Old dell laptop, help needed

v3n0m_dk

v3n0m_dk

v3n0m_dk

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24 Jul 2006
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58
Hi all.

I recently recieved my uncles old laptop to use while im in lectures and such at university, due to no being able to lug my desktop around.

The laptop is an old Dell Latitude CPt c series (aparently), all i know is is has a 400mhz celeron processor, 192mb of ram and 5gb hdd.

Im thinking of putting a new 40bg samsung hdd in to replace the old slow one, but was wondering if running linux on the machine would be beter than the rather slow xp install it currently has.

I know the laptop is under the minimum requirements for xp and all i really need it for is word processing and maybe databasing and vb programming. (microsoft word, access, and vb 2005 -remotely accessed through a remote desktop connection)

can anyone help out as to what version of linux to use if its even possible?

any hep greatly appreciated. :)
 
Increase the ram to 512, change the perfomance settings to 'run best' and not 'let windows decide'

Defrag HDD, take off anything you dont need. Bigger HDD would be nice, but id go for more ram 1st then HDD.

Other than that, not much else you can do with it. The main issue is going to be the CPU speed. 400 is a little low, VB takes more power than you think. For about £100-£150 you will get a good 2nd hand laptop from a refurbish store that will be 10 times better than that and help you out in the long run.

Good luck. If your in Leeds i could help :)

ColiN
 
thank you for the help mate,

i was trying to avoid spending any more money on another laptop unless its actually the only option due to already having a large debt hanging over me atm.

looking at upgrading the ram brings up the issue as to whether the mobo can handle that ammount of ram,

does anyone know if the motherboards in these can handle it?

cheers
 
The CPt-C has 2 memory slots and can take a maximum of 512mb. Not sure if it'll accept 1x512mb so probably best to go with 2x256mb, you should be able to pick that up for next to nothing :)
 
thanks l33,

can you tell me anything else about this laptop, like will i be able to put another 2.5 IDE hdd in it without problems?

and does anyone have any experience with linux on laptops?

cheers
 
v3n0m_dk said:
thanks l33,

can you tell me anything else about this laptop, like will i be able to put another 2.5 IDE hdd in it without problems?

and does anyone have any experience with linux on laptops?

cheers
Click to expand...

Ive had ubuntu running on one before. It detected the hardware easily enough and was fairly quick. Mine had 512mb Ram though.

As for hard drives, you can't put another in as well as the standard one, but of course you can replace it (if thats what you mean)
 
windows 2000 could be the better option there tbh.

i think ill get some dirt cheap ram and a new hdd then, see how much fun we can have with a 400 mhz celeron :p

thanks all :D
 
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