Gateway ZX4800 'All In One' - Restoration!

[@mariol90]

Congrats on 10k subs! I uploaded these recovery discs to the internet archive a few years ago so I'm glad you were able to get use out of them! Always interesting to see computers restored to their original functionality.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok this is so cool! The fact that you uploaded them makes you a legend. I try to tell everyone to back everything up and upload them to archive.org to make sure we can share with others. I am floored you saw this video and it was your software - it is just crazy for me to think that. Thanks again!!

[@danielkawano206]

The channel is growing quickly, I am very happy for you. Congratulations!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you and thanks for your support!

[@GGigabiteM]

For upgrading the video, that's a *maybe* depending on how deeply involved with the motherboard you want to get. It looks like it has pads for a MXM slot, it might be possible to add the slot to the board and install a MXM video card for improved video. The pads for the slot being there means that there was at least one configuration of that machine with a dedicated video card. There will likely be a few passive components needed as well as the slot. Since MXM is just a PCIe bus in a different slot, it probably needs some capacitors on the lines. I think they're 22 nF. I've added PCIe slots to OEM boards before. It is time consuming, but it has a decent chance of working. The capacitors are the things that take the longest time to add though, since they're often the size of a grain of dust.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you for his info. Do you think a different chipset would be required or at least an update to accommodate?

[@GGigabiteM]

@@TheRetroRecall I wouldn't think so, but it's possible. The pads for that slot have traces that go directly to the PCH. Looking at the few pictures of that motherboard on Google, there are quite a few passives that need to be added. Without another board to compare with, it'd be hard to know what was needed, but another board with a MXM slot could probably be used for reference.

[@johnputnam6742]

I always wondered what the computer industries' fascination with piano black finishes on everything during the Windows 7 era.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I completely agree. I very much dislike it. The same vehicles!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Congratulations on 10K, by the way - well deserved.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Many thanks, much appreciated!!

[@BrokeDad1]

The "newer" Dell All-in-ones (like the 2350 as an example) with hardware in the base make nice secondary 1080p HDR monitors. They have an HDMI In port on them and you can turn off the screen seperately from the computer part. They also make a decent general purpose streaming PC or server PC with the i3/i5/i7 CPU's in them. I've picked up a few for next to nothing.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice and they are even better when they aren't expensive.

[@kopspijker3515]

Never been this early! AIO are not necessarily my thing either. At work we put together the modular version by putting in a very small dell optiplex system in a dedicated case that is screwed between the monitor foot/arm and the monitor itself. I have seen several AIO with a VESA mount. That would be pretty interesting on a monitor arm. One advantage of glossy display's is that color's can really pop. Disadvantages: Shiny mirror! note at 20:00. That is part of the chipset. The processor is from the Core 2 era so it is still based on the traditional separate north and southbridge design. with graphics integrated in the northbridge same with the memory controller.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed and thanks for pointing that out, much appreciated!! Yes - not a fan of glossy at all.

[@tiagobandeira125]

@@TheRetroRecall also not a fan of piano black finish, but keep in mind, in the days of this AIO, was the solution for small offices, no optiplex small for factor wich you can atach in vesa mount onthe back of displays.... congrats on 10K, keep on...

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!! I recently purchased a car with 'some' piano black... I quickly covered it with an aftermarket bezel. Protected and looks great.

[@SinaFarhat]

Nice! Good to see that a harddrive replacement doesn't require too much work and as you say the ram is enough for 32bit windows 7.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I mean we can always upgrade the ram, HDD to SSD, OS, even the CPU. It's always neat to see though how these were back in the day :).

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

A computer lab closed at work about 18 months ago and I was able to do a "dumpster dive" in there are salvage a few interesting bits and pieces - two of which were Lenovo Thinkcentre A70z All In One Machines that are about the same age as your Gateway one. I was able to upgrade the Core 2 Duo CPUs in them to really cheap Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPUs. They also had 4GB RAM (2 x 2GB) each but because they are DDR3 RAM it was very cheap to put in two 4GB RAM modules in each to upgrade them to 8GB. (Your machine is DDR2 and 4GB DDR2 RAM is expensive, assuming your machine will recognise 8GB.) I also stuck an SSD in both machines and put (Gentoo) Linux on them - they are perfectly fine daily driver machines, even if they have only Intel Series 4 graphics. I wouldn't buy such machines normally (due to the form factor) but am happy to use them as freebie PCs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice finds and completely agree. I'm partial to IBM / Lenovo - so that would be something I would keep going for sure.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecallYes, I am an IBM / Lenovo person too - I must have a collection of about 50 working (often renovated or repaired by me) Thinkpads at the moment. That same "dumpster dive in the lab" uncovered about half a dozen old (but nearly new condition) IBM Thinkpads in the T40, T41, T42 and T43 models which I snapped up immediately.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I would imagine you did. 50? Wow. Jealous. I have many, but not that many - awesome!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecallUnfortunately the wife has now banished me to the "garage man cave" with my Thinkpads!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha the best kind of banish 🤣

