Revitalizing an Aging Notebook On the Cheap

jcatcw writes "Brian Nadel's ThinkPad R50 just hit its fifth birthday, and the years haven't been kind to it. When it was new, the notebook was reliable and fast. Now it's slow and prone to annoying shutdowns. Is it a good investment to revamp a notebook that's worth about $350? It sure is, because this old notebook will get a new lease on life for about $125 — a bargain, considering what it could cost to replace." On the other hand, upgrading RAM, keyboard and hard drive don't get you a smaller (netbook-style) computer, a new battery, or the transflective screen on the Toshiba linked above.

Those "horseless carriages" people mentioning...

[SilentChris]

I also heard if you tie hundreds of horses together your cart may run as fast as a Ferrari (and it'd be cheaper too)! Oats cost nothing compared to the price of gas these days...

Re:Bad idea?

[Legion_SB]

Don't tell him to get a Wind! The last thing I need is more people trying to buy up all of the initial stock...

Re:Those "horseless carriages" people mentioning..

[Obfuscant]

I also heard if you tie hundreds of horses together your cart may run as fast as a Ferrari...

Been there, done that.

Your cart goes as fast as the fastest horse can run, minus a bit since he's now dragging the cart AND the other horses.

The vet bills to fix the broken legs of the horses that are slower outweighs the cost savings. RoHS prevents the simple solution to a broken leg.

Like Larry the Cable Guy says: I heard the right thing to do when your horse breaks its leg is to shoot it. So I did. Now I have a horse with a broken leg and a gunshot wound.

Re:I just did some work on my thinkpad

[MadFarmAnimalz]

I almost gave up on it, and replaced it with a new unit, until I realized just how well my 7-year-old thinkpad still runs.

My punch cards never stopped working also, so like you I never saw the sense in upgrading.

What is an LCD by the way?

Dear Slashot

[DetpackJump]

I keep shoving hair into the fan intake of my laptop and now it's not running properly. What am I doing wrong?

Re:Huh?

[MilesAttacca]

True that. It may sound silly, but I buy solely ThinkPads because I can't stand touchpads. Once you go to the TrackPoint you never want to tilt any other way.

Re:True geek

[adminstring]

Some say the hard disk is half full. Some say the hard disk is half empty. A group of monks posed this dilemma to the Buddha.
"All hard disks are virtual," he responded, and at that moment, all those who were present were enlightened.