Laptop Trouble

[Uytuun]

So my four year old laptop died on me a couple of days ago - apparently the hard disk gave up. Additionally, the CD-ROM/DVD reader no longer functions (has been like that for a while). The computer guy told me it would cost me about 200 euros to get the HD replaced, but I wonder whether it's worth it considering the laptop's age and the CD issue. I don't want to spend that kind of money and then have to patch it up constantly. Should I get a new one? If so, what brand can you recommend? I heard good things about Lenovo. I need a sturdy (travel), reliable and solid laptop - no fancy extras, no webcam or way out media center etc. - that will last me another couple of years and that will mostly be used for work and Internet adventures. And old games, maybe. My budget is about 1000 euros.

[LordMaiestas]

So my four year old laptop died on me a couple of days ago - apparently the hard disk gave up. Additionally, the CD-ROM/DVD reader no longer functions (has been like that for a while). The computer guy told me it would cost me about 200 euros to get the HD replaced, but I wonder whether it's worth it considering the laptop's age and the CD issue. I don't want to spend that kind of money and then have to patch it up constantly. Should I get a new one? If so, what brand can you recommend? I heard good things about Lenovo. I need a sturdy (travel), reliable and solid laptop - no fancy extras, no webcam or way out media center etc. - that will last me another couple of years and that will mostly be used for work and Internet adventures. And old games, maybe. My budget is about 1000 euros.

I would say that a normal laptop life expectancy will be about 3 years?
So with hardware that cheap i think it is suggestible to buy a new one for the long run.
Yes you can fix it but it is not cost efficient.

A normal laptop for travel a Dell Inspiron perhaps?

[Eyolf]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 about four months ago for $700 and I've been very happy with it. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it has a AMD Turion64x2 processor in it and I would prefer an Intel.

It's faster than my desktop PC while still keeping a charge for a good 2 - 3 hours depending on what I'm doing it. Editing video kills the battery of course.

It's a good work horse, I recommend it. ;)

[Jakalwarrior]

laptop drives are actually much less than that and are easy to put in if you have basic mechanical ability plus ur windows cd

[Ytterbium]

The Asus EEE PC costs about 200€. It's seems sturdy and has a flash disk that isn't too sensitive to shocks.
You could buy a new disk for 100€ and installing it isn't too hard. The problem is that the CD is broken which makes OS installation trickier.

I don't know much about the Lenovo laptops. But the old IBM Thinkpads were quite sturdy, Lenovo Thinkpads might be that aswell. I have no idea though.

[Jakalwarrior]

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That is in US dollars. The average 80gb model is 50-60 bucks ;), while a 250gb drive can be had for 70 bucks.

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Then it is just a matter of installing windows on the new drive. Easy if you have a system restore cd set that came with the laptop, a pain in the rear if you dont... though you could always put Ubuntu on it for free.

If the CD rom drive is removable it wouldn't be too bad to replace, if its built in its a pain and can only be replaced with one made by the OEM.




*How to make your computer work with NO hard drive or CD-Rom Drive, just a flash thumb drive*
Download puppy linux,
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burn the iso. Load that iso up on a computer and once up and running from linux live use the universal isntaller included on the puppy desktop to install linux onto a flash thumb drive. Next just boot your laptop from the thumb drive (set USB to first boot device in bios) and have fun! you have the option of creating a save file on the flash drive that will log any changes you made and if you install in directory mode instead of super floppy mode you can save your files on the drive too as if it were a normal hard drive. You will have limited functionality since puppy is a very light install of linux and you would be running in live mode but you can browse the web and perform most normal tasks. If you want to run a full linux like Ubuntu on a flash drive that is possible too but requires some work.


--- excuse my typos, its 4:40am ---

[Mogura]

So my four year old laptop died on me a couple of days ago - apparently the hard disk gave up. Additionally, the CD-ROM/DVD reader no longer functions (has been like that for a while). The computer guy told me it would cost me about 200 euros to get the HD replaced, but I wonder whether it's worth it considering the laptop's age and the CD issue. I don't want to spend that kind of money and then have to patch it up constantly. Should I get a new one? If so, what brand can you recommend? I heard good things about Lenovo. I need a sturdy (travel), reliable and solid laptop - no fancy extras, no webcam or way out media center etc. - that will last me another couple of years and that will mostly be used for work and Internet adventures. And old games, maybe. My budget is about 1000 euros.

