I just got a free laptop

[itszutak]

And it's only partial crap.

It's an HP pavilion dv2000 that's seen better days. It was sent in to the Geek Squad for repairs after it started BSODing and they did jack shit besides wiping the hard drive and giving my mother a hefty bill. So she bought a new laptop and I get this old one that will rarely (rarely) BSOD and barely runs WoW on minimum settings + resolution.

Anyhow, it's my new testing laptop, as soon as I can wipe the drive of the crapware(My mother insists on Norton) and bloatware(HP software bundles + Vista in general) that seems to be bogging it down.

Any suggestions on what to do with it? As I said before, I'm not going to keep anything I don't have elsewhere on it and I'm not afraid to wipe it if anything bad happens.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Try to overclock it.

[itszutak]

Try to overclock it.
It overheats as it is and I don't want to completely break it. This is my only laptop. My main computer is a tower that I'm not replacing any time soon.

[flibitijibibo]

Clean install Windows 7 as both a test and a way to get the shit off of it.

Also, have more specific... specs?

[itszutak]

Clean install Windows 7 as both a test and a way to get the shit off of it.

Also, have more specific... specs?Well yeah, clean install + W7 is a no-brainer. That's already on the way (But I may try using some sort of linux as well)

Here's the specs, as advertised by the stickers
-1.6 Ghz AMD Turion 64 TL-50
-1GB memory, but I'm going to fix that ASAP
-120GB HD, but I may have a better one somewhere
-nVidia 6150 Go 128mb :ugh:

I think the display is 1280x800. I'll check when I get home and can plug it on (It has an amazing 7 MINUTES of battery life)

[Varmint260]

Sounds like my old laptop (DV6000), Turion TL-52 1.6GHz, 2GB memory, 160GB hdd, NVidia Geforce Go 6150 (128mb is the max you can throw at it, it has no dedicated VRAM) and 1280x800 display. It'll run a few games at minimum, but mine overheated constantly and eventually fried its motherboard (had it sitting up on supports with a fan blowing underneath, all to no avail).

I'd say keep it cool, use its portability for when you need it or when it's convenient, but otherwise stick to using your desktop.

[Cortexian]

Try to overclock it.
It wouldn't work anyways. It's an HP laptop so I can tell you right now that the BIOS is locked down tighter than a... well something that is tight!

[Amit]

Don't even try to upgrade that thing.

[NullZero]

See how many times you can drop it before it gives up on you.

1

[Rook]

See how many times you can drop it before it gives up on you.

0

Pretty sure that's what you meant to type

Just use it as a netbook and buy something better later? I wouldn't spend any money to upgrade that.

[Chainsy]

Well yeah, clean install + W7 is a no-brainer. That's already on the way (But I may try using some sort of linux as well)

Here's the specs, as advertised by the stickers
-1.6 Ghz AMD Turion 64 TL-50
-1GB memory, but I'm going to fix that ASAP
-120GB HD, but I may have a better one somewhere
-nVidia 6150 Go 128mb :ugh:

I think the display is 1280x800. I'll check when I get home and can plug it on (It has an amazing 7 MINUTES of battery life)
Think that's bad? My computer has a nvidia 5200. :realsmug: