Dell Inspiron 1520: Viable After Market Upgrades

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 with USB 2.0.

I have upgraded to:
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500, 2.6GHz
4 GB of memory
Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB SSD

I want to connect to gigabit ethernet.
The options I am looking at are:

USB21000S2 - USB 2.0 to Gigabit Ethernet NIC Network Adapter

USB31000S - USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet NIC Network Adapter

EC1000S - 1 Port ExpressCard Gigabit Laptop Ethernet NIC Network Adapter Card

ECUSB3S254F - 2 Port Flush Mount ExpressCard 54mm SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter with UASP Support
AND USB31000S - USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet NIC Network Adapter

Which is the best/fastest option (and why)?

Thanks In Advance. This is a great thread!
Dave

 

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 - DXDiag reports my system has the following:

3GB of RAM (4 GB allowable)
Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family

I'm wondering what the best upgrade would be to get it to work faster. So far I'm thinking my options are:
1) Change out the 3GB of RAM for 2 x 2GB of RAM, making it 4GB
2) Upgrading the Intel Core 2 Duo ( not sure if that's possible or what the best upgrade for that would be)
3) Adding an SSD drive ( not sure what would be compatible - the only ones I can find are on Crucial.com, and those are all Crucial products, so I'm not sure if I'm getting the best deal).

Thoughts? If you suggest upgrading the Intel processor, can you suggest what to upgrade to? If you suggest the SSD drive, can you suggest the type so I can shop around?

Thanks!

 

tjaburke8, I would suggest an SSD.
I have a Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB SSD in my Inspiron 1520 and I love it.

I am now putting one in my daughters Inspiron 1525 and it is making such a difference.
I had to change the cooling policy from Active to Passive because the fan was running all the time.
I think it allowed the cpu to go faster than the fan could cool it.

 

I bought an AKE USB 3.0 ExpressCard 54 with the NEC Chipset Renesas uPD720202 5.0Gbps.
I installed the Renesas 3.0.23.0 driver.

Everything looked good.
I can plug a USB 2 thumb drive in with no problem.
But when I plug in any USB 3.0 device (even with power supplied to the card) the laptop would black screen and become nonresponsive.

Has anyone used one of these successfully in an Inspiron 1520?
Any ideas on how to make it work?

Has anyone used another brand?

Thanks,
Dave

 

1.4GB would be better because there's will be full dual channel(full frequencies) and more RAM surething will eat more processes on your laptop
2.Yes it's possible to upgrade try to look on Intel T9500 or Intel X7800 if you need more processor performance
3.It would be compatitible only the problem is SATA2 in our laptop...Speeds of the SSD will be maxed for about 300MB/s because of the old SATA.All new disks are SATA3 but will work on our laptop as SATA2

 

Hello everyone, needing some help with eye strain on this laptop.

I recently got my Vostro 1500 up and working again after replacing a dead 8600M GT.

I immediately noticed that the screen I was using was really straining my eyes, so I decided to replace it. Not bright enough, I'm thinking?

I've tried replacement inverters, two different replacement screens at different resolutions, adjusting the different settings in the NVIDIA control panel. Nothing is helping. After about half an hour, my eyes are screaming.

Whites seems to be a bit on the dimmer, yellower side when comparing to my other Dell. Cranked up brightness to max, etc.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just because they're old CCFL screens that are inherently dimmer than I'm used to, or is there something going on here? Changed to Dell recommended graphics drivers, latest NVIDIA drivers, BIOS (A06) says brightness is maxed. Running plugged in with no battery, could having the battery in help somehow?

Now using a new OEM glossy WUXGA Samsung panel specifically for this model (LTN154U2-L06), and have adjusted the DPI so it's not the size of text etc. that could be straining me.

Just spitballing some ideas and information, but maybe someone has an answer here. Thanks, everyone.

 

This is just my subjective experience, but after upgrading a Vostro 1500 to UXGA (and an 8600M GT) I was convinced it was dimmer and that I had a bum screen/backlight/inverter; whereas before I usually used it with the brightness down a notch from the maximum, now I was at the maximum and the whites were not super bright. I upgraded a second one and the results were exactly the same.
I eventually got used to it, and now (when the screen is angled correctly, and there's no direct sunlight) it looks fine to me. I'm wondering if maybe this is always the case with higher resolution, at least on older machines - that with smaller pixels, you end up with a higher ratio of black between them, resulting in lower overall brightness?

 

Hi @napx

Did you upgrade the screen to 1440 x 900 or 1680 x 1050? Any Issues?
I am at the same cross road as you were a few months back.
I plan to replace the HD with Samsung Evo 850 120GB, replace screen, replace battery and speakers.

I need some advise on the screen. I prefer the screens the same way you did 1440 > 1650 > 1280

 

Hi, fist of all thanks to everyone for helping me to get the information I needed to upgrade my 1520 2 years ago.
And now I want to upgrade the WIFI card but I don't know which one to buy. Which wireless card is the best I can put in my laptop? Is there any chance to put a AC wifi card?

 

You can definitely use full-height Wireless N 450 cards such as the Intel 4965, 5300 (ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Wifi-...799?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed2d46267), and 6300. I've personally used the 5300 with success, although I had at most a 150 Mbps network to test it with. It should work at the full 450 Mbps, however, as the 1520 does have enough antennas for it.

You might be able to use an AC card such as the Intel 7260 (which may not be the best option - I haven't researched AC nearly as much as N), but I'm not aware of any full-height AC cards. It looks like you can buy adapters ( http://www.amazon.com/Height-Express-PCI-E-Bracket-Adapter/dp/B007VXJ9IS) to use half-height cards with full-size slots, so you might be in luck with such an adapter plus an N card (ideally a 3x3 Mimo card if your goal is the highest bandwidth possible).

In all cases, you'll also need a router capable of such speeds, which isn't necessarily cheap. It's also worth noting that if you go for one of the 450 Mbps N cards, a 3x3 N router will typically give slightly better performance than a 2x2 AC router (but not a 3x3 AC router), though exact comparisons will vary by model.

Thanks for the post; I decided to go ahead and re-upgrade to the 5300 myself after seeing I could get a card for less than $8 shipped (gave the first to a friend). Please post back if you do try a half-height AC card with an adapter.

 

So, I upgraded my Inspiron to an X7900, and am stable at 3 GHz at load. No cooling mods done. Might be able to hit 3.2 at load, but 3.0 gives 92 peak temp at 1.225V, and 3.2 isn't stable at 1.225V, and with those temps I don't really want to push the voltage higher. Might possibly be able to shave a few hundredths off at 3.0 and save a degree or two; haven't fine-tuned it yet.

Has anyone else got above 3 GHz on the 1520 with the X7900 or X7800? I'm also curious what the max with the X9000 is. I don't supposed there's a way to download the thread and search offline with XenForo? Would be a lot quicker than searching 41 pages, especially since it's not possible to override the posts-per-page anymore.

Combined with going back to a 5300 AGN last month, I'm pretty happy with my specs now. This CPU upgrade has been a long time coming.

Only the 11th post so far this year... it's sad to see the 1520 going the way of the dodo. It's not my most powerful laptop anymore, but I still use it about equally with my newer one.

 

I installed an Intel Network 7260 2x2 AC+Bluetooth HMC half-height into my 1520 using that bracket you mentioned above and it works great. I'm still in the process of testing it but it instantaneously gave me an internet speed boost (after driver download from intel.com). I was getting around 22mbps downloads from the stock wlan card and now i'm getting consistent 117mbps downloads when testing internet speeds on speedtest.net. Working on internal wlan file transfer speed tests now.

 

Hi Guys!

I'm wondering as I would like to get a little bit more from my T9300.
Now it's locked at 2.7Ghz using ThrottleStop but is there any way to go above that?

I was thinking about getting X9000 but it's too expensive (costs approx 200€) and according to Passmark CPU benchmark I won't get that much more with it :/

At the moment on stress test over few hours I'm stable at 64C so I think, it can go faster but is there a way to do it?
Is there a chance to adjust FSB just a little bit?

... and if I will get X9000 is it possible to OC it with 1520 as BIOS seems to be not supporting any OC at all?

 

Hi guys,
is there any solution, after 3 yeas xD ?
Did you found the correct address (or other bits which has to be set) ?

Found that video on youtube:


But I dont know what to do with that ini file, loaded it but nothin happend.

Thanks for help

 

Good to know that it worked! Will keep that in mind should I ever need really fast network connections on it in the future... though for now the 150 Mbps N router I have is actually doing quite well for me.

See the PM I sent this morning with X7900 benchmarks. As a note, the price difference between the X7900 and the X9000 is the exact reason I went with the X7900 - the X9000 was about 3 times as much, and even if it gave another multiplier thanks to being cooler, that wasn't worth it. The X9000 should OC just like the X7900, though.

