Revitalizing an OLD laptop

[davelakly]

I have an old laptop that I'm interested in trying to upgrade. Right now it doesn't get used very often, and I'm thinking it would be good for basic internet surfing or for kid games if it booted up quicker. I was wondering if upgrading it to Windows 7 and putting in an SSD would revitalize the old gal, and if this is even possible. Here are the stats:

XPS M1330, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800MhzFSB, 4M L2 Cache)
3GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (this was replaced under warranty, so I'm not sure if that's exactly what is still in there)
160G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor

It would seem like if I could make this machine snappier for $200, that'd be a pretty good deal, but I don't know if a nearly 4 year old laptop is worth the upgrade. Am I better off just selling it and putting that towards a Zenbook or something?

I haven't been on here in so long, I had to re-register. It's great to see this is still such a helpful and thriving forum!

 

[XLNC]

Any Core 2 Duo system with an SSD and decent amount of RAM will be blazing fast for web surfing and 2D games. However, have you considered Linux? If all you need to do is surf web and play 2D games, Ubuntu should be perfect. I have a similarly spec'ed laptop, and Ubuntu is keeping it perfectly usable without upgrades. Their app store also has several free games, and pretty much all of them are kid friendly.

You may want to give it a shot before you spend $200 on upgrades.

 

[TheStu]

I have an old laptop that I'm interested in trying to upgrade. Right now it doesn't get used very often, and I'm thinking it would be good for basic internet surfing or for kid games if it booted up quicker. I was wondering if upgrading it to Windows 7 and putting in an SSD would revitalize the old gal, and if this is even possible. Here are the stats:

XPS M1330, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800MhzFSB, 4M L2 Cache)
3GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (this was replaced under warranty, so I'm not sure if that's exactly what is still in there)
160G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor

It would seem like if I could make this machine snappier for $200, that'd be a pretty good deal, but I don't know if a nearly 4 year old laptop is worth the upgrade. Am I better off just selling it and putting that towards a Zenbook or something?

I haven't been on here in so long, I had to re-register. It's great to see this is still such a helpful and thriving forum!

You probably wouldn't get that much for it, but the money that you could put towards upgrading it would be well spent.

Nothing about that laptop is too terribly slow for most tasks. It isn't the best at gaming or anything, but you will certainly be able to handle Netflix and HD video pretty well, and with an SSD in there it would be snappy as all get out. I just upgraded an old Core Duo with an SSD, it is like a brand new machine.

 

[davelakly]

I hadn't really considered Linux because the primary users would be my wife and kids, but then I guess I could think on that...

This machine is still running Vista, so I thought Windows 7 would be the most noticeable improvement. Aside from web browsing and 2D games, Hulu and word processing are the heaviest lifting I envision, so I think it has plenty of processor. What I'm really hoping for is a fast boot time. I'd like it to be an option for "oh, let me pull out the lappy real quick" instead of "that isn't worth waiting for the boot up."

 

[podspi]

That should be a good little machine. A clean-wipe should speed it up enough to make things bearable. Win 7 is quite an upgrade, but tbh if you patch Vista up to the latest it feels much snappier than it did on its first release.

I put an SSD in my C2D laptop @ 1.5ghz and saw a noticeable increase in performance. That being said, I don't know if I'd spend $200 upgrading a 4 year old laptop. How is the battery life (and is that important?). The only thing I bought for my C2D was a new battery... (The SSD was just a test to see what sort of difference it would make, now in my main machine).

 

[davelakly]

Battery life is a non-issue given how the machine is used. I can't seem to bring myself to buy a bargain laptop, so somehow upgrading an old one seems like a better deal than spending $900 on a new one.

 

[Harvey]

I found some info about your machine that may give you reason to think about investing $200 in upgrades.

