summer laptop hand-me-down

lxgoldsmith · May 24, 2013

School just ended and I'm looking for work. I'll probably be able to sell a few custom computers. After I build and load those up, I'll sell my service for 150/200 a pop and people will be quite happy with bloat free, fast, small desktops.

I'm earning money to get a laptop, but I need a mobile computing 'supplement' until then. My mom's office gave me a hand-me-down HP compaq nc6320. with people settling with 720p resolutions on their displays, I think it'll be alright. They have an extra one that I might get for free.

I'm typing on one with a broken hinge right now. Can't move it and can't get deep enough to replace the hinge without tearing up the plastic bezel.

If I take the laptop, replace the 80 gig hdd with a samsung 840 pro 128gb and put windows 7 on it, it would run fast enough for me. Then, I'd replace the battery and it should last me 5 hours a charge. Then, I'd have spare parts from the older one and two leftover 2.5" hdd.

When I'm done and have a new laptop, I'd wipe my data and transfer the drive to a third custom build for my dad (sell for 110 because mint condition).

All this would come out to:
sub-par laptop -$0
128GB ssd - $130
windows 7 home premium - $100
Battery - $10
2x 2.5" enclosures - $17

I'd front about $260 but end up at a $150 loss plus a usable laptop for the summer.

What do you think about this plan? Is there anything I should change or does it look good?

P.S. I'd probably sell the laptop with the original parts after the summer for $200 on ebay if I could and dispose of the other one.

guitargod213 · May 24, 2013

sounds pretty good to me. imo if you wanna save some money dont get an ssd, but you will lose a lot of speed

USAFRet · May 24, 2013

lxgoldsmith :

Any advice given would depend on a couple of factors. Assuming this is in the US:
Is this between HS years?
Between HS and college?
Or after HS and no college?

lxgoldsmith · May 24, 2013

guitargod213 :

good point, but it's a low RAM capacity, so the cache will be used part of the time. ssd is a much better cache than hdd.

lxgoldsmith · May 24, 2013

USAFRet :

Not part of the question, but I could use any advice.

I'm 17 and between junior & senior year in high school. This is a first job and I can't work without computer work. I love the job. So far, I'm sending out my resume and cover letter to 17 tech related places and emailing it to a friend of a friend that I've been referred to.

smorizio · May 24, 2013

If you google the laptop with the bad hinge you should be able to pick up the main plastic parts for 30. For the laptop. If your lucky and the case is not cracked most times it the screws that fall out. with Ssd and hard drive replacement look online to see if the laptop bios and chipset will work with Ssd and larger hard drives. Some laptops bios at have 120g size limit. Due to that was the max hard drive size when they were built.

lxgoldsmith · May 25, 2013

smorizio :

I can't get deep enough to replace the hinges, and the bezel is too tight to open it all the way.

I can't find a specific data sheet, but I did some searching, and it does seem to support ssd *at least* up to 120GB. Crucial recommends up to terabyte class drives, but I don't think they check more specs than ram

lxgoldsmith · May 25, 2013

I figured out that it only runs sata 1.5 gbps. How much of a speed problem would this cause? Would a ssd still be much faster?

Update: also no 64 bit support with the processor, I'll be running 32 bit windows 7.

lxgoldsmith · May 25, 2013

My current RAM config is 2gb + 512mb, anybody think I should get a 2gb stick of RAM on ebay for $18?

guitargod213 · May 25, 2013

upgrade the ram, dont bother with the ssd if its only capable of sata 1

lxgoldsmith · May 25, 2013

guitargod213 :

Thanks, I'll be sure to upgrade the RAM.

I understand what you mean about the ssd, but it does help with heat, battery life, and latency, even if it won't help as much with read/write speed.

The drive will be in very good quality upon its resell, so it won't be much of a financial loss.

guitargod213 · May 25, 2013

lxgoldsmith :

true. i guess i would get the ssd, but if it were me i would keep it to reuse on a system after you are done with this laptop. Although i still havent upgraded to an ssd on any of my comps, im really considering putting one in my macbook for speed, and because the drive in there now is about to die

lxgoldsmith · May 26, 2013

Would I need any extra drivers once I install windows 7?

What would I need to make my fingerprint reader work at the login screen?

guitargod213 · May 26, 2013

try to figure out the model number of it, then search for drivers. the main drivers should be installed by windows i think

lxgoldsmith · Jun 2, 2013

Update:

I ordered a broken nc6320 on ebay and got all the parts in a few days ago and set it up with windows 7 32 bit.

The battery life is mediocre at best at 2 hours, but that was expected of an older 31w cpu.

The 4GB(32 bit = 3.3) RAM is average, and I don't max out very often because I watch my usage, but I still much prefer 8GB.

The processor and gpu work, but below my liking. I raise my usage just by typing and scrolling. The ssd sometimes outpaces my cpu.

The ssd is actually much better than I expected from sata 1. Boot is ~15s, but I expected upwards of 30-40 seconds. Like I said, it sometimes outpaces my older cpu.

I installed my favorite classic games, age of empires 2, age of mythology, and baldur's gate 1&2. I of course modded the games, definitely got the bg trilogy mod to place the bg games in sequence and update the engine for the first one. I also had to fix the color issue in aoe2 with a batch file to close and reopen explorer.

They all run fine, but I don't want to put any of the settings on high except on baldur's gate.

The resolution of the replacement monitor is higher than the original. the original was 1024x768, and I've upgraded to 1400x1050, which is amazing for laptops of this age.

The wifi card works better than ever, I get great signal! I don't drop below 4 bars across the entire house.

The speakers and their placement are awesome for a laptop, and the fingerprint reader is still the most forgiving aspect of the laptop. I can't get over my biometric login.

With ssd, iI know it's worth more than $200, but I'm still gonna put the old 60GB hdd in and sell it at 200-250 unless you guys think it's worth more.

guitargod213 · Jun 2, 2013

lxgoldsmith :

Update:

I ordered a broken nc6320 on ebay and got all the parts in a few days ago and set it up with windows 7 32 bit.

The battery life is mediocre at best at 2 hours, but that was expected of an older 31w cpu.

The 4GB(32 bit = 3.3) RAM is average, and I don't max out very often because I watch my usage, but I still much prefer 8GB.

The processor and gpu work, but below my liking. I raise my usage just by typing and scrolling. The ssd sometimes outpaces my cpu.

The ssd is actually much better than I expected from sata 1. Boot is ~15s, but I expected upwards of 30-40 seconds. Like I said, it sometimes outpaces my older cpu.

I installed my favorite classic games, age of empires 2, age of mythology, and baldur's gate 1&2. I of course modded the games, definitely got the bg trilogy mod to place the bg games in sequence and update the engine for the first one. I also had to fix the color issue in aoe2 with a batch file to close and reopen explorer.

They all run fine, but I don't want to put any of the settings on high except on baldur's gate.

The resolution of the replacement monitor is higher than the original. the original was 1024x768, and I've upgraded to 1400x1050, which is amazing for laptops of this age.

The wifi card works better than ever, I get great signal! I don't drop below 4 bars across the entire house.

The speakers and their placement are awesome for a laptop, and the fingerprint reader is still the most forgiving aspect of the laptop. I can't get over my biometric login.

With ssd, iI know it's worth more than $200, but I'm still gonna put the old 60GB hdd in and sell it at 200-250 unless you guys think it's worth more.

awesome! i would put the old hard drive in and sell it for around that much

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