$20 Dell Latitude CPx Laptop from 2000!!

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

very nice pickup!! I picked up one of the later latitude "1ghz Pentium III" laptops up in 2005 with XP used for 130$ off of eBay. It was my daily driver until 2009 when I bought my first laptop with my own money. Honestly They're very versatile machine with the modular bays and I even had the dock which increased the display ports with DVI, USB etc. I'm really looking forward seeing you fully restore this beauty in future videos.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's amazing and yes, stay tuned, more to come!!!!!

[@deadreaver666]

I trash picked one of these about 10 years ago. I think i may have used it for a month until i was able to trash pick another, slightly better lappy. Great Videos! Love the channel!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha lucky!!! And thank you, glad to have you along! :)

[@davinp]

Windows NT/2000 is meant for business while Windows 95/98/ME is for home use as it was based on DOS.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure.

[@stevencamp6824]

Thank you...someone once wanted to argue with me tooth and nail when i mentioned that lol

[@Ricelord4]

Definitely. I dual-booted 2000 for schoolwork and ME for games back before XP was released.

[@pierreinthavong181]

Awesome retro video so far!😁

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!

[@J_Erik]

Very cool machine! I was very partial to Compaq laptops back in the day.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It is and awesome! Did you check out the Armada videos I did? If not, check them out :)

[@J_Erik]

@@TheRetroRecall I did! Left a comment there too! I love your videos! I am very glad I subscribed.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes yes, that's awesome!!! Happy to have you along :)

[@julianretro2582]

This was the same model my mom used back when I was very young. I still have it and use it With Windows 2000. Nice Memories

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha that's great!!! Win2k is also a great OS!

[@littlewillie65]

My Latitude CPx is only a 500Mhz PIII - and the screen is definitely showing signs of age. But it's ok, because I have the big brother of this machine - a Latitude C610 with a 1Ghx PIII.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! Those Dell's are pretty great. I did a video on a D630, check it out :)

[@alexg9155]

A TRR video to end the year, excellent! 😁

[@TheRetroRecall]

Stay tuned... I mayyyyyyyyy be squeezing one more in!!! 😏

[@Ricelord4]

Oh wow, what a find for $20 CAD/$15 USD! This reminds me of the Gateway Pentium 3 laptop that my mom used to have for work. I remember bringing it on road trips and live-booting Knoppix on it so that I could try to access the internet with it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! Gateway systems have eluded me to this point as I have not been able to get my hands on them. Someday soon I hope!

[@HouseOfFunQM]

This is like what 8bitguy used to be, before he just vanished. Love this channel.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I appreciate it and your support!!! Stay tuned for more :)

[@erinw6120]

Had the C640, later upgraded to the ultra-tier C840 with the 1600x1200 screen and GeForce 440Go. Perfectly cromulent gaming machine. Best part of upgrading from an earlier C-class, the batteries, dock, and bay accessories carried over. The business-class Latitudes sold me on Dell. Still using a 2011 Vostro 17" beastie today.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome and wow, that would have been a machine at the time! You're right, the interchangeable components would have been an extremely attractive feature at the time.

[@MajenkoTechnologies]

That Rode microphone sure makes a world of difference. Now I need to teach you about audio post-processing to take it to the next level. And I challenge you to a Quake 3 deathmatch! But *only* if you leave your mouse sensitivity turned right down like that! ;)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Lmao, I know I know!! Thanks for your help as always, looking forward to connecting to perfect the audio even further for TheRetroRecallers!

[@JmC023]

FYI- If you got around to disassembly already then disregard however if you haven't it's a 7.2 Volt 40 mAh VARTA and YES, it corroded not just the contacts ( connector is corroded in place, will have to desolder and replace) but the keyboard will suffer! I lost use of the F4,F5, 4 ,5 along with letters E & R! I did attempt to order a replacement and I specifically requested however the seller sent me a different keyboard with no pointing nub that sits in the middle. The Varta is an inline Six Cell, size about AG13/LR44.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I didn't but I am going to very soon now that you said this, thanks for the reminder!

[@lttbriantheelectrician]

I love these old Dell systems. My CPi is one of my favorites and makes a great fast win95 machine. I've got a larger hdd in it (40gb) and the battery also works, plus I got my hands on a NOS one too. I believe Dell also made Zip and LS120 modules for these too, and the modules are compatible with other Dell laptops such as the C610.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's great info... And you had a NOS one of these Dell's? That's awesome!

