building a desktop from laptop parts

[schaef41]

I've got my wife's beat up HP laptop with a broken keyboard, a dead battery, and messed up power adaptor. All replacable, but I don't want to spend the coin to resurrect a 4 year old laptop.

Does anyone have any experience building a desktop PC from laptop parts or know of a website that might have some tips?

It's got a Celeron processor, 256 MB of ram, and a 20GB disk drive. Not great, but enough to run Linux.

Thanks.

 

[Brainonska511]

IMO, it isn't worth the money and time.

If you choose to go this route anyway, you'll need at least the following:
-A desktop board for a Mobile Celeron usually runs at least $110+ for the board. There are relatively few boards that support Socket-479 (if that is the socket used on your mobile celeron), and then even fewer that support the older mobile chips since several iterations of Intel's mobile chips changed the pin configurations, chipsets lack support, etc...
-The motherboard (if you find one) will need to support So-Dimms instead of desktop Dimms, otherwise you'll have to buy desktop RAM
-You'll need a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE HDD adapter

 

[IlllI]

i agree. not worth it

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: schaef41
I've got my wife's beat up HP laptop with a broken keyboard, a dead battery, and messed up power adaptor. All replacable, but I don't want to spend the coin to resurrect a 4 year old laptop.

Does anyone have any experience building a desktop PC from laptop parts or know of a website that might have some tips?

It's got a Celeron processor, 256 MB of ram, and a 20GB disk drive. Not great, but enough to run Linux.

Thanks.

Ignore the above. Given the pricing out of motherboards/CPUs/etc, it doesn't seem like anyone understands what you're saying.

Buy a "new" (used or refurb) HP power adaptor from eBay or get one made at RadioShack. Plug in an external keyboard via USB, and close the lid. Bury it behind the monitor, and voila - you have a "desktop."

- M4H

 

[regnez]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: schaef41
I've got my wife's beat up HP laptop with a broken keyboard, a dead battery, and messed up power adaptor. All replacable, but I don't want to spend the coin to resurrect a 4 year old laptop.

Does anyone have any experience building a desktop PC from laptop parts or know of a website that might have some tips?

It's got a Celeron processor, 256 MB of ram, and a 20GB disk drive. Not great, but enough to run Linux.

Thanks.

Ignore the above. Given the pricing out of motherboards/CPUs/etc, it doesn't seem like anyone understands what you're saying.

Buy a "new" (used or refurb) HP power adaptor from eBay or get one made at RadioShack. Plug in an external keyboard via USB, and close the lid. Bury it behind the monitor, and voila - you have a "desktop."

- M4H

:thumbsup:

That is good advice. I am doing exactly that with my Thinkpad.