HP Pavilion dv7 1285dx, worth the effort?

[KeithP]

I have recently received (free) an HP Pavilion dv7 1285dx with 6GB of RAM. It has no HD and no power adapter but works fine and is in near new condition.
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01630371

It originally came with Vista and has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset and 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT and a 17" 1440x900 display.

To get it running, I would need to come up with an AC adapter and a drive (SSD?).

I have a legal copy of Windows 7 I could put on it. My question is would it be worth the effort? It looks like an AC adapter will run anywhere from $10-$20 plus some sort of drive, I am thinking a cheap 120GB SSD (maybe 240).

Any ideas how well the above hardware will run Windows 7?

-KeithP

 

[blankslate]

Having installed Win 7 on a laptop with a similar processor I can say that it should run Win 7 reasonably well.

The question is will the programs you want to run bog it down. That processor is iirc about 8 years old.

As long as it's just light web browsing and such it should be fine as a backup portable system.


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[Blue_Max]

So far your repair costs are under $100 so it's not the end of the world... I'd start with the AC adaptor (or borrow one) just to test and make sure it works and you don't also need a new battery.

Critical question: what ELSE, besides Win7, do you want to run? It will struggle in many things beyond simple web browsing.

A little more can score you a used but working i5 rig that'll run circles around it, video and all.

 

[Raduque]

With that processor and GPU combo, it would make a great vintage gaming machine. Bunch of games from that era are pretty tempermental about OS and hardware they run on.

 

[lightningbaron]

I have a Dell Studio XPS 1340 with a P8600, 8GB RAM, and 240GB SSD running Windows 7 just fine.

It's a toss up given the fact that I recently scored a HP Elitebook 840 G1 (i5-4300U, 4GB RAM, and 500GB HDD, 1600x900 display) on eBay for $162. Even a 4th generation i5 will run circles around it. Of course, then came the upgrades (SSD, RAM).

You can't beat a "free" laptop though with the two parts you'll need. If your budget allows 240GB, may be well worth spending the little extra over a 120/128GB SSD. If you don't intend on filling up a 120/128GB, then it should be fine.

 

[JeffMD]

raduq, no, they aren't. Its a core 2, not a P120.

It looks like you can get power supplies on ebay for it between $10 and $20, and spending another $20 on a new battery there might not be a bad idea. As for the HD, get what you want, but if you don't plan on loading it up then a cheap 120gb ssd can help you save a lot of pain on the windows install and help make an old pc feel more modern.

 

[xgsound]

YMMV
I have 2 Dell laptops with the p8600 and Intel SSDs. They are snappy for general usage.
HP laptops often have odd methods of connecting to the SATA bus so check to see that the attaching parts are there. If the HP bios has a AHCI setting for SATA a SSD will be a very snappy and useful machine.
Here is a link to an Ebay $69 Intel 240GB 1500 (enterprise model similar to 530) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SSD-P...293671?hash=item33b5045b27:g:PyYAAOSwHnFVthPl

Jim

 

[KeithP]

The machine would primarily be just a light duty web machine for use around the house. While not absolutely necessary, the ability to use youtube, hulu and Netflix would be nice (HD wouldn't be necessary).

Thanks all for the replies. I will report back on how it works.

-KeithP

 

[KeithP]

UPDATE

Well I finally got around to getting this machine up and running. I purchased a 240GB Adata SSD and a used AC adapter from Amazon. Total cost under $80.

Installed Windows 7 Ultimate and various drivers from HP's support site and everything is working well…surprisingly well. Definitely worth the money to get it back up and running.

I am also surprised about how well the battery still seems to work. I used it for just over an hour on battery power yesterday and it still showed a 70% charge. For a old machine that had been sitting around (not plugged in) for a couple of years that seems pretty good.

Another old system saved from a landfill!

-KeithP

 

[VirtualLarry]

Definitely worth the money to get it back up and running.

Another old system saved from a landfill!

Congrats on your working fix-er-upper. I've got a similar vintage machine here, works fine for web stuff. Definitely faster than my Bay Trail dual-core Atom-based laptops. (Well, a little bit faster, anyways. Battery life is better on the Atoms though.)