Upgrading an old Dell Latitude on the cheap few thoughts/questions

I was going to sell an old Dell latitude D630 of mine..but considering it's current value on Ebay/Craigslist i always feel if you can't get at LEAST 300$ for a laptop it's just not worth selling it so may as well make it a ""beefier"" backup machine.

At moment The machines specs are..pretty low key

2 Ghz Dual core Core duo 2 (Not intending on upgrading this)
80GB 5400 RPM HD (Definitely upgrading this but debating a refurbished HD..anyone had experiences with Refurbished HD's? Newegg has some for 50% off with a free extended warranty) would like to upgrade to at least 200+ GB *No i'm not investing the cash into an SSD not worth it Dollar to GB IMO*

3 GB DDR2 ram..Will probably upgrade this to 4 GB DDR2 and dump both current sticks since they are mismatched who currently has the best deal on DDR2 laptop memory? I used to always go with G Skill from newegg.

The Battery...it's at about 60% Original charge and it's a 6 cell or so...Anyone had experiences with Third party Batteries? I would LOVE one of the 9 Cells but Dells battery prices are worse then a cocaine dealers!

OS is fine..Running WIN 7 64 bit as of recently.

Also thinking about Upgrading the DVD drive currently it's just a CDRW/DVD ROM would consider a Blu ray drive...but doubt the intel X3100 can handle HD playback...otherwise where is a good place to find a DVDRW drive for this model?

I'd love to go Refurbished where i can as if this gets too expensive it just makes more sense to invest into a 299-349$ machine with superior specs (Though the insane TANK like build quality of the Latitude is the only reason i'd like to hang onto it as a backup road warrior *That and with what i paid for it to start with i'd feel like a tool not still getting SOME use out of it*


Thanks for your time/Thoughts

 

RAM and HDD seem to be viable components worth upgrading.
RAM though might turn out more expensive since DDR2 is considered 'old' and is no longer being manufactured (to my knowledge), but ultimately, if you have 2 sticks at the moment, I'd just dump the 1GB stick and find a 2GB stick that matches the one in your laptop (unless you can get 4GB for a low cost).
Consider also getting RAM with lower timings and fastest clocks if possible (since the X3100 is an IGP, it might benefit from the boost - but don't do it if cost is high - the difference will easily be marginal, though could provide helpful for certain games and content).

As for the HDD, a Western Digital, Scorpio Black (7200RPM), 250GB one seems like a viable option for this machine.

Regarding blu-ray... I personally have no use for physical media and store my things on a portable 1TB 2.5" HDD.
I don't think a blu-ray would be a notable investment into this (or at all), but ultimately, its your decision.
The X3100... to my knowledge it is capable of smooth 1080p playback, so I don't think you will have issues in that regard.

As for the battery... well, it might be possible to open up the existing battery and replace some of the inner components with new ones - I think some people have done it for a low cost and brought up their battery capacity to original, if not a bit higher level.

 

Right...My biggest question was the viability of Refurbished parts within respects to Hard drives and Ram since the cost is near Double for new(Actually a little more then double in this case). Thanks for the Blu ray info though i had no intention of using it for storage just for movies. As to the battery even if it was at 100% capacity I really want a 9 cell hence the question about Third party manufacturer batteries 100-160$ Is just too much to sink into a battery for an aging machine.

 

I would have gone for an SSD, these days you can even find 128GB for < $100. If you still opt for a mechanical HD, I'd only take the refurbished one if it came with 2-3 year of manufacturer's warranty (no thirdparty SquareTrade and such). It all depends how often and for what you'd use the laptop for.

Games? We're talking about the GPU in the era before 4500HD. Get real. You can play old games just fine, regardless though.

 

I don't recall mentioning gaming Only games it EVER sees is WoW on lowest setting/Resolution if i'm traveling and desperate. And yeah SSD is definitely out 100$ is still way above what i care to spend right now for just a HD. I'll keep the manufacturers warranty bit in mind thanks as all the newegg ones are in fact third party warranty.

 

You can upgrade the screen to 1440x900.

 

Upgrading the screen would be a downgrade for me..it would make older games that are barely playable unplayable. Besides I fail to see a difference in screen resolutions unless i am gaming very new titles or watching HD movies. And even with a 720P TV in my bedroom and a 1080P tv in the Main room i don't see a difference in quality watching blu rays in either room.

 

For RAM, I'd go with whatever is cheapest on Newegg, unless it's a total no-name brand. G. Skill, Patriot, Mushkin, Corsair, pretty much anyone you've heard of before should be fine. I've bought Kingston and G. Skill, both because they were cheapest at the time, and have had good luck with both. I won't say who has the best deal because it could be different tomorrow. But I'd be surprised if Newegg wasn't at least within a few dollars of the best.

I now am using a Rayovac 9-cell battery in my Dell Inspiron. It's not nearly as cheap as some of the cheap ones you've never heard of on eBay, but on the other hand it's also not one of the cheap ones you've never heard of on eBay. And it is still cheaper than a Dell one by a decent margin. It's been very reliable, fits perfectly, and its longevity appears to be on a similar trajectory. I've never asked a cocaine dealer what their prices are, so I can't give you that comparison, but it's lower than Dell's at least. And unlike the battery my friend bought off eBay, it didn't fail after a few days.

For the DVD drive, the main question you need to find the answer to is if the Latitude 630 takes a PATA or SATA optical drive. My laptop of similar vintage is PATA, but the Latitude 630 might be SATA. The latter is more common now. The folks in the Dell Latitude forum probably would be able to help if it isn't easy to find in the manual or service guide.

And I agree SSD's aren't worth the price difference. I have one in my desktop and while my computer boots really fast, in stuff that actually matters I can't tell much of a difference. I'd be skeptical about refurbished hard drives, but I've never had any actual experience with them. It's always a good idea to back up your data, but a refurbished hard drive sounds like a good reason to be a little more prudent than usual about that.

 

Approximately how much was your Rayovac Battery by contrast?

P.S Har har to the cocaine comment

 

nothing has been said about the CPU. Are you not considering upgrading it?

The fastest CPU that can be installed on the D630 is the Core 2 Duo T9500.

 

wow! upgrade to blu-ray but, not an ssd

have a look at this...

[TPU] SSD Prices in Free-Fall: The Next DRAM?

also used SSDs are far cheaper, my gawd the improvement surprised me, even apps installed on the HDD run faster. ie WMP took minutes before i could play music, now it is instant.

How ever if you want storage it is understandable in which case i'd rab a 7200 rpm 500gb or likes.

Other Wise there just isn't any scalability, CPU is decent, ram is decent, gfx is integrated, there is no worth while upgrade other than a faster or bigger storage solution.