Reviving an old laptop!

[checkmate007]

Hi, all

 

I remembered that I have a 5 year old laptop (ThinkPad E420) lying around and my mother just happens to need a new computer. As she only uses the computer for light web browsing and watching movies and videos, I decided it would be more cost efficient to upgrade the laptop than to build an entirely new desktop for her. (She doesn't have any spare monitors anyway). There are two problems with the laptop, which are 1) Poor cooling performance with the laptop running at 60-70 degrees Celsius idle and 2) noisy hard drive.

 

Here are the brief specifications of the computer:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-2410M
• RAM: 8GB DDR3 Memory
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD6630M
• HDD: Seagate 750GB 5400RPM

Below is a list of things I plan to do for the laptop:

1. Dust all the components and reapply thermal paste for CPU and GPU
2. Remove the old HDD and swap it for a 120GB SSD & a portable HDD OR
   Replace the old HDD with a new one + mSATA SSD for Operating System
   (Which do you think would be better? The cost would be about the same)
3. Swap in a new battery (about $25)

I'd like to hear whether you think doing these will help to get rid of the two problems mentioned above.

[brob]

Clearing out dust with a vacuum makes sense. 

 

You might consider a larger ssd. But check that the BIOS will support any replacement drive. Some laptop BIOS are very particular and designed to cope with a limited number of options.

 

Unless the laptop will be used as a laptop, don't bother replacing the battery. Simply leave the unit plugged in.