(X7800 is also an option; it clocks at 2.6 GHz by default but is also unlocked. So largely it will be the same, though X7900 is likely to be the better-binned parts. I would've gone with X7800 except I caught a cheaper X7900 when I went to buy it)

As a note, while the max I have is 3 GHz, the limitations are temperature and voltage. If I rose the voltage a bit, I might be able to get a higher temperature, but it's already too hot to raise the voltage any. I'm using ArcticSilver 5 thermal compound; if you use something more high-end, you might be able to raise the voltage a bit, and hit 3.2 with an X7900. Or you might get a golden CPU. Alternately, the X9000 may hit 3.2 even with AS5 and without a golden CPU since it's 45nm and thus runs cooler. But again, even if the average X9000 hits 3.2, I wouldn't consider it worth the extra money.

 

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I signed up just to take part in this thread.

Last summer I acquired the 1520 (free from family for transfering their docs from this to new one), but haven't bothered with it until now. It's actually a pretty decent machine. I upgraded the RAM to 4GB and put Arch Linux on it. Even installed the wireless firmware.

I was wondering if it would be worth upgrading my t7100 to the t8100? It's got about 119 million more transistors (291m vs 410m), clocked higher about 300MHz and has 1 more MB of L2 cache. The transistor count and cache number sounds pretty promising, but in real world use would it be worth it? For example, would it help with watching 720p60fps youtube videos, multitasking, etc?

Edit: Also the reason why I'm wondering is because I can get a t8100 for pretty cheap on ebay (about $8). Also going to buy a new battery for it. (one it came with was dead)

 

I don't know about your specific processors, but I did notice a big difference when I upgraded mine (especially after the SSD).

Here are my Windows Experience Index scores before and after:

Before (Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, 2.2GHz):
Processor: 5.5
Memory (RAM): 5.5
Graphics: 4.8
Gaming graphics: 4.6
Primary hard disk: 5.3

After (Intel Core 2 Duo T9500, 2.6GHz):
Processor: 6.2
Memory (RAM): 6.2
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming graphics: 5.9
Primary hard disk: 5.3
[Note: After the new CPU was installed the graphics card (256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT) found an update it could use which increased the Gaming graphics score.]
[Note: Updated the BIOS to version A09.]

After (250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD):
Processor: 6.2
Memory (RAM): 6.2
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming graphics: 5.9
Primary hard disk: 7.7

 

In my experience the most noticeable increases in performance came from the SSD and the 8600M GT. The former is going to make file-based operations faster, the latter makes a difference when playing games (like Minecraft). The SSD also has the beneficial effect of increasing battery life.

That being said, if you're going to all the of work of upgrading your CPU, I'd say the cost has come down enough to justify at T8300 ($12) or T9300 ($25). (And consider that these options added $400+ to the cost of an Inspiron 1520/Vostro 1500 when they were new.)

Also affordable are 1600x1200 screens and webcam w/stereo microphone.

 

I have the Intel X3100 integrated graphics, so can't do the gpu upgrade. SSD would be nice, but too expensive for this thing as it's not my main PC, just a lazy side computer for surfing on the couch. (have a tablet, but don't use it much now haha)

Hm, I would consider the T8300, but the cheap $12 ones are from china. The only one shipping from the U.S. is $25, which at that point, might as well go with the T9500. I don't have a lot of money at the moment so I think the T8100 should be enough as it's basically the same chip as the T8300, just at a lower clock speed. I don't need it to be the best cpu, just enough to make it run cooler, and make streaming services like twitch run a little better. And a higher res display would be nice, but not necessary. Especially since I got integrated, don't want to bump up the res and have it lag more because of it.

So you think the 8100 would improve performance (and/or run cooler?) though since it's a newer chip?

Thanks for your input!

 

If you did notice an improvement, I probably should too... the T7500 and T7100 looks like it's basically the same chip just different clock speeds and cache. They're both 65nm and have 291 million transistors. The T8100 and T9500 both are 45nm and have 410 million transistors... so basically a similar upgrade... hm, I might do it then.

 

The cache is 50% bigger, but I'm not sure in what situations that will help (maybe someone else knows). Regarding the increased frequency, it's a 16.7% increase, so that won't make or break whether a game plays well (and that's only for operations not performed on the X3100). As far as cooling, it looks like they're both 35W, which I interpret to mean the power savings of going from 65nm -> 45nm is balanced out by the higher clock speed.

