inheriting a laptop?

Creamy Goodness

My brother finally got a upgrade on his laptop and he was thinking of giving the old one to me (a P3 dell inspiron 2500).

Now my problems are that one, it has a crappy sized hard drive (think it's 10 or 15 gig not sure) and I'd like to remove it if possible can this be done? to stick in a bigger one and use the smaller drive as an external.

I can't check the laptop itself at the moment as he is away.

Also another thing I learned from using it a while back was that it is painfully running XP with 128mb of ram. I've tried trawling through dell's website to find out if the ram is replaceable but to no avail, I seem to remember a part of dell's site where you can type in the code they give your computer (eg. l34ken) or something like that and it would give you the spec's. does anyone know this website so i can find what type of ram i would need I'm guessing it's pc133 as it's a P3 laptop, I just can't find the site though.

I know the laptop won't be able to suit all my needs eg. gaming (is what my desktop is for) but it would be handy in the future if I ever get broadband to set up a wireless internet so I can use the net anywhere in the house.

Thanks in advance guys

*EDIT* here's an image of the said laptop after some googling.

Gandalf23

Cremo wrote:

Now my problems are that one, it has a crappy sized hard drive (think it's 10 or 15 gig not sure) and I'd like to remove it if possible can this be done? to stick in a bigger one and use the smaller drive as an external.

Yes this is possible. My old laptop has a 6gb HDD which I am currently replacing with a 40gb HDD. But beware, some older laptops have a limit to the size of the HDD that can be installed.

I'm not so sure about using the old HDD as an external drive. How exactly do you propose to do this?

Cremo wrote:

Also another thing I learned from using it a while back was that it is painfully running XP with 128mb of ram. I've tried trawling through dell's website to find out if the ram is replaceable but to no avail, I seem to remember a part of dell's site where you can type in the code they give your computer (eg. l34ken) or something like that and it would give you the spec's. does anyone know this website so i can find what type of ram i would need I'm guessing it's pc133 as it's a P3 laptop, I just can't find the site though.

I would be very surprised if the ram was maxed out at 128mb. There should be a removable panel on the bottom of the laptop where ram can be easily inserted. Should be no problem to put in another 128mb chip (assuming you have a free bay... most laptops of that age have two bays... yours may be taken up with 2 X 64mb).

Hope this helps. Good luck with the laptop.

rick_fantastic

if ur only planning to use it as a internet only laptop for web browsing etc etc

install linux and firefox. xp is not going to run well on a lappy that old. i have an old p3 .5ghz dell latitude at home that im running as a second laptop for my younger brother and sister that has linux from scratch strip down to the bare bones and firefox and gaim for instant messaging. saves them going anywhere near my new laptop and wrecking it

djmarkus

If your goiing the linux route use mepis(www.mepis.org) you wont even need a hard drive!

L1011

rick_fantastic wrote:

if ur only planning to use it as a internet only laptop for web browsing etc etc

install linux and firefox. xp is not going to run well on a lappy that old. i have an old p3 .5ghz dell latitude at home that im running as a second laptop for my younger brother and sister that has linux from scratch strip down to the bare bones and firefox and gaim for instant messaging. saves them going anywhere near my new laptop and wrecking it

Neither is Firefox on Linux

XP, Windows 2000 theme (not the bubblegum crap one), clean it for spyware, etc; and use Firefox will be far, far, far faster than any modern Linux distro. Firefox on Linux is a noticably inferior product (it also is on the Mac, and on every other platform but BeOS and OS/2) to the Windows builds

garthv

To find out the specs of your Dell go here : http://support.euro.dell.com/ie/en/home.asp
Select one of the menus from the left and it will prompt you for your service tag, this will then give you all your specs

WizZard

www.crucial.com will also tell you what memory is compatible with your Dell laptop

sceptre

Cremo wrote:

Also another thing I learned from using it a while back was that it is painfully running XP with 128mb of ram. I've tried trawling through dell's website to find out if the ram is replaceable but to no avail, I seem to remember a part of dell's site where you can type in the code they give your computer (eg. l34ken) or something like that and it would give you the spec's. does anyone know this website so i can find what type of ram i would need I'm guessing it's pc133 as it's a P3 laptop, I just can't find the site though.

Max memory is 2*256 for a total of 512. You'll be wanting an SO-DIMM (144 pins). I'd just pop a 256 module in there in addition to the current 128 and I'd get that from crucial.com or from shop4memory.com for nice cheap prices. Dell will sell you the same thing but they'll ride you royally for it.

A total of 384 as opposed to 256 will allow you to run XP nicely on the machine, even if it's just a p3-500 (or even a 450). I would guess that you'll have no problems with a 40gig drive, though it *might* take a bigger one.

Nukem

Here ya go. Some handy notes on that lappie. Linky
And try shop4memory.com for some RAM. Its pricey for the old P3 Dells so try looking for compatible 2nd hand gear too.

Nukem

EDIT:try this manual too and this too
If anyone can get back into the index page of all the Dells please PM me the link as it would be handy for the stickies.Cheers Nukem

Creamy Goodness

thanks guys for all your help.

it turns out he wants to keep the hard drive if it's removable so fair enough, i'll buy one myself (as i was planning)

i would rather have 512mb of ram in it though instead of 384mb and then i can sell the 128mb if needs be.

i don't know exactly what speed the p3 is but i'm positive that it's not a 500mhz one anyway, probably more like a 700mhz one

Nukem

Cremo wrote:

i don't know exactly what speed the p3 is but i'm positive that it's not a 500mhz one anyway, probably more like a 700mhz one

CPUZ or SiSandra - check the computer forum->essential software once you get your hands on it

Creamy Goodness

yeh i'll be able to find out once i get the dell tag name off it.

just out of pure curiosity how much would you reckon i'd get for this if i was to sell it? just like to know it's worth.

Nukem

Depends on CPU - Gfx - age -condition - OS........blah....blah
Will have to get quote once you have the full spec.
Nukem

Creamy Goodness

Nukem wrote:

Depends on CPU - Gfx - age -condition - OS........blah....blah
Will have to get quote once you have the full spec.
Nukem

suppose, actually it was rather stupid of me to even ask without the spec's

i'll try and get them asap