Laptop shelf life ... depends on what?

D

DalaiLuke

New Member
I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 that has become a bit of an old friend. Having traveled through Mexico and Thailand and now covered in stickers from myriad places, I don't want to say goodbye.

I've replaced the hard-drive twice, but now considering a RAM upgrade with the new Windows 7 hog to feed ... (7 came with the last hard-drive replacement).

So my question is this: what else may fail? Can I count on the motherboard to handle new hardware? Should I consider a CPU upgrade? What else should be on the list.

This computer will likely be going off-line, to be my writing computer and my escape from the online world. Yes, off the computer grid with sacred thoughts that mustn't succumb to technical old-age.

So help me here, what do I need to worry about? Is this possible to keep a computer running indefinitely?
 
there is not really much you can do aside from maxing the ram out to 4gb (max supported by your motherboard.cpus are soldered to the board on these i think and there is also no provision for adding a video card.that having been said,4gb of ram should be quite enough for that setup.
 
Also, thanks for the reply aldan, much appreciated ...

Question: Do you have a recommendation for a particular RAM purchase for this computer?
 
That has a socket P CPU so you would have some upgrade room if you find it isn't capable enough.

You could upgrade the drive to an SSD, that's generally the highest failure portion in a mobile PC simply based on vibration/shock/etc. It would also give you a nice general-usability performance boost.
 
aldan said:
seems the intel cpus are soldered to the board but if it is an amd processor its upgradable.actually with laptops you find this more than you would think.
Click to expand...

Please tell me what makes you think this. The CPU IS NOT soldered to the motherboard. It is removable just like it is in a desktop or other laptops. I believe you are referring to the video card, which normally is integrated into the motherboard unless the laptop has a dedicated video card.
 
Atoms are the only CPUs I've ever seen soldered to the board, all Intel laptops I've ever come across have swappable CPUs.

Is this possible to keep a computer running indefinitely?
Click to expand...
Depends. I've still got an ages old machines in use (the oldest is a s939 Sempron machine with 2.5GB RAM) and machines from the nineties in full working order. Whether you would want to is another thing - although for a writing computer just about any non-Atom dual-core x86 CPU should be powerful enough to last at least until the end of the decade and probably beyond (and you shouldn't need a new graphics card even if you have the option). I can't see into the future, of course, but the hardware requirements of word processors haven't been trending up at a speed that I would be worried about.

However, note that there is little you can do to keep it working - just pray that you didn't get dodgy electronics. For performance, as suggested, grab RAM.
 
For you guys, this advice may seem second nature. To me, it's gold :)

So I'm getting that the basics boils down to this:


Okedokey said:
Fresh install of WIndows 7, 4GB ram and an ssd it will run fine im sure.
Click to expand...

... and CPU options probably not necessary at this point for my needs.

... Thank you, gentlemen. Ladies I'm always thankful for :)
 
One thing to look out for with an old laptop is the CMOS battery, and I believe those ARE soldered to the board. I have an old 800 MHz Micron laptop, but the hard drive went out in it. I really don't have a use for it at this time, but the need may arise. People that program Motorola two way radios use very old laptops with DOS.
 
voyagerfan99 said:
Please tell me what makes you think this. The CPU IS NOT soldered to the motherboard. It is removable just like it is in a desktop or other laptops. I believe you are referring to the video card, which normally is integrated into the motherboard unless the laptop has a dedicated video card.
Click to expand...

damn good question,i must have misread.bloody cold.lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top