Inspiron 5150 Laptop-to-Desktop Conversion

[benm]

Firstly, I'm well aware that this is perhaps not the most 'practical' undertaking.

So I have an Inspiron 5150 laptop, 3.2GHZ p4 w/HT, 512megs DDR, Geforce FX5200 64MB, 80GB HD. Dead (Coffee spill) keyboard/

I also have an old Dimension t750R desktop, basically useless.

I just bought a new macbook, but can't stretch the budget to afford a new desktop, so have decided to do something a little different. Basically, chuck all the components bar DVD+/-RW and PSU from the old dimension out, massacre the laptop case and install the laptop base, with motherboard on top, into the old case. Hook up an external monitor, usb keyboard and mouse etc. So, some questions:

1) dvd drive in laptop is dead, but I've had a search around and have found tiny converter boards for around $10 to change a laptop IDE port to a desktop-type compatible IDE, I was going to use of these then run a small IDE cable to the (working) DVD drive in the desktop case. Feasibility?

2) This is just going to be a basic media/office box, so was going to hook up a 300gig usb2 external HD and leave it sitting inside desktop case for storage. There are also available USB to IDE converters so I could use an internal drive and mount it normally inside the desktop case - recommendation?

3) With an external monitor hooked up to Inspiron 5150, is there a way to have the computer default to the external monitor each time it is started? Does the FN+f5 key always switch displays regardless of whether it is in the windows environment or not?

So yes, just a few questions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Brainonska511]

You won't be able to hook up the old PSU to the notebook motherboard. If you want to do anything, keep the notebook as is.

-Add more RAM to the notebook (if you want more than 512MB)
-Remove the battery from the notebook and store it in a cool, dry place with a 40% charge - this will allow you to preserve the unused battery and allow for more cooling in the laptop due to the new surface area that is exposed to the air due to the lack of the battery.
-Add a USB hub and get an external optical drive (or put your internal one into a case and use it via USB)
-Hook up the monitor to the appropriate port on the notebook and attach the keyboard to a USB port, a you'll have yourself a new desktop.
-The Fn keys require a driver to work properly, as they are not wired into the keyboard configuration. You can always force switch monitors by going into the graphics drivers settings.

 

[Fraggable]

I don't know that I'd bother to put the thing in a desktop case, unless that's some kind of personal challenge you'd like to try out. It might turn out pretty cool if you put some effort into it.

You say you spilled coffee on it, is the keyboard the only broken part?

On a lot of the laptops I've worked with, if you have an external monitor plugged in when the system is turned on it will default to it. That may vary with different systems.

 

[benm]

Yeah the keyboard's the only part that's broken, but I really have no need for a 4kg laptop now so the desktop conversion seemed like a good idea.

Plus, it has the power to be able to rip and encode dvds and music for me, and admittadly, yes, integrating it into the desktop case with the desktop cd drive etc is a slight personal challenge.

Further, the model has always had problems with heat due to inefficient cooling (I've seen 70 degrees plus cpu temps!) and so the extra ventilation would be an advantage.

 

[Fraggable]

Well I'm sure it's possible, I'd say go for it and take each problem one at a time. I'd be glad to keep giving advice since I like doing stuff like that myself. I could point you to a few websites that sell the more unusual PC mod parts.