Because it can't hurt, and can only help, I say go for it -

 

Does anyone knows if the t9600 CPU is compatible and works with the inspiron 1520?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...558686?hash=item488779e7de:g:AOoAAOSw1S9WesBP

 

I LOVE threads like this. Keeping old Iron running. I have a few older machines, running windows 10 and all working great. I have a acer 7720, maxed out ram at 8gb, it has a 120gb ssd, and a 750gb storage drive, new high res screen, etc. The only downside is I CANNOT get my scroll working with the touch pad on win10. It baffles me. I also have an acer S3 that is running awesome.

 

No. The 1520 can take a Penryn, but only the 800 MHz FSB models, not a 1066 like the T9600.

The best CPU you can install in an Inspiron 1520 is a T9500.

 

Okay I did not go trough the whole thread but I saw some of you posting CPU and GPU upgrades here. Is this unit special by being able to upgrades these or how are you guys doing it?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

It depends on the model of computer. My acer 7720 can upgrade the CPU and ram, but not the GPU...but the 7720z can upgrade the GPU....It all depends on the notebook model. I am picking up a new CPU for my 7720 after Christmas, just to give it a speed bump. it's a T7300 in it now I think, i'm upgrading to the T9500. I can put the 9600 in but the price difference between the 9500 and 9600 is not worth the performance. So, 9500 it is. I will get a great bump in speed, without a load of money pumped into my ole device. For the most part, there are some upgrades available for older stuff. since most still had sockets on their motherboards for the CPU. Now, most chips are soldiered onto the board with no way of changing them without major MB surgery.

 

Technically the best is the X9000. It's 2.8 GHz instead of 2.6 GHz, and you can overclock it, at least in theory. I say "in theory" because I have the X7900, which is also 2.8 GHz (but 4 MB L2 instead of 6 MB in the X9000; it was also a third of the price when I bought it), but with the X7900 it's impossible to run it at 3 GHz with sufficient voltage to be stable, and at temperatures that won't cause overheating. It might be with the X9000 since it's 45nm (as is the T9500) versus 65nm on the X7900, and should thus generate less heat. At any rate, even if OC'ing isn't really feasible, the X9000 would be better than what I have due to the cache, and better than the T9500 due to the megahertz (whether T9500 is better than X7900 will depend on the workload).

I love keeping old things running, but the 1520 in particular. You can tell it's from a decade ago, but overall it was so well built, especially for a low-end model. I also appreciate small touches like the rounded edges (which I appreciate more now that I'm a decade older, and is hard to find nowadays with the thinness trend), the variety of dedicated media keys (I miss those on my desktop keyboard sometimes), and the satisfying click of the screen as you close it.

I've wound up going back to it as my main laptop (versus when I posted in May 2015; when it was 50-50 with my newer one). That was only possible because of its replaceable battery (I'm on my 3rd/4th batteries currently). That's a feature that I'd like to have but is tough to find in new laptops; no matter how good a non-replaceable battery in a new laptop is, I wouldn't be able to take it to a coffee shop and use it on battery a decade later, like I still do with this one. User serviceability in general has been huge in its longevity. I've upgraded the RAM, HDD (and later to SSD), CPU, and WiFi (and the first two were really important to 10+ years), and additionally replaced the motherboard and screen due to component failure (and later upgraded the screen as well). Admittedly the mobo and screen are more than most users would do, and I wouldn't have if I hadn't been really happy with the laptop, but on most modern machines, most of those swaps aren't even possible, or are much more difficult.

Anyone else still using this as a laptop, or even a main laptop? I certainly didn't expect to still use this laptop in 2018, back in 2007. And indeed, I doubt I would be if I hadn't switched primarily to using a desktop (over 90% of the time). But particularly as I don't LAN much anymore and don't really need better graphics, I still haven't found that successor that matches everything I want, particularly at a price that I'm willing to pay.

Occasionally a lightweight tablet PC is tempting, but I rarely am in places where the weight or much longer battery life would actually make a difference, and I do like the larger screen. Occasionally a desktop replacement like the Asus GL702ZC is tempting, but they're either quite expensive (and thus tough to justify since I mainly use my desktop), or have flaws, like the GL702ZC's loud fans, which I know would bother me.

I have used more modern Dells through my job. They're a bit lighter, and faster (sometimes quite a bit), but not always as reliable (my current one sometimes decides to turn off its screen until restart when I undock it, for example), and don't have quite the same features that I do make use of (rounded edges, media buttons, WiFi toggle, optical drive, surprisingly decent speakers). It certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to have one, I just don't see a particular reason to pay $1000 to switch to one (and at least for a Latitude, I also don't really want to be reminded of work every time I look at my personal laptop).