[@lttbriantheelectrician]

@TheRetroRecall The whole system wasn't NOS, just the replacement battery I got my hands on. It's been working great! My C610 I got a few years ago for $40 from the original owner though. Given the condition on that one, I think I scored. The CPi I got for a case of beer to a bottle depot manager haha it had been brought in for recycling.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's perfect!!!

[@tarajoe07]

I had this laptop back in early 2ks

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome! Did you use it for business or personal?

[@stevencamp6824]

I like IBM/Lenovo as well..partial to Gateway as well even though most thought they were junk

[@TheRetroRecall]

Gateway in the older days were definitely better than in the recent years of production. They were always viewed as a budget line especially compared to that of IBM at the time. They did have some nice desktops and a couple of unique laptops if my memory serves.

[@maxtornogood]

Pentium III with 128MB RAM, I remember that being our desktop config but with Win 98. Nice to see this CPx was designed for XP as well 😉

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah indeed!!! XP works quite well on it. I think with another 128mb it will be flying!

[@sebastian19745]

For its specs, I would use Win98. Of course if upgrade the memory, it would be better for XP but I tend to use Win2k on P3 machines if I want an NT OS, as I found that Win2k works well with 128M RAM (it runs Office, games and 128M of memory does not have a big impact on its performance). I preffer to use at least P4/AthlonXP for Windows XP. It can be also very good for dos games, ESS Maestro if I remember is quite good under plain dos as it have good SB emulation. I have an ESS Maestro 2 paired with an Trident Cyber (9255?) on an old P2@233 laptop and is very good for playing dos games. For a computer ofits age, is very good and compatible with OS from dos to XP; I found an Toshiba Satellite form the same era, an P3@750 with the same ATI Mobility but with Crystal Sound that is not friendly at all with dos games (no sound FX and General Midi is working only on few game), not even if running under Windows.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. I used XP as that's what was on it and wanted to see if it could support it well without all of the previous software installed on it. I was tempted to install NT 4.0 as that was the license on it. I think with another 256mb of ram, and possibly an SSD, we will be laughing... But that said XP is running quite well at the moment :). I did find the sound card quite compatible which was impressive... However I wish the speakers were just a little but better haha! Thanks for this and thanks for watching!

[@tarajoe07]

This ran fantastic on 2k

[@joshwalker4834]

Another awesome video! Beautiful machine, love retro Dell products! I notice a huge improvement on your audio in the video!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you! Yes, new Rode Mic setup! Still required more tweaking but we will get there.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

My dad had the newer model, the C600. He got it from his college. I still have it, I had to replace my the display assembly(to replace broken hinges), and the keyboard(as many keys weren’t working a the navpoint was giving ghost inputs)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome, I'm glad you still have it and restored it!!

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

@@TheRetroRecallmine is basically the same spec as your CPx, but mine has the M3 graphics instead. The M1 is rage pro based, while the m3 is rage 128 pro based. Mine also has the option for built in wifi.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok now that's pretty neat. What kind of games do you play with it? (if you do).

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

@@TheRetroRecall unreal tournament(which doesn’t seem to have the speed issues unreal has) quake iii arena, Half Life, and some dos games like Duke 3d(when I have the windows me drive in it) I also tried Morrowind, but it didn’t run well at all.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this, I'll try some!

[@stevencamp6824]

Love how you could get to almost everything in the older laptops, not anymore lol.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nope! USB everything and no optical :)

[@JohnLinda-p8k]

I have a Dell Latitude CPt-V from 2002 and it took me forever to upgrade. Originally came with 128mb ram; I put two 256mb sticks inside, a PC100 and a PC133 maxing out the ram at 512mb. CPU was a Celeron 466mhz Mendocino; I put in a Celeron 500mhz Coppermine which in the BIOS shows up as a Pentium III CPx-H. Also replaced the CD ROM drive with a dual DVD ROM/CD writer and replaced the charger battery and CMOS battery. Both batteries came directly from China, so I had to wait more than 2 months just for them to arrive in San Francisco and then finally to New York. Btw: I really enjoyed watching your video.😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

That sounds like an awesome time getting that system up and running and upgraded! And thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed!!!

[@JohnLinda-p8k]

I am curious about my Celeron Coppermine Processor. Is it possible to go slightly more above 500mhz with my Latitude CPt-V thru the FSB "front side bus" or is overclocking out of the question?...I only have 128kb of cache, unlike the 256kb of cache in your Latitude CPx-J

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'd have to look up this CPU specifically to see if you could OC it, however my concern would be the limitation of the heatsink and fan of the laptop. It's such a small space and generally there are Thermal tubes that run over the cpu and the fan cools the heat in a separate area. Much different with desktop hardware as there are much less limitations.

