Restore/Upgrade old laptop?

[steezemageeze]

I have this Dell Inspiron 8000 from like 1999 (I think, might've been 2001). I've been playing around with it for a while, trying to find a Linux distro that would actually run on it decently. I settled on Xubuntu, and it runs decent.... until it decides it doesn't feel like doing anything. Its CMOS battery is dead, and the regular battery doesn't hold a charge. The hard drive doesn't sound great, but I don't think it's on the verge of death or anything. it only has 256MB of RAM, upgradeable to 512MB. It has a mobile Pentium III, which runs at basically 100% capacity with even the simplest of tasks. To upgrade the HDD, CMOS, battery, and RAM, it'll cost around $70, or $90 if I decide to get a second battery for it (it has two battery bays, one that's occupied by a floppy disk drive). Do you guys think it's worth it to upgrade it? I'd mainly use it for writing papers for school (I'm strangely in love with the keyboard), some light web browsing, and playing around with Linux 

[techguru]

no

its not worth it

[Darth-Marius]

oh my god...no

[Daveeede]

You probably buy a core 2 duo and 2gb of ram for under 100 bucks so no, just don't

[Boink]

Honestly, a chromebook would be a better option than that monster, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like chromebooks.

[steezemageeze]

Honestly, a chromebook would be a better option than that monster, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like chromebooks.

 

It's not that I don't have any options or that I have to use this beast. I have a school-issued Chromebook and a decent laptop already. This would just be a fun side project to dick around on

[TheMechEngineer]

It's not that I don't have any options or that I have to use this beast. I have a school-issued Chromebook and a decent laptop already. This would just be a fun side project to dick around on

 

I think you could do it. Parts might be a little thin on the ground, but surely the hard drive would be replaceable and the RAM could be upgraded.

Might have to forget about the main battery though, getting a new one is nigh on impossible for any old laptop (I have a 5yo laptop that I couldn't be bothered getting a new battery for).

[KemoKa]

holy shit, no, do not do it. That is not worth it at all. Install puppy Linux on it, maybe, but beyond that, I wouldn't go near it.

[Lusin]

Get a new laptop. Upgrading your current one would be a waste of time and money.

[Monte_Carlo]

I don't think it's worth the upgrade honestly.  Just replacing the things you listed would probably increase the value of the laptop by several magnitudes.  Granted I would look into replacing the CMOS battery at least. 

[steezemageeze]

Get a new laptop. Upgrading your current one would be a waste of time and money.

 

As I've said before, I already have a laptop. This is just a stupid side project type thing to mess around with