[@rono7494]

Where? "Here" Drink everytime he says "here" 😂 Love the content!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha I'm tipsy now!

[@ClassicTrialsChannel]

Running an SSD really speeds up these systems. I had a Lenovo AIO for 8-9 years before something went wrong and it stopped working.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. I've done that a few times and it makes a world of difference.

[@roblox123admet]

I think Gateway is a nostalgic pc brand.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'd love to get some older ones to showcase on the channel.

[@ClassicTrialsChannel]

I've worked for DHL since 1995. Back in the 90s we handled Gateways distribution from Ireland where they were made. Hundreds of the black n white cow pattern boxes every night.

[@TheRetroRecall]

@ClassicTrialsChannel I would love to have a new old stock one of those , that's for sure.

[@haleman1704]

Congratulations to 10.000 subs! :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!

[@pierreinthavong181]

Nice video as well!😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@nbrown5907]

I used to do optical drive first but decided years ago it was better to stick to the boot drive and just pick the boot menu if you need the optical boot. Now its a flash drive anyway with Windows 11 needing dvd9 for optical lol. You make the boot time longer checking the optical drive booting in.

[@TheRetroRecall]

True, never thought of it that way, but you are right. I could just choose a temp device. The only issue I have experienced is sometimes the prompt isn't show indicating the key or it goes by too quickly and forces you to restart to try it all over again.

[@MartinaD]

One big advantage of this AIO: Being able to see you a bit in your video. 😄

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! :)

[@mattysmetaldetectingsouthwales]

Great video, I enjoyed that,I still occasionally use my all in one pc almost identical to your one in this video, it's ultra reliable and have owned from new, the imo best feature is the movie maker it's just so simple to use, only downside to these old PCs that uploading to you- tube ect takes ages lol , thanks for sharing,ATB Matty

[@TheRetroRecall]

So glad you enjoyed and neat that you still have one running today!! Thanks for watching.

[@maxtornogood]

Heh, I see you did an unintentional 'face reveal' with the Gateway's screen being glossy / reflective! The camera / mic on my laptop have on/off sliders which physically disconnect them, great for privacy! Nice that the Dual Core T4400 has 64-bit support & I read the ZX4800 can do 4GB maximum.

[@TheRetroRecall]

All good, I knew during editing but figured heck, why not :) yes can definitely upgrade a few of the components for sure if we decide to go that route. Thanks for watching as always.

[@maxtornogood]

@@TheRetroRecall I like seeing the faces behind the channels. Certainly happy to see your continued channel growth! 😃

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@simonlathwell]

I've never been keen on the All-in-One computers as they are a pain in the neck to repair, and you can only basically upgrade very few bits like the RAM, HDD and optical drive if it has one. I like the small form factor systems, like the Dell OptiPlex 780SFF which I own one as at least I can upgrade the graphics, and install a WiFi card. I do have a Acer Veriton USFF with an Intel Atom which only the RAM and HDD can be upgraded, but I only use it in the bedroom for streaming on KZbin and some light office work. Also congrats on reaching 10K subscribers.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I agree that owning an AIO limits your ability to do any further upgrades. Great for tight spaces, however expect that this will be a limited system - in comparison to the big brothers in desktop PC's. Thank you!!! It was quite a journey so far, thank you for your support!

[@simonlathwell]

@@TheRetroRecall I agree, they are great as a space saver system. This is also the reason why I don't like Apple as you can't do anything inside there AIO's, plus the locked down ecosystem they use.

[@TheRetroRecall]

100%!!

[@OverTallman]

Congrats on 10,000 subs 😄 Speaking of upgrades, since it uses Socket P processor with GM45 chipset, it should be able to take Core 2 Duo P9700, T9900, maybe even Core 2 Quad Q9000 and Q9