[@JohnLinda-p8k]

I appreciate you taking the time to assist me with my technical matters. I will purchase a cooling pad for this classic Dell laptop even if I cannot overclock the CPU. The only other issue I have is with the LED bulb in the screen. It shows a newspaper type color when I leave it on for more than 15 minutes, but when I hook up the laptop to an external CRT monitor the color is fine. Although I am not a technician, your videos do inspire me to get back into retro computing.😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Fortunately, the VGA output is a saviour until you are able to get the backlight repaired. It's all about what you would like to do with the computer. Most times people don't fix them unless they are 100% attached to the machine :). Happy to help, thanks for being a part of the channel!

[@braxton2007]

awesome video i got the same machine with a bad cmos battery hoping to fix it soon though

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks and yes - we both have to fix that. Hopefully yours hasn't leaked yet! This one is showing signs of it unfortunately.

[@richardestes6499]

Never had one, but I've seen them in person. Usually, the docking station is labeled something like CP Pt II, as I think they also worked with the CPi series.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I think you are right. I vaguely remember that when it was on my dads desk at work.

[@fra4455]

And happy New year

[@TheRetroRecall]

Happy New Year to you as well! Wishing you the best of success in 2024!

[@fra4455]

@@TheRetroRecall thank you

[@Natures_Intentions]

I have owned 5 or 6 of those dells i always found dell laptops easy to repair and upgrade

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes for sure. The newer systems are less user accessible, however the older ones are much better!

[@kopspijker3515]

Nice! Makes me need to check up on another laptop i have with a ATI mobility Radeon. Only paired with a Intel P4 in this case. A Compaq Armada something something. Stuffed in a bag somewhere. How to burn your lap.... Just picked up a Apple Powermac G4 with the highest end processor inside. Just a single one but clocked at 1.25GHz. That thing flies on Mac OS 9! The previous owner already did some upgrades to the RAM and put an SSD inside as well! And a large archive of various software as well!

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome!!! Let me know how the Mac works.

[@fra4455]

Great video✌

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!

[@fra4455]

@@TheRetroRecall thanks too

[@alexiekola]

OMG I have two of these in my collection, but It was my first laptop back in 2001 ex lease one. Use at Tafe here in Australia guess thats like community college? I have the most fond memorys with laptop as I travelled around. Fun fact it was what got me on ebay huntering for parts for it back in 2002 i think found a cd burner for the mod bay was so stoked. went to plenty of LAN partys to with it too. My oringal one kept going till I upgraded to a maxed out Inspiron 6000 in 2006. thankx for being the rush of memorys back!!! hmmm might go and dig out one of them play some Quake Arena 😁or cut my teeth with some macromedia photoshop pre adobe those were the days

[@TheRetroRecall]

Now, you just brought me down memory lane lol!! Love hearing these stories thanks for sharing and for watching!

[@hugosimoes5119]

The ATI GPUs for laptop were kinda annoything. The default setting was for unexpanded screen view. We needed to go to the BIOS and set to expand to whole screen. However if we expand the imagem to whole screen, it kinda appears pixelized if the image is less than screen resolution. Mobility Radeon was kinda ok. Not top notch.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know, works fine in Windows of course, just not before it loads the Windows drivers. I had a similar issue with the Compaq system I recently recovered, however we figured it out that there was a keyboard key combination which worked perfectly!

[@vampirefrog4277]

Man, Quake 3 sure had a lot of cowbell.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Cowbell?

[@vampirefrog4277]

@@TheRetroRecall Yeah just listen to the gameplay.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh ahha, I guess I was too deep in thought watching me lose due to the mouse sensitivity 😂

[@roblox123admet]

Good old times 😢

[@TheRetroRecall]

Indeed! This machines are pretty awesome, great nostalgic memories :)

[@justherefortalking]

That class of connector is called "ZIF" for Zero Insertion Force.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Are you referring to where I pointed to the connector where the left mouse button is missing? If so, thanks!

[@justherefortalking]

@@TheRetroRecall Yeah, the bit on the left with the white plastic sticking out.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

That was a good deal!👍👍 Dell made some fine laptops including the Inspiron 9400, it's only a 32 bit computer, but my example has a core duo processor (not core two duo) and a Sata 1 interface and it was marketed with Windows XP Media Centre installed, 2 gig., of DDR 2 ram., is it's maximum and I installed a 60 gig., SSD and Sparky Linux LXQT., the laptop works well. However, I shall change the SSD., and try LMDE 6.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

@@TheRetroRecall I installed 128 gig., SSD., and LMDE 6 and the laptop is currently working well for all basic tasks, YT., videos are best played at 360p though, but in my opinion, that's not bad for a computer which is over 17 years old.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. Anytime a computer from the past is brought back to life, is a good time!