 

That screen docking "feature" is windows, not dell. My surface 3 did the exact same thing when I docked that. I still break out my good ole acer 7720 from time to time and give it a run. Speaking of which, I need to again to do windows updates and driver updates. I do enjoy my lightweight devices as I travel ALOT. Therefore having a lightweight device is great. I am finding myself wanting a 15" device lately. Most likely I will be plunking down for a new xps 15 2 in 1 maxed out when available.

 

I have most of my family on Vostro 1500's. The most demanding users are my kids, but for the time being they're still able to play Minecraft and Roblox at 1600x1200 resolution.

 

Is roblox still a predatory mess? or did the developers clean it up from the perps and bullies? My son loved it, but started getting bullied bad. He has autism and does not understand things like that. So, I removed it from the computer.

 

Looks pretty kid-friendly to me. I turned off chat, and so far nobody's interfered with them in-game.

 

Ok, I may give it a shot.

 

hi guys, couple of questions

1) can someone confirm that you can put 6gb (4gb+2gb) on the inspiron 1520? a single 4gb stick of ram is still relatively expensive in 2018. crazy how cheap 4gb (2gb+2gb) is compared to a single 4gb though

2) is anyone running windows xp professional x64 bit on this? Is it running smoothly? can you recommend me some drivers for windows xp x64 bit?

3) anyone knows how to running an SSD on windows xp? make sure everything is running smoohtly and features like trim are enabled?

4) how do i get bluetooth working on xp? i can't set it up to detect any blue tooth devices...

THANKS

 

1. Yes. @SomeFormOFhuman successfully installed 6 GB of RAM in the 1520 back around 2010, and confirmed that is the limit. The 1720 supports a full 8 GB.

2. I used to, although I now run XP 32-bit. There were a couple things such as the SD card reader that I couldn't find XP x64 drivers for, and I only had 4 GB of RAM, of which I can use 3.5 GB on 32-bit, so it wasn't really worth the 512 MB. But by and large XP x64 did run smoothly, and I ran it for a few months. Graphics, sound, network - all the basics worked.

Is there a particular driver you need for XP x64?

3. If you have a Dell XP install disc, it should already have the SATA drivers installed, and installation should be easy. Otherwise, you'll need to use nLite to slipstream the SATA drivers onto an install CD.

XP doesn't support TRIM, but the 1520 is also limited to SATA 1 (150 MBps) speeds, so with any modern SSD, the penalty from SATA 1 is going to outweigh the penalty from lacking TRIM in most cases, anyway. I'd recommend a cheap SSD since the 1520 can't take advantage of high-end SATA SSDs (I use an SSD that was passed down from my desktop in my 1520).

4. In theory it should work out of the box as long as you have the Bluetooth chip and the right driver. But Bluetooth is optional, so if you have a second-hand 1520, it might not have the chip for it. If you pop off the plastic piece with the power button, you should see a rectangular chip just right of the middle of that area, with a connector and a few wires going to the right, and then down to the motherboard, that is the bluetooth chip. If it isn't there, that's why Bluetooth isn't working.

 

I signed in for the purpose of say thanks to all those who have participated in this posting. I bought a near perfect condition, Inspiron 1520 on a whim for next to nothing (having recently completed the upgrade of an Inspiron 1501; I improved it to being merely slow), and this groups of posts is what motivated me to give a major overhaul.

Besides thanking people who probably no longer watch this, I am very aware that the little comments that people made during the time of this post made all the difference to me. Yes, I read every one. On the off chance that someone is following in my foot steps; here is what I did.

Processor: Intel Core2 Duo T5450 upgraded to the T9300 - a big improvement (and cooler running), but required me to update the BIOS from v A03 to A09. Because the machine came loaded with Linux Ubuntu, I needed to find someone with a hard drive with Windows XP on it to make the change, as the Dell file is an exe, and things like Wine would not work.

Hard drive: Immediate upgrade to a Solid State Drive. A slow one is fine because the 1520 does not support the faster SATA speeds anyway. Remember to use the plastic packer on the side of the much slimmer SSD, as it helps seat into the connection and let the screws grab.

Memory: I have upgraded from 4 GB to 6 GB of ddr2 RAM, a 4 and a 2 stick is as close to the top 7 GB as I got. To be honest, it runs just as well with 4 GB.

Graphics: My screen is a perfectly good WXGA glossy running at 1200x800. I left that alone, but I was lucky enough to have the OKY768 model with the nVidia Geforce 8400GS, so I upgraded it to the Geforce 8600GT. That made a difference, but given that this is not a modern day gaming machine, the difference was not as huge as I had imagined. Still worthwhile.

