Comments on: Laptop Returned, Money Saved, Old Computer Optimized!

By: It's Been 35 Days Since I Last Spent Any Money On Junk | Financial Samurai

It's Been 35 Days Since I Last Spent Any Money On Junk | Financial Samurai — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:03:51 +0000

[...] “Laptop Returned, Money Saved, Computer Optimized!” [...]

By: Mea Culpa - I Just Spent $1,450 At The Apple Store | Financial Samurai

Mea Culpa - I Just Spent $1,450 At The Apple Store | Financial Samurai — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:06:38 +0000

[...] “Laptop Returned, Money Saved, Old Computer Optimized!” [...]

By: canz

canz — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:40:52 +0000

@admin if it already has two chips… that’s no prob! as long as the machine can handle > 512KB ram, just get 2 more chips at 512KB each… or more!!! (i took out both original sticks in mine for a 2x2GB upgrade) :)

thanks, though it’s totally yuck– spend all day working on sites– don’t want to come home and deal with more of them…

By: admin

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:15:42 +0000

Hey Canz! Good tips. I think my memory drive is full i.e. it has two, 256KB chips in it already yiiihaw! I just took the laptop to the rest room this morning to do some editing, and before I could finish, the battery died :( I’m definitely gonna get a new battery, b/c a 8 minute battery life is ridiculous!

Thanks for the encouragement. I used to love playing games on the computer 10 years ago, and would probably still do so now if I had time, but I don’t.

Cool computer programing site you got there btw! I’m so horrendous at everything computer related, it’s a miracle I’ve got this site up.

By: canz

canz — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:23:35 +0000

I agree with Bill about getting another battery.

swapping out the processor might be difficult and/or impossible with chips/motherboards being upgraded in 5 years (motorola->intel), but like automobiles, the labor charges for computer repairs are insane. At “geeksquad” it’s $50 for hardware install. It takes ~3 minutes to install RAM on a laptop (desktop PCs less). that’s $1000 / hour. Yikes.

Here are some laptop upgrades you may be able to do yourself:

–buy a bigger hard drive, and an external usb enclosure. swap out your current HD for the new one and use your old one for a backup.

–If your machine can handle it, buy more ram. I got 4 gigs of ram for $70 (-$30 rebate) at newegg and installed it in minutes. go to crucial.com to find the ram for you machine– then shop around for it.

I would go as far to say, one should never buy new laptops with these upgrades pre-installed, or even buy these upgrades from Apple. the ram upgrade i mentioned above at Apple is $200. HD and ram upgrades are pretty easy DIY stuff and can be found for great deals around the internet (newegg, tigerdirect, zipzoomfly…).

imho, the only things that _really_ matter in a new laptop is the processor, then, the video card.

If you’re not spending a lot of time editing video/music/photos/programming/protein folding/etc. do you really need something new and ultra fast? (you’ve already answered that :) )

By: admin

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:37:56 +0000

Hi Bill – Wow, $20 for a battery? Sounds like a no brainer. Will check it out. Thanks. FS

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:52:55 +0000

Buy a battery off ebay.

I got one NIB for an iBook G3 for $10 (under $20 shipped)

Even a used battery will have more than 25 minutes of battery life.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:34:48 +0000

@Lee Yes, I get a 1% cash back that goes towards paying down my principal. I guess that would only be $15 bucks, but better than sand in the eye!