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What to do with old laptop - Linux? Chrome OS?

JohnC

Veteran Member
Senior Member
Trying to make use of an older laptop. It was a budget machine in its day so it was never a speed demon. Compaq Presario CQ61 series with an AMD Athlon 2 processor. It’s got a pretty big screen so I was thinking of making it dual boot. I’d load Windows because that’s the OS I need to run my version of Lightroom (photo editing). Thats all I’d do on the windows side.

Watching some YT videos folks say Linux runs pretty well on older hardware. I don’t know anything about it. Other than using Windows applications, what can you do and what can’t you do with Linux.

People also say you can essentially make it a Chromebook by loading Chrome OS

Any thoughts?

Also, how much faster is SSd than a regular hard drive? Is it a worthwhile upgrade in an older machine that you don’t want to dump a look money into? I’d stay small, 256 so not too pricey I would think.

Thanks
 
I have simpler needs and more forgiving standards that most of you. I also hate to waste things that are still usable. I’ll be curious to check out Linux. People say it runs well on older equipment.
 
IIRC Vista was considered pretty bad right? Mine came with 7, but I got a free upgrade to 10 so I hope that if I wipe it out and reinstall 10 it might work ok for my limited need (to run Lightroom).

I can upgrade my ram super cheap. Trying to decide if an SSD makes any sense. I think it would be between 40-50 dollars. If it runs significantly faster I’d do it but if not much difference I’ll pass. I’m only using 1/2 of the current 256 HD
 
IIRC Vista was considered pretty bad right? Mine came with 7, but I got a free upgrade to 10 so I hope that if I wipe it out and reinstall 10 it might work ok for my limited need (to run Lightroom).
I think Vista was the 2nd worst. The 1st place winner escapes me right now but I can reember one being really terrible :ROFLMAO:
Windows Me ? (millenium) It lasted only one year ?
 
Not sure if this is exactly what would fit my Compaq but if so, it’s pretty cheap

That drive would not work under any circumstances in that old laptop. You must use a 2.5" SATA SSD. You will notice an improvement in boot speeds, and program loading times. I would not stick with just a 256GB, as you can get a 500 GB or a 1TB for not a lot of money.





 

Thanks a lot. This looks like the right price point for my needs.
For my own education, what I choose needs to say SATA, 2.5 inch, SSD. Anything else that would indicate that I can use it or not use it? I don’t want to be a dumbass and order a drive for a tower or desk top computer. Thanks

Correct. Your current unit is a 2.5" hard drive (rotational). So, a 2.5" SSD should fit with no major issues. The only thing that might happen is that the SSD is thinner, but some of them come with a spacer you can use. I have personally never had to use a spacer in any retrofit into a laptop.
 
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