Upgrades for Compaq Laptop

CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
edited November 2011 in Hardware
I have an old Compaq Presario 2100 laptop that I was going to give to my nephew for Christmas since he is in Ohio Virtual School. It is a pretty old machine that I got as a Graduation Present when I graduated from High School in 1997. I would like to upgrade the Memory and possibly the Hard Drive in the laptop but I am not sure exactly what I can use or what it would accept. It looks like it had 2x 256MB PC2100 SDRAM and a 40GB Toshiba HD (Model HDD2182.) What would be the best to upgrade this laptop? He has a desktop to play games and such on so he'd really only use this to do school work (internet and word processing.) Also I have an external wireless card for the laptop. Is there any way to install an internal card on this model? Any other suggestions other than Memory or a bigger hard drive that can be easily installed would also be appreciated. I would like to keep the budget under $100.

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    One thing I can recommend for sure is switching to Linux for that use case.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    Why would that be? I don't know if my nephew would know how to use a Linux Machine over Windows.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    CrazyJoe wrote:
    It looks like it had 2x 256MB PC2100 SDRAM and a 40GB Toshiba HD (Model HDD2182.)
    That can't be right, Windows 98 wasn't out yet in 1997. The DDR spec wasn't standardized until 2000. I have to second what Primesuspect said, you really need Linux on a box that old. There's no MS OS still receiving updates that will run usably on that hardware. That machine is 14 years old; for your budget you can buy a better machine.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    Ok, I was wrong, I knew I got it as a graduation present, but after researching I guess I got it at my college graduation in 2003. It is currently running Windows XP.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    What model and type is the laptop? Should be on a sticker on the back.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    It's a Compaq Presario 2100 DC954A.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    Well, in addition to RAM and hard drive, you can get a cheap IDE DVD burner as long as the machine doesn't have a custom bezel on the drive. Also, find out if it will take a mobile Socket A Barton; I'm sure there are a lot of Icrontians with XP-M 2600's lying around from their Abit NF7-S 2.0 days. Doesn't look like internal wireless was offered as an option so you're probably SOL there. If it was, the antennae would be built into the display so all you'd need is a MiniPCI wireless card and install the U.FL antenna connectors onto the new card.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    I pulled the service manual. The MiniPCI slot should be under a bay cover on the underside that's accessible with a Phillips #0 screwdriver. Check and see if there are a pair of antenna cables dangling in there. If so, look for a wireless card on eBay listed as HP compatible that's no more than a 2x2 (2 antenna headers.) It sure looks like it will take a SocketA mobile Athlon. Only question now is BIOS support...
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    I pulled the same service manual and did a bit of research on the internal wireless using the MiniPCI slot. I opened the bay and don't see any loose wires and from what I've read it's a PITA to install them yourself, so it looks like an external card will have to do. I have a Linksys WPC11 Wireless B card, but I'll look for an upgrade since it's pretty old and doesn't play all that nicely with modern network setups.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    Replacing the CPU is alot more work that I really want to do. From what I can tell replacing the Memory and Hard Drive are the easiest things to do (and of course a new external wireless card.) Given just those three things what would be the best route to go on them? What memory, hard drive, external wireless card, etc would be the best?

    Also if I replaced the hard drive what would be the easiest way to go about copying the stuff that's on the hard drive now to the new drive? It's not like a PC where you can connect both drives to the PC at the same time and just copy it over from the old to the new.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    Crazy Joe wrote:
    Replacing the CPU is alot more work that I really want to do. From what I can tell replacing the Memory and Hard Drive are the easiest things to do (and of course a new external wireless card.) Given just those three things what would be the best route to go on them? What memory, hard drive, external wireless card, etc would be the best?

    Also if I replaced the hard drive what would be the easiest way to go about copying the stuff that's on the hard drive now to the new drive? It's not like a PC where you can connect both drives to the PC at the same time and just copy it over from the old to the new.
    You're going to be stuck with whatever is still being manufactured unless you want to buy used on eBay. For hard drives, that means a Western Digital Scorpio in various sizes though with the flood that by itself is going to end your budget. For memory, you can get 512MB modules on Newegg for $20. Lower CAS latency is better, and the service manual says you can't use modules bigger than 512MB per module for a maximum of 1GB. USB wireless cards are universally crap, so just get a cheap one with at least 4 eggs. Also, get one of these for your hard drive copy problem. They're fantastically useful when you need to fix computers and don't want to/can't crack the case to put the suspect drive into your PC.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    I think drasnor covered most of your hardware questions. I'd like to chime in about Linux though. Old hardware is where Linux really shines. Install an easy to use distro (such as Linux Mint or Xubuntu). Your nephew shouldn't have a problem doing basic Internet tasks and word processing on it. Hell, I installed Ubuntu on an old PC for my family a few years back and even they were able to use it just as easily as Windows.
  • trooster89trooster89 Are you from London? Icrontian
    edited November 2011
    I agree with prime and ardichoke. There are an abundance of light weight linux distro's designed specifically for old hardware. I know the idea of "linux" sounds scary to people, but its it really a lot more user friendly now a days than it used to be --especially a conical supported distro like Ubuntu or one of its derivatives. For someone planning on using it for internet browsing and simple word processing, it will more than meet your nephew's needs.
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