Solved! Upgrading Inspiron 1520

attesan997

Distinguished
Aug 13, 2008
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Hello all,
I just wanted to throw this out there to get some good feedback, I know everyone here is pretty good at that. I'm inheriting an old (ish?) 1520 from a family member. If i can remember correctly from troubleshooting over the years its about a 1.6 ghz C2D, 1gb ram, 80gb 5400 rpm hard drive and a 6 cell battery. The majority of these components are now outdated or failing.
I figure if I could dump less than a $200 into it to fix up it would make a great internet/hulu/email laptop. I already have a mini 9 and a desktop I built last year as my main machine. I do not need another high-end machine but would like something the gf could use occasionally even though she's basically taken over the netbook.
I spent some time looking over some upgrades/replacements for some parts.

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197
I figured 5400 rpm would be compatible and run just as quiet (if not quieter) than the drive installed and on its last leg. I know 7200rpm drives would run approx. $20 more but I haven't seen much evidence that there will be a dramatic difference for a machine handicapped with a 1.6ghz C2D spending the majority of time checking outlook emails and catching up on shows on hulu.

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145157
I almost always go 4gb at min. when building a new machine but not only is that cost prohibitive in this case about $80, I don't think it will be worthwhile with a 1.6 C2D processor. If anyone has Windows 7 running on with 2gb of ram let me know, I assume its tolerable but if I must I"ll go 4gb of ram, I believe the that is the motherboard's max.

Finally, I'm picking up a battery from Amazon, looks to be around $50. All of this should come in at approx. $150 which is well within my $200 max limit. I'll be installing Windows 7 professional on the new hard drive. Thanks for the help in advance.