[@BilisNegra]

16:50 Does that -really- mean this machine could boot off a USB drive? I doubt it, that was not common at the time. Especially not flash drives. Is there any USB related option in the boot menu? A bit further down the line there were machines that could boot from USB optical drives, but not thumb sticks.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Sorry, I guess I mean a legacy keyboard / mouse :)

[@BilisNegra]

@@TheRetroRecall Oh, OK, that sounds more like what I'd expect to be related to, though I'm no expert.

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

SP3 is a bit heavy for that amount of ram and Pentium 3 processor. SP1 or 2 will give you better performance on those specs

[@TheRetroRecall]

Possibly, however it really was working quite well! Especially if I throw in another 256mb ram.

[@BilisNegra]

@@TheRetroRecall I in fact believe that's not that much of an issue (though SP3 most probably is a bit heavier than previous versions). What matters more is the software you install on top. Since XP had that crazy long support cycle, software from very different eras can be installed on it. It's understood the system will choke with late 2000's stuff or newer. Period correct applications would be early to mid 2000s ones.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

@@BilisNegrathat’s pretty true. Although Firefox 52 ESR worked pretty well on my c600 running xp. It was actually usable for web browsing on lighter sites. By now it’s probably nowhere near as usable as this was about 6-8 years ago.

[@MatthewKleczewski]

I had one of these for my first job as a Systems Analyst.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!! I think it's a great machine.

[@rmcdudmk212]

It's crazy to think the Dell Latitude series is still going today.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes, quite a good line!

[@rmcdudmk212]

​​@@TheRetroRecallit's too bad the new ones aren't as easy to do maintenance and upgrades like this old one 😂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes so true

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes so true

[@Natures_Intentions]

i think that one video port is called S-video out....some of the newer CRT TV sets supported S-video out cool to see again

[@TheRetroRecall]

It is, and sometimes they had a dongle for allowing you to connect another vga monitor. I know Dell had some funny proprietary stuff going on back then :)

[@miguelque9102]

It's the same ATI M1 (Rage Mobility) found in my Pentium II-based Compaq Armada. It's somewhat faster than those horrible pure 2D cards I guess 😛

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! The Compaq Armada video that I just did a video on a couple of weeks ago had a standard 2D Chips & Technologies graphics card and I wanted to cry. This was a nice refresher - although basic enough, opened up a few more doors / possibilities :)

[@NguyenHoang-pv2xd]

But Windows 2000 & XP can use at home use ?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes for sure! I was stating that this computer when new came with Windows NT 4.0. I decided to place Windows XP Professional on it which worked well. Remember, XP came with both home and business versions as well.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

There was no need to install the driver of this laptop from Snappy Because the Drivers is available for this laptop From Dell site itself

[@TheRetroRecall]

Fortunately they were all included in the Windows XP SP3 driver pack. As I stated in the video, I didn't have to use Snappy. That said, although the drivers are located ont he Dell site (and other manufacturers websites for the various OEM's) Snappy is so much easier / faster when restoring these systems. :)

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Oh So You Used Ond Of Dell OP Sys Cd Right?@@TheRetroRecall

[@milak111234]

You should find all parts for max upgrade and this laptop would be completely different machine!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

What parts are you recommending? I would def get another battery, the modular floppy drive, 128mb of more ram and the docking station.

[@milak111234]

@@TheRetroRecall The biggest CPU that this motherboard support ,of course max ram which would be 1gb max

[@TheRetroRecall]

It will take 2 x 512mb modules?

[@Pulverrostmannen]

you already gotten the story about my same but slightly older Dell laptops, mine are the PII but they did not change much it seems, I had the same bios batteries that even eaten away the wires themselves, Dead main batteries , Absolutely gobsmacking poor speakers too. I don´t have the mouse joystick on my computers. But it was on these dells every part is married to the mainboard, screen, keyboard and everything. you can´t service them much because of this. it is a pretty high voltage bios battery to so you can´t really substitute it with a 2032 cell either. will be fun to see how you gonna solve this. I made a battery pack for mine and used the battery compartment for it as the main battery was dead anyway

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah I'm going to take it apart soon, I don't want that leakage to do any more damage. Not sure what I will do to replace the battery - I guess I will have to see and devise a plan. Do you know if they are on a recharge circuit? Is a diode required?