The cheapest option would be to purchase a new HD and replace it yourself. The only thing is that you need to load a new OS onto the HD, and you really need a functioning CD-ROM drive to do so. Also, as Jakalwarrior mentioned, you need to have the recovery CD or the OS installation CD (Windows, etc.) to make that happen.

Are you absolutely certain that the HD is dead and it's not just an issue of a corrupted OS?

IBM/Lenovo laptops are great. I have 3. They're built solid. I've worked with so many different laptops in my line of work, and I have found the IBM/Lenovo's to be the best.

What was the make of the computer that died?

[Uytuun]

Thanks so much for the info, guys, I bought a new one (so cheap compared to 4 years ago), but I'd like to try and save my old lappie myself as a sort of project maybe.

I got this one To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.$To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. .

The old lappie was an HP Pavilion. My computer guy took it apart, though and said it was pretty dead. I have the OS CD.

[Jakalwarrior]

Do that little flash drive thing I described above. If it works and runs perfectly fine then all is well except for the hard drive. If it still has problems and crashes, it may have other problems.
Here at work we had several computers donated to help out with handling this gustav stuff. Some of them... had dead hard drives or corrupted windows installs. Loaded a bunch of them up with linux live and put people to work on them lol. Some of them commented that their windows looked a little different and applications were named different but other than that most didnt even notice lol. Made the old crusty computers fast and responsive too, since it is streamlined and not loaded with all the crap that older computers invariably accumulate on their drives.

[Uytuun]

Haha, I'm typing this on my resurrected comp. Thanks Jakal! (note, the oldie I have couldn't boot from USB device, but somehow it can read the Live CD whereas it couldn't deal with the Windows XP one)

When I boot from the CD the only error message that remains is the one saying that the HD might collapse in the near future.

[dogwoodlover]

I heard good things about Lenovo.

I ended up troubleshooting my girlfriend's laptop that she's had for about the last year and a half. Its a Lenovo, and in the rather short period of time she's had it, the battery has managed to die, and the screen has started bugging out with strange lines of pixels dying out on the screen. It was however, under $200.

[Vayate]

I ended up troubleshooting my girlfriend's laptop that she's had for about the last year and a half. Its a Lenovo, and in the rather short period of time she's had it, the battery has managed to die, and the screen has started bugging out with strange lines of pixels dying out on the screen. It was however, under $200.
This is why you don't buy high-tech Chinese goods. In fact, this is why you don't buy Chinese goods at all if you can help it.

As for laptops, avoid HP. They have junky Hitachi hard drives that are bad from the factory, will require immediate replacement, and there's no guarantee that your replacement won't be bad too. Compaq is HP, avoid at all costs. Higher-end Dells are pretty good, but the Inspiron is their base model and tends to be a bit cheaply built.

I go with Toshiba laptops. They're built pretty solidly as long as you don't get the base model Satellite (sister got one, keyboard and touchpad were cheaply built). The second-lowest end Satellites are pretty nice though, and the Tecra series is superb. Only problem with them is that the AC adapters are junk and go out after a year. I suggest getting one manufactured by a company other than Toshiba. They also have laptops that are still available with Windows XP Professional too.

General rule of buying computers: Buy from their business line. Consumer grade is junk because it's assumed that you will just replace the machine when it dies. Business machines are sold with the expectancy of having to support them for three to five years, so selling junk ends up being costly to the manufacturer and they are forced to provide a better machine.

[thatfox]

Haha, I'm typing this on my resurrected comp. Thanks Jakal! (note, the oldie I have couldn't boot from USB device, but somehow it can read the Live CD whereas it couldn't deal with the Windows XP one)

When I boot from the CD the only error message that remains is the one saying that the HD might collapse in the near future.

Since you got a new laptop and are probably not going to use the old one on the road again. Have you considered getting a cheap external DVD±RW drive? Here in the US I've seen them for as low as $25.