Is this laptop worth saving??

[Dephin -PC-]

Toshiba Satellite Pro 425CDT
GenuineIntel Pentium Processor
40 MB of ram
Windows 98 Second Edition
Toshiba CD-Rom XM-1402B
800MB hard drive

Now before you completly laugh, this laptop was FREE... As you can see why it was free... Now, all I'm looking to do on it is surf the web via DSL network and use Microsoft Office for forms and excel...

I'm looking to nuke the software and install Windows XP for software... For hardware I'm going to use an external USB mouse and probably a new CD-Rom since it seems to be sticking...

What do I need to upgrade to make this laptop worth using?? My first thoughts are to trash it BUT my father gave it to me to fix up so I can use it at his shop when I'm there so I'm really trying make some use out of it...

[EzyStvy]

An 800MB hard drive is smaller than the 3gigs of space you need to install XP......Wayyyy toooo little ram for XP.....So for the price of XP, a new drive and more ram, you'd be half way there to getting a real laptop....

[Dephin -PC-]

That much I understand... I was hoping for opinions on what would work the best for what I got... Which harddrive to go with, external internal, maybe links if anyone has enough time...

I know the Harddrive, Ram, and probably processor have to go... Opinions on which and is the price even worth working on this one??

[Staren]

You could get one of the small linux distros designed for these older systems on there and use it for what you want, but EzyStvy is right. You can pretty much forget about putting XP on there, Heck I think 98 is even pushing it a bit.

Something like DamnSmallLinux http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ you could slip on there and use for office tasks pretty well.

[Dephin -PC-]

I don't plan to use current hard drive... I know I'll have to get an external or internal... I would rather keep as much stuff internal as possible but I'm not going to go tearing it apart unless I can find the right stuff for a cheap price...

[EzyStvy]

Nope. It's not going to be worth putting any money into it. Older pc's like this have a serious BIOS issue with drives larger than 2 gigs.

Probably can't replace the processor even if you knew what the mobo was...

New Dell Notebooks can be had for $499 and already have XP on em...

[rspassey]

Consider trying out DamnSmallLinux, I have used it for a very very short time, but I can verify that it works well and can run from a flash drive so you don't have install it to try it out. Plus it is free, so it is worth a shot. While DSM works well detecting and working with much older PCs and older hardware, I cannot assure you it will work, but like I said - it is worth a shot.

[Staren]

Ya, it's not worth putting money into trying to modify unless you want to do it for the sake of learning. But by the time your done all you'd have left is the shell and mayble the keyboard. You'd sure learn to use a soldering iron. That might actualy be kind of cool, but not really practical.

If you can get some use out of it the way it is, with linux or something else, then great. If you can get creative there is something to use it for, but it will never be useful as a standard windows laptop today.

[Dephin -PC-]

ok... Right now it has a slot on the side with a 14.4 modem... What can I get to replace that so I can connect it to a DSL connection and at least get on my network so I can share documents..??

[EzyStvy]

PCMCIA network adaptor. $25.00 and up.

[Staren]

For a wireless network I'd go with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833338011

For a wired network, this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833328001

Or if you have a USB drive, or USB RW drive, this will give you a USB interface:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815124011

[faulkner132]

I would imagine on a laptop that old the battery can barely hold a charge longer than 30 minutes or so. It's a novel idea, but considering a PCMCIA card costs about the same as the laptop is worth, I say just let it go...

[glc]

Before you can even think about a PCMCIA network adapter, you have to see if the slots are Cardbus compliant. If not, you will be hunting on Ebay for an old 16 bit network card. I *think* it IS cardbus - you can verify in device manager.

If you want to use the thing, I'd stick with 98SE if it's already on there and if it works okay. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Your memory is maxed out at 40.

Here's a cheap PCMCIA nic:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833328001

[Dephin -PC-]

I'll check it out tomorrow... It doesn't have any USB ports in it, at least from what I saw...