XPS M1330

This 13.3-inch high-end laptop, released on June 26, 2007, features the Santa Rosa platform. It features a 13.3-inch screen either with CCFL or WLED. The WLED-backlit version has a 0.3 MP camera, as opposed to the 2 MP camera with the CCFL screen. The XPS 1330 with the WLED screen is thinner and brighter than the previous XPS 1210 version, the thinner WLED screen forcing the optics in the camera to be limited to 0.3 MP. Moreover, XPS 1330 can also feature a biometric fingerprint reader, usually found in business class laptops like the Latitude series. The XPS M1330 also offers the NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS graphics card as an option. Originally, it could only be configured with Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors up to T7700 (2.4 GHz), but could later be configured with processors up to the Intel Core 2 Duo T9500. The XPS M1330 is also available in the (PRODUCT) RED line along with other Dell computers. There have been several cases involving M1330 laptops to be cosmetically defective in manufacture, such as loose hinge covers and unusually and uneven gaps between plastic parts, as well as customer complaints concerning "CPU whine". The Dell XPS M1330 is noted for its light weight of only 1.8 kg.

XPS M1330 is no longer available for purchase on Dell's USA website as of early August 2009. It has been replaced by the M1340 (Studio XPS 13).

Problems

Dell became aware that the problem was limited to Nvidia chip production G84- and G86-GPU's, the BIOS was updated to A12 which improves thermal control but does not prevent it from reoccurring.[20] The problem associated with Nvidia GPU's was the chip material used could not stand high temperatures.

If you can afford $400 for a new machine, Best Buy has this HP G6-1C58DX on sale this week. Quick specs:

15.6" screen
4 GB RAM, Max 8 GB
500GB HARD DRIVE
Web cam
Wireless N

Full specs on HP.

Your Dell machine uses onboard graphics that borrows RAM from the available pool so, if you want some inexpensive upgrade for it, and the RAM is two removable DIMM's, you can replace the 1 GB DIMM with a 2 GB module for a total of 4 GB. Even if you're running a 32 bit OS that can only use a little over 3 GB, the video system can use the RAM not seen by the OS, leaving more RAM available for running apps. I know this worked in my Compaq lappy.

An SSD would speed up the machine's disk access, but you may not want to invest that much in a machine that, overall, won't give you as much of a boost as this $400 HP, and you can always add an SSD to it, later, with better results.

JMHO. Hope it helps.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I had an old Lenovo R61 that had a T7300, 4GB RAM, a Quadro chip (that's actually the equivalent of your 8400GS), and a slow 120GB 5400RPM drive inside. I used it to play Source games a few years ago before downsizing.

I also have a mom who needed a laptop. I let her use the R61 but she complained it was too slow. I spent $90 on an SSD and put it in. Magically, it became "the fastest computer in the house," despite the presence of an i5 and a few PhII machines.

True story.

 

[davelakly]

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Dessert Tears]

A clean-wipe should speed it up enough to make things bearable. Win 7 is quite an upgrade, but tbh if you patch Vista up to the latest it feels much snappier than it did on its first release.

I'm going to do a fresh Vista install on [thread=2210460]an older, slower laptop[/thread]. I'll post back with how well it works.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I'm willing to bet your hard drive could be a Seagate 7200.2 or 7200.3, since I have a Dell D630 of similar vintage with a 7200.2 with the FFS.

The hard drive was dog slow. I reinstalled Vista on an 80GB X25-M G1 in 2009, and it was amazing. So, everyone is right; get a 60-120GB SSD for $75-150, and it should last you awhile. If you need to pay for Windows 7, stick with Vista, keeping in mind you'll need a manual trim tool for pretty much SSD you'd buy today.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Wouldn't hurt to give linux a try. I'd skip Ubuntu though and go with Mint, don't care for the new ubuntu. I know it made my much older laptop feel spunky.

 

[davelakly]

I'm willing to bet your hard drive could be a Seagate 7200.2 or 7200.3, since I have a Dell D630 of similar vintage with a 7200.2 with the FFS.

The hard drive was dog slow. I reinstalled Vista on an 80GB X25-M G1 in 2009, and it was amazing. So, everyone is right; get a 60-120GB SSD for $75-150, and it should last you awhile. If you need to pay for Windows 7, stick with Vista, keeping in mind you'll need a manual trim tool for pretty much SSD you'd buy today.

Uh oh... what's a manual trim tool?