10 Year old Dell

[pfeiffep]

I just sold a 10 yr old laptop that couldn't run Windows 7 and XP was really slowwwwwwww. I installed Ubuntu 14 LTS and sold it to a family looking for another computer. Their 9th grader loved it.

[d-cosner]

Nice! I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 on a Dell Inspiron 531 that I picked up for next to nothing. Linux makes older computer awesome!

[RichardET]

I just sold a 10 yr old laptop that couldn't run Windows 7 and XP was really slowwwwwwww. I installed Ubuntu 14 LTS and sold it to a family looking for another computer. Their 9th grader loved it.


jeeez, you couldn't just give it to him?

[night_sky2]

Nice to hear that. Nothing better than Linux to refresh old hardware.

[monkeybrain20122]

jeeez, you couldn't just give it to him?

Was thinking the same thing. I would have to pay someone to take a laptop like that. :)

[pfeiffep]

Well, the family was planning on purchasing another computer (5th in the mix) so for $75 I think we both won!

[monkeybrain20122]

I think $75 is a major rip off for something that even chokes on XP. :) I recently got a 5 year old hp laptop with 4 G of ram on craiglist for Cad100 (so almost exactly $75 based on exchange rate right now) Came with Win7 pro but got rid of it immediately. Run latest Ubuntu with all the glory of unity and still smooth and fast :) (flash & html5 are a bit slow on FF for 720p but there are workarounds)

[Double.J]

I'd be a little concerned about the hardware - maybe the drive failing if a clean install of XP is struggling on a 10 year old laptop - it has much lower requirements than modern day ubuntu - even xubuntu. Nice one keeping the laptop going though! It's a sad fate that whilst many older Macs are preserved for their collector status, PC's tend to get canned, even the nice ones.

[Mike_Walsh]

Nice! I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 on a Dell Inspiron 531 that I picked up for next to nothing. Linux makes older computer awesome!

I just did exactly the same for a mate. His old Inspiron 530s was suffering from a very sick Vista install.....a real slow old dog. I installed 14.04.3 LTS, and added the XFCE desktop, since it's more like what he's used to.

He says it's running way better than Vista did when new.


Regards,

Mike. ;)

[pfeiffep]

I think $75 is a major rip off for something that even chokes on XP. <snip>You are certainly entitled to your opinion no matter how mis-informed it might be

The laptop had upgraded memory and included a Dell carry case. In addition I delivered and set it up on their wifi to insure it worked. I also provide the 9th grader 1 hour of instruction about how best to use Libre Office and Ubuntu.

[Mike_Walsh]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion no matter how mis-informed it might be

The laptop had upgraded memory and included a Dell carry case. In addition I delivered and set it up on their wifi to insure it worked. I also provide the 9th grader 1 hour of instruction about how best to use Libre Office and Ubuntu.

That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.....for everyone involved.

I spent quite a while showing my mate how to use Ubuntu. He's in his late 60's, and hasn't had much to do with these things until the last few years. Main reason he got a 'puter in the first place was so he could e-mail various relatives who have become rather 'spread out' over the years. He describes himself as a 'tech dinosaur'; he's only just recently got the hang of sending text messages..!

He admits XFCE is easier than Vista, by a long shot.


Regards,

Mike. :)

[d-cosner]

The price for the laptop and services rendered sounds fair to me. I see used laptops that age sell for $50.00 to $100.00 around here.

[Sweet_Baby_Jamie]

As a 9th grader myself I can vouch for the wonderfulness of Linux making my old hand-me-down Dell (512 RAM) work great! When my parents' fancy new Windows 10 computer went down with a virus they used mine (it runs a Lubuntu-based distro called LXLE) and thought they were using Windows XP because it's so simple and so fast! They liked it so much that they wanted it on their computer when it went down again after getting really slow and stuff. I haven't tried Ubuntu on mine because the specs on my computer are too low, but my distro is Ubuntu "underneath."

[Curtis310]

Yay for old hardware.