[@Pulverrostmannen]

@@TheRetroRecall yeah it was a rechargeable I think 6 cell nimh battery pack. Since it is a rather high voltage compared to normal bios it won’t really work to use like a cr2032 either. When I made my replacement pack I used two 18650 and a blocking diode. However if you wanna keep your stock battery compartment that won’t fit together. I put an easy to access battery holder in that space for my bios battery instead.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know, thanks!

[@johnmay4803]

hi pal ive picked up a PARS p4 laptop with windows xp on its a really rare make. they make computers for the uk mod now

[@TheRetroRecall]

I've never heard of PARS.... I'll have to check them out!

[@johnmay4803]

@@TheRetroRecall i looked everywhere 4 info all i could find was sum pics! they were only a small compony put the quolity is amazing

[@TheRetroRecall]

A friend of mine over in the UK found them, pretty neat!

[@johnmay4803]

@@TheRetroRecall i think its funny how its cost me more for 2 1gb sticks of ddr400 then it does for 16gb of ddr3! remember the good old days when it was so cheap people would give it away lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha yes!!!

[@mancavehobbies6213]

HAPPY NEW YEAR SUBBED YAH.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!!! Hope you enjoy, stay tuned!

[@killerpurplecow2165]

to bad your not in ohio have an old dell pentium II laptop would have made a great review as always great work

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!! Send an email to [e-mail], we can chat :)

[@VioletDragonsProjects]

Laptops in this day and age are not made like they use to be. Back in the day user serviceability was something you don’t get with modern laptops not only that build quality of modern laptops is nothing compared to this big chunky boy and I still like that. You say serial has phased out that’s true, in my line of work as a Network admin that works in Data Centers we still use Serial for configuring switches, console management to servers, UPS management too all over Serial. I have a laptop from 2004 with serial and I still use that to this day for work only because it has Serial which modern laptops don’t have unless you use that USB to Serial rubbish which I’ve wasted most of my life away trying to get that working with certain network switches etc. so I just get out my 2004 XP laptop within a few minutes I’ve done my work. Issue with maintaining these older machines is that IDE drives are hard to come by and changing the hard drive multiple times I’m needing another alternative instead of using IDE. But dang things back then were so different just with they made laptops like this today.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes! I just ordered a m.2 to IDE adapter for one of my older ide laptops. I'm going to test to see how well it works to maintain hese older systems. I hear more and more from different network admins asking if I have any of the systems I want to part with that have serial for exactly as you said - they don't want to deal with the USB to serial adapters.

[@VioletDragonsProjects]

@@TheRetroRecall keep me up to date with the M.2 to IDE adaptor as I’m interested. Yeah the USB to Serial Adapter it’s hard finding one that is properly wired majority of them only have DATA and Power wired and rest of the Serial pins are not in use. Most Serial connected devices require to be configured such as a Modem.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure and yes I will. I'm going to be doing a video on it so hopefully you will catch that there as well.

[@VioletDragonsProjects]

@@TheRetroRecall for sure sounds good. I think this laptop is worth repairing with that broken buttons for the trackball if you can get the parts at a reasonable price, eBay prices currently are over the place.

[@javiergt]

But can it run Crysis?

[@TheRetroRecall]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. Whomp there it is!

[@jjohnson71958]

use the bottom half as a keyboard pc =)

[@TheRetroRecall]

A keyboard pc?

[@jjohnson71958]

yeah just remove the lcd screen @@TheRetroRecall

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhhh

[@jjohnson71958]

be pretty cool though@@TheRetroRecall

[@KickRaenn02]

I have this pc but i cant open it. how can i fix this pc i dont know. My pc is my fathers memory. I wonder it but i cant open.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I would have to look myself, however I think there are some great dissassembly videos on KZbin that may walk you through that process.

[@KickRaenn02]

@@TheRetroRecall ok thanks.

[@EastAngliaUK]

surprised you don't need 256mb ram

[@TheRetroRecall]

It ran really well with 128 for sure... however 256mb would make it that much better for sure!

[@Thessalonian]

I saw you have a IBM can you send that to me..L.O.L....No but i am searching for a IBM i love those laptops...i have a big collection of laptops but not a IBM...was it you who collected Floppy disk? disketts?...i have a giant box full of original disketts from programs windows dos etc etc etc..I had writen a list before but i lost it and to write down all again brrrr....:)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! I'm keeping them lol - I love Thinkpads! I do collect software, yes :)

[@1.4M-ry8zx]

I'm the 69th

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha!