrading RAM, keyboard and hard drive don't get you a smaller (netbook-style) computer, a new battery, or the transflective screen on the Toshiba linked above.

10 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Bombula · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A 5-year-old notebook is worth $350? I don't think so. Hard for me to pay much attention to the rest of any article that begins that far off base...

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    A-Bomb
    1. Re:Huh? by mikael · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even though the laptop is old, a LCD screen is still valuable. While looking for spare parts for my laptop I came across a company called Nexttronics. They actually had some sort of part exchange refund scheme for broken LCD displays. The discount was quite substantial - over $500 per LCD screen.

      Even split into parts such as mounting brackets, the total value of the system is more valuable than if the system as a whole.

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      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  2. Or battery life! by jkerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With a few exceptions, battery life just sucks with an aging laptop. and replacement batteries are either used up themselves, insanely expensive, or impossible to find.

  3. Battery? by b0bby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No mention of a new battery - I know my battery is useless after less than 4 years, I only get 5 mins now. At over $100, though, it's not worth it to me to replace. I'm always near a power supply. Add the $125 he spent, plus $125 for a battery, & you're only $150 away from a new Dell. Just sayin'...

  4. Investment by Rinisari · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best investment you can make is to give that laptop to some enterprising person and tell them to make a blog or site and give you the a percentage of the profits.

    You might even be better of simply donating the laptop to charity and deducting the donation from your taxes.

    If you really need it for some reason or cannot possibly afford something newer, consider putting Xubuntu, Puppy, or some other lightweight OS on there.

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    Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
  5. Wow..... by mr_nazgul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been working on and in PC's for years and have never seen THAT bad a clog. Big dust bunnies are the worst I've seen...

    Where the hell did this laptop go? It looks like it sucked up a ferret (look at the page 5 gallery).
    http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9096720&pageNumber=5

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    Good.. Bad.. I'm the guy with the gun.
  6. Bad idea? by eebra82 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it a good investment to revamp a notebook that's worth about $350? Not if you've been paying any attention lately. Nowadays, notebooks are so cheap that it's barely reasonable to upgrade them periodically.

    I think the question is interesting, but really, to get an old laptop working again, you must still walk around with something that looks and feels aged, since the casing is torn, the monitor is far from what it used to be (LCD and TFT quality wears out after some time) and the keyboard is probably not what it used to be either.

    Why not just spend $500 on a new computer, such as the Asus Eee or MSI Wind? You're definitely getting more performance out of it, plus the benefits of WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.
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    Full Tilt
  7. Benefits to upgrading ... by MacTO · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Three reasons to upgrade, rather than replacement:

    1. It could be cheaper. He was talking about a hard drive and memory here, both of which can offer a slight boost in functionality, which is all that some people need.

    2. It may be easier. If you're only talking about upgrading the RAM, then you get to bypass the joys of installing software and reconfiguring your working environment.

    3. You may have trouble getting the features you need. Have an old printer that you don't want to replace? Need a serial port on the road, but don't want to carry an adapter?

    4. It just may be more environmentally friendly. It takes energy to manufacture goods. It takes time and energy to dispose of hazardous waste.

    Upgrading doesn't always makes sense. But sometimes it does make sense. So why criticize people who take that less travelled path?

  8. Re:Should've upgraded by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's looking to upgrade on the cheap, and your recommendation is "just buy a new mac"? Somehow, I don't think he'll be taking that piece of advice.

    You obviously aren't too concerned with processing power, hard drive size, or the latest gee-whiz features if you're interested in upgrading an old machine. An Asus Eee or similar MID might be a little closer to what you're looking for. All the portability and simplicity you're used to, without all the heartache.

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    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  9. Re:I don't think so by alan_dershowitz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you can get a brand new and amazingly more powerful laptop for 400 dollars, five year old laptops are not worth 300 dollars. MOST people by that point sell the laptop rather than spend the money on a new battery, so let's say that I'm looking at one of these used laptops I see everywhere for 300+ dollars. I know that a new battery is going to cost me 80-140 dollars, so why the hell would I buy used when I can get a brand new one for around the same price?