Wireless: It came with a Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG, and I upgraded it to the Intel 4965 Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini Card. This has three aerials, which the 1520 can use, so it made a huge difference to the effective operating of the machine. Huge. I did it as an after thought because I saw one for $3 out of China on eBay. The posts here really underplayed the importance of the upgrade. I also bought the two aerial Intel WiFi Link 5100 Wireless-N Mini-Card (these come in mini and half-mini, so be careful), for my Inspiron 1501. In the 1520 it was a lot slower that the three aerial card. (Great upgrade for the 1501 though).

Bluetooth: Came with Intel Wireless 355 Bluetooth. I kept it, as it connects well with my Bluetooth mouse and numeric keypad.

Operating system: This 1520 came with Windows Vista, but had been replaced by a previous owner with Linux Ubuntu. For my install on the new SSD I used a 64 bit version of MX Linux, but Lubuntu and Mint XFCE, and Solus 4.0 all work fine. I prefer the lighter distros on these older machines because they use less resources.

I now have a very usable laptop. Not quite up to the performance of a modern duo core machine, but a good solid performer, excellent build quality, and a lovely keyboard.

Who would have thought that a machine from 2008 would still be in daily use in 2019. Probably not Dell. I really have enjoyed the upgrades, and have moved on to a more challenging upgrade of a dead Vostro 1320.

 

Yes. It's not like back in the day of the original Pentium class machines. Where the jump from p1 to p2 and so on were monumental jumps in speed. Computer technology has plateaued. Stuff from 2005 onward is still quite usable today. With a little update from an ssd and ram increase, you can use them for most things.

 

I have several people in my family on maxed-out Inspiron 1520s / Vostro 1500s. Every 3-4 years, the graphics cards starts to die, and I set about finding a replacement on eBay. Last couple of times, I was able to find 8600M GT for around $12 (usually from a seller that had several), but this time I was only able to find one for $27, and for the Vostro 1700 (which required swapping heat sinks with the dying card). So it seems we've reached a kind of inflection point with regard to supply/demand in which some of these prices are going to start rising again...

 

With the age of the machines, the parts are starting to wear out, and used parts become a bit of a gamble. I agree that the costs are starting to rise, and often it is cheaper to just get an entire second machine to take parts from. But that is a gamble too, as the same parts may have failed. Finding just what I want in a small market like New Zealand is problematic. I got my 8600GT graphic card from the US, but only on a second go, as the first seller sent me the 8400GS (they look almost the same...). So now I have a couple of 8400GS cards in store.

Meanwhile, the Inspiron 1520 I upgraded has had Window 10 successfully installed, and operates well enough. In fact it remains a better gaming machine than my newer rebuilt Latitude E6410, despite the fact that it is theoretically inferior.

I have a soft spot for the 1520. My son is using it now, and I hope to keep it going for a while to come. I hope you succeed as well. Some machines just are worth the effort.

 

Same here. Now that I've been working from home, it's come back into daily use as the machine from which I check non-work-related things during the day. Admittedly a fair amount of that use is via Remote Desktop to my desktop - Slack is a hog - but for a fair amount of things, it still works well enough natively, too.

So far I've been able to keep up an adequate supply of batteries to have a few hours of battery life - I'm typing this on my 1520 from my sofa - and somehow I'm only on my second GPU, as the first one failed 12-18 months ago, with one still in reserve and not yet having tried baking the first one. One of my friends who used to also run a 1520 has commented, correctly, that eventually it'll be the Intel iGPU 1520's that survive, after all the GeForce 8000's with the soldering flaw have given up. But I may make it to 2025 at the current rate, which is quite a run. I should probably order another battery if I can still find one.

Every so often I look at upgrade options, too. I'd like to try the X9000 someday. Prices seem to have plateaued slightly above where I would have liked to take the plunge. My next project is adding USB 3.0 ports via the ExpressCard slot. And then probably fixing the fact that not all of the media buttons on the front are working anymore; I have a spare copy of the media buttons that I could swap in if need be.

Its ergonomics have been a key point of why I've kept using it, with the rounded palmrests and movement of the keys. But so has its maintainability. I've replaced almost everything at some point, whether due to upgrade or failure. But it's like an old, well-built car where you can replace things as needed, and the cost at one time is never that great. Whereas with a lot of newer laptops, it might last several years, but when it does run into a failure, it's a lot more difficult to repair it and keep the rest of the machine going.