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What to do with old laptop

KingKeith55
By KingKeith55
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So one of my Dad's coworkers had this old laptop, and he was going to throw it out and asked if I had a use for it. I decided to take it to see what I could do with it.

 

This is the info I have on it so far:

 

IBM Thinkpad R32:

 

Specs:

Intel Pentium 4 Mobile 1.8GHz

ATI Radeon Mobility 7000 IGP (It might be a 7500, not sure)

256MB of RAM

40-60 GB HDD (Haven't installed an OS on it yet, or formatted it)

DVD Drive

 

 

Also, the Battery works in it, and it actually holds a charge. The CMOS battery is dead in it though, not a big problem really. It's in pretty good condition too.

 

But anyway I was wondering any ideas on what I could use it for? I don't have an OS on it as it was formatted when I got it.

 

Here's some ideas I have

 

- Retro gaming PC (I have a Windows 98 SE CD-ROM I could use with some older Dos/95 games I have, or I could put XP on it and do the same thing)

- Backup PC (Self explanatory)

- Server of some sort (I don't need one though, don't want a fileserver or router or anything like that. I don't think it has enough RAM to host a server for some game like Terraria.)

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

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inb4 linux

 

 

I got better options!

Shelf space-waster

dust-collector

Target practice 

Low resolution porn 

Or having  a better laptop than anyone at a linux convention (seriously, send all your hate-mail with vim, SORRY I use a GUI on my gentoo)

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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I had XP running on it earlier, and decided to reformat to do something else with it. XP runs fine on it. Also it might have more RAM than I said.

 

But my idea was a retro gaming machine, would work fine for my DOS/95 games.

 

Also what would I do with linux? really though? Oh yeah... nothing. Just to say "hur im a nurd heker i got lirnux"

 

However putting DOS might be a good idea so I can play my DOS games.

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Use it as a thin client 

CPU : i7 5820k l MB : ASRock Fatal1ty X99M KILLER/3.1 l RAM : 64GB l GPUs : GTX 970 l Case : Corsair 350D l SSD 2x250gb HDD 2x3tb Raid0 l CS750M PSU
CPU : i7 920 l MB : Gigabyte GA-Ex58-UD5 l RAM : 24 GB  l Case : CoolerMaster Silencio l 3x3TB Raid 5 l  Corsair VS650 | ESXI 5.5
Asus G551VW | i7 6700HQ | 32 GB | GTX 960M | 500 GB Samsung mSata | 1TB WD 
 

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I use mine as a spare Laptop for someone when I have meetings. Roughly same specs. Pentium M 1.7GHz, 768mb RAM, 60GB HDD, ATI Mobility X300, Windows 7 Pro. It runs Windows 7 fine strangely. 

Intel® Core™ i7-12700 | GIGABYTE B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 | Gigabyte Radeon™ RX 6650 XT Gaming OC | 32GB Corsair Vengeance® RGB Pro SL DDR4 | Samsung 990 Pro 1TB | WD Green 1.5TB | Windows 11 Pro | NZXT H510 Flow White
Sony MDR-V250 | GNT-500 | Logitech G610 Orion Brown | Logitech G402 | Samsung C27JG5 | ASUS ProArt PA238QR
iPhone 12 Mini (iOS 17.2.1) | iPhone XR (iOS 17.2.1) | iPad Mini (iOS 9.3.5) | KZ AZ09 Pro x KZ ZSN Pro X | Sennheiser HD450bt
Intel® Core™ i7-1265U | Kioxia KBG50ZNV512G | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Enterprise | HP EliteBook 650 G9
Intel® Core™ i5-8520U | WD Blue M.2 250GB | 1TB Seagate FireCuda | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Home | ASUS Vivobook 15 
Intel® Core™ i7-3520M | GT 630M | 16 GB Corsair Vengeance® DDR3 | Samsung 850 EVO 250GB | macOS Catalina | Lenovo IdeaPad P580

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I use mine as a spare Laptop for someone when I have meetings. Roughly same specs. Pentium M 1.7GHz, 768mb RAM, 60GB HDD, ATI Mobility X300, Windows 7 Pro. It runs Windows 7 fine strangely. 

I was going to give it to my mom since her old PC broke, but I wasn't sure if she really wanted to use something that old.

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Retro gaming PC or just keep it, please don't be the person to throw it out D: haha 90s systems like that are becoming harder to come by cause they are all getting thrown out so again just plain keep it :D

A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.

 

Core 4 Quad Not Extreme, only available on LGA 557 at your local Circuit City

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Retro gaming PC or just keep it, please don't be the person to throw it out D: haha 90s systems like that are becoming harder to come by cause they are all getting thrown out so again just plain keep it :D

Its not from the 90's though

 

It's like 2002 or something.

 

Meh, everyone knows the 90's didn't end until around 2004.

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inb4 linux

 

 

I got better options!

Shelf space-waster

dust-collector

Target practice 

Low resolution porn 

Or having  a better laptop than anyone at a linux convention (seriously, send all your hate-mail with vim, SORRY I use a GUI on my gentoo)

Lol, that only really happens on /g/. But even if you do whatever is the trend at the time...

 

"what are you running?"

"Arch"

"well... what are you running on TOP of Arch?"

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Linux?

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install linux on it and run a media server. That's what i did with my old laptop. TV on RSS and Plex to serve it.

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I was gonna use it to watch youtube and movies and stuff on a TV since it's one of those old ones with s video and vga.

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If it runs exceptionally, use it.

If not donate somewhere to be recycled.

 

 

New: Nvidia GTX 2650 x-1 classed Ti  Edition

Now made outta old IBM Thinkpads.

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I was gonna use it to watch youtube and movies and stuff on a TV since it's one of those old ones with s video and vga.

 

You can do that on Linux also. Which is the best os for your old laptop.

Rig:Crimson Impaler | CPU: i3 4160 | Cooler: CM Hyper TX3 Evo | Motherboard: Asrock B85M - DGS | RAM: Kingston Hyper X Savage 16GB kit (2x8) DDR3 1600MHZ CL9 | GPU: Asus Radeon R7 360 | PSU: Corsair CX 430 V2 | Storage: HDD WD 1TB Blue | Case: Delux DLC-MG866


~Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them.~

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You can do that on Linux also. Which is the best os for your old laptop.

But I have XP and 98 SE waiting to be used. 

 

And I can't play any of my old games on it if I use linux (95 era games).

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it's probably too old to be useful, and too slow for retro gaming. Put it on a shelf or something and show it off, they do look pretty cool.

pc specs: 4 function calculator / 8 digit lcd display / colored numeric and function buttons

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My laptop is lenovo g400 and i dont use it that much as i have a pretty badass pc

Laptop specs

Core i5 3230M 2.6 GHz

Some ok amd hd graphics card

6 gb ram

1 tb hdd

Windows 10 64-bit

And all that stuff

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802.1x radius server for some excellent pranks with neighbors trying to connect to your wifi?

γνῶθι σεαυτόν

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