Dan
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Registered: 22nd Apr 02
Location: Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk
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I've got a fairly decent dell laptop. It has a hdmi out.
I know you can run them while closed. So I guess I could use a wireless keyboard that I have with built in trackpad.
Is it worth putting a new hard drive in it and using it as a media centre type gadget? It can be hidden under tv easily.
If so what's the best Os to run on it as it'll be a new hdd. What software am I best to use? I have 20mb broadband now so i can stream/download quickly.
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evilrob
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Registered: 16th Mar 12
Location: Your mum's house
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I just put a cheap SSD in a 6 year old laptop and bodged in a couple of 2Gb SO-DIMMs I had knocking about. The chipset is so old it only registered 3Gb, but the combined RAM + SSD makes it run like a new computer!
Dunno what the best media centre software is though.
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Sam
Moderator
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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quote:
Originally posted by evilrob
I just put a cheap SSD in a 6 year old laptop and bodged in a couple of 2Gb SO-DIMMs I had knocking about. The chipset is so old it only registered 3Gb, but the combined RAM + SSD makes it run like a new computer!
Dunno what the best media centre software is though.
Are you running a 32-bit or 64-bit OS? Because you'd only see up to 3 GB of RAM under 32-bit Windows.
[Edited on 10-03-2013 by Sam]
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evilrob
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Registered: 16th Mar 12
Location: Your mum's house
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I like your thinking, but unfortunately, it's a limitation of the Intel 945PM chipset.
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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Ahh right. I never actually installed more RAM in a system than it officially support (from a hardware point of view) as I never knew whether it would actually work or not!
I guess you've answered that question for me now. 
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Dan
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Registered: 22nd Apr 02
Location: Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk
User status: Offline
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Anyone got any other ideas?
I'm half tempted to stick a cheap small ssd in it and use it as a laptop again. Would be ideal for when I work away as it'll be ideal for browsing the web.
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3CorsaMeal
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Registered: 11th Apr 02
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Clipboard
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evilrob
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Mar 12
Location: Your mum's house
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quote:
Originally posted by Dan
I'm half tempted to stick a cheap small ssd in it and use it as a laptop again. Would be ideal for when I work away as it'll be ideal for browsing the web.
I can highly recommend this course of action if the battery's still up to scratch.
There's very little discernible difference for 'everyday' tasks between my refurbished 6-YEAR old Core 2 Duo 2.16ghz/3Gb RAM/SSD laptop and my 6-MONTH old Core i7 2.0Ghz, 8Gb RAM, SSD ultrabook.
It's not until you start trying to do something silly like video encoding, virtualisation or a mental Photoshop action that the newer machine feels any faster.
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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I had an SSD in an old HP G6000 laptop, made the world of difference.
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Dan
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Apr 02
Location: Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk
User status: Offline
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The battery is still pretty good tbh.
Hmmm, decisions!
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Dan
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Apr 02
Location: Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk
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So I just bought a 60gb ssd drive. What happens when I install it and switch on for first time :/
I had win 7 on it bit I think the key on bottom has worn off. Anyway of retrieving it?
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