You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My wife has an old laptop that has ground to a halt. I am going to buy her a Chromebook to replace it as it suits her undemanding use case better than a Windows laptop. I'm wondering if it is worth the effort to try and save it from the skip to use as a light duties spare/back up. I hate throwing stuff away if I can eek more use out of it. I'm thinking of fitting an SSD and maxing out the RAM if I can get them for such old kit or if that will be worthwhile with such an old processor? I don't know much about computers but I did exactly this with a slightly less old desktop recently and was very pleasantly surprised by the improvement in performance.
I forget exactly but I'm guessing its 13-15 years old. It's a HP 'Vision' with some kind of AMD processor. I bought it in the US. It originally came with Windows 8 if that helps date it, I put a copy of Windows 11 on there a while back though. Please don't ask me to go into the control panel for full system specs, as that will take about 40 mins of chugging to get there. That's how knackered it is!
Worth it or too old to bother?
Possibly not, although a cheap SSD might be worth a try. It will be the HDD that's really dragging it down.
No
It's not even worth repairing a flagship ten year old PC
At work we buy mid spec laptops at around £500, we expect them to be ok for 3 years, after that we roll them to schools and id expect a student to get about the same again out of them then scrap
Simply wiping it and reinstalling Windows might go some way to reviving it, even with the same HDD. Then try not to fill the drive too much. Worth a try before buying parts for it.
I did that a year or two ago when I did a clean install of Windows 11. It did improve things a little, for a while. I will do it again before I put any new bits in it.
No
It’s not even worth repairing a flagship ten year old PC
Not even just for web browsing and email?
He's talking out his arse.
I did that a year or two when I did a clean install of Windows 11.
Windows 11 won't run on something that old without some hacking. I think you probably mean Win10.
If it were me, I'd try a clean install of Win10 then see what the hardware specs are. Win10 runs nicely with 8GB ram and an SSD. If you go to crucial.com, the have a system scanner that will identify compatible memory and SSD upgrades. However, you should get more details on the CPU first. If it has a really low-end CPU, not worth wasting money on. If it has a half way respectable CPU, it's probably worth upgrading to an SSD and maybe more memory.
I think you probably mean Win10
Quite possibly! Thanks, I'll give that a try.
Probably not worth it. I have a similar vintage laptop in the garage, I did upgrade to an SSD and it's running Windows 10 OK but it was a good spec to start with. Battery is totally dead and one of the screen hinges has collapsed. What Windows version is it currently running?
No don’t repair. You’ll get a decent refurb that will run all current software and most importantly get functionality and security updates for around £300
Or reinstall for free...
You can browse on a pi and that's got the processing power of a potato jammed in the top of an n64.
TBH I'm with the scrap it crowd, AMD processors from that period were diabolically rubbish. I'm not one for dumping kit if it worth while, but you've had your money worth from that device, if it's over 10 years old
in reply to to my flagship comment, no, there becomes a point were you are better just to spend a few quid more and get something basic and more efficient. old high end PC's were power hungry beasts.
re old laptops, you probably want a ram upgrade and ssd, old tech ram is generally more expensive than new ram
and re talking out of my arse, nope.. i look after 300 users/ 450 devices. we have until recently been able to get 10-11 years out of some mid range desktops, with a few upgrades along the way. but becomes a point were they have served their time. from a business point of view they are worthless.
For personal use, buying out of your own pocket... laptops... well laptops tend to go downhill much quicker than desktops, performance wise. I've been there putting old kit on linux to make it worksable. Ive come to the conclusion that a £300 laptop is not worth buying, while a £500 you'll get a lot longer usage out of.
But a 15 year old laptop, probably less powerful than a raspberry PI - may as well plug a phone into a monitor and have greater performance for less money than upgrading it
Also easier and more reassuring to move data onto a new laptop from the old one whilst both are running.
try not to fill the drive too much
That's not how it works.
My rarely used laptop is that age, I did fit an SSD & install win10 but it's the battery that's killing it despite replacing that too. Have a work desktop at home & personal stuff saved, so no great hardship.
As for the OP's question,
I'm a bugger for keeping old hardware going. And I'd say the short answer is "probably not" unless it's a particularly nice system, though the initial problem description is vague. It's probably worth a punt with Linux. If it came with Windows 8, that was released in 2012. If you upgraded it to Windows 10 without fuss it was probably Windows 8.1 which is 2013. If you upgraded it to Windows 11 I would respectfully suggest that you are mistaken.
I have a 2008 (Vista-era) Dell laptop which is still going. In that time it's been upgraded to 4GB, had an SSD fitted with W10 and it's got the fastest CPU the motherboard will support (which would've cost more than the entire laptop when new). It's... useable. I'd like more RAM, it unofficially supports 8GB but 4GB DDR2 SODIMMs are hen's teeth and stupid money. The battery is totally dead, the keyboard is starting to play up now (which is likely what will finally end it), but it's got a pin-sharp 17" 1920x1200 display and it's just a Nice Thing to use. I will be sad when it does finally die, though mostly it's become a point of principle at this juncture.
The minitower I'm typing on now is older still, but probably the only original component is the chassis. Oh, and maybe the DVD drive.
At that age I wouldn't bother. If I was looking for something to do, I might consider a lightweight Linux install but I wouldn't be spending any money on it.
Edit - beaten to it by @Cougar by 30 seconds
I have the same question as OP, basically - Dell inspiron, with i5 is now so slow that it's very frustrating to use. Similar use case to OP.
So where do people suggest for finding a replacement...? Or, indeed, what machine?
Edit - it's an XPS15, not an inspiron...
Dell inspiron, with i5 is now so slow that it’s very frustrating to use.
Which i5? There should be a model number on it, the first number (or two) is the generation - 6/7/8xxx, you can probably slap in some more RAM and an SSD (if it doesn't already have one) and it'll be good ot go again, anything lower will probably struggle, although we had 4th Gen i5's running fine for browsing with win10
Be worth checking if it is certified for ChromeOS Flex before getting rid.
https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094#
If you're looking at Chromebooks, it might be worth looking at installing ChromeOS Flex on a USB, and set the laptop to boot from USB, before deciding which way to go.
My 5 y/o chromebook with 8th gen Core i3 and 8gb RAM still boots and runs as quick as it did when new. Updates are usually monthly and download in the background, a 30 second reboot is all it takes to install.
Edit: If your wife has any Garmin tech, you can't get Garmin Express for Chromebook/Android. I've just had to dig out a 10 y/o laptop to update my new watch. (updates took around 3 hours to download and install before I could use it)
The old school spinning disk hard drive is going to be the biggest issue. Looks like you can get a 512 gb SSD on Amazon for £31. If the motherboard/bios/connectors can work with it, then you just need to decide if you are willing to spend £31 on the experiment.
I don't think it can be as old as you think, if it came with Win8?
Could be wrong, but I have just replaced my laptop which I bought in late 2011/early 2012 (can't remember) and that came with Win7, although maybe there was a crossover period?
Anyway - that computer a £550 Acer got very slow. Spec-wise it's an i5 something, with 6Gb RAM & Intel graphics. It had a 750Gb HDD.
About 5 or 6 years ago, I stuck an SSD in it and a fresh Win10 install which absolutely transformed it. It still runs very fast, for general tasks even now. It will boot from cold & I can be using Chrome in 30seconds.
The main reasons for replacing are:
- certain apps wouldn't run with the old Intel Graphics & no way to updgrade - for example, Cura runs in a very basic compatibility view & Zwift stopped supporting the graphics tech a couple of years ago.
- it's a 17" screen & a bit cumbersome
- it had always been flexy, but seems to be getting worse.
But - for general web browsing and some light file editing etc. it is still absolutely fine.
I would try an SSD and if you can, whack some more RAM in - IMO it would be worth doing if you still intend to use it.
I'm probably gonna do a fresh Win10 install on the old Acer & let my 8 year old daughter have it. She's at an age where using computers at school is becoming more frequent & she likes to 'do stuff' on the computer.
Windows 11 I would respectfully suggest that you are mistaken.
As acknowledged earlier in the thread. I think it was probably 10 I put on it, I genuinely can't remember and I can't access it to check at the moment.
Thanks all. I'm getting the strong vibe it's not worth spending money on. Fair enough. It was only ever going to live in the garage to look up how to tips when tinkering. I've other devices knocking around that can do that. I'll try a fresh Windows install and if it's no good after that I'll hoof it in the skip. Thanks for your time.
no good after that I’ll hoof it in the skip.
Where are you? - my garage laptop has just died in what I suspect is a terminal manner, if it's going in a skip and you're local I'll gladly fish it out;-)
South Shropshire. It has a stay of execution until I get around to a clean OS install. If that doesn't work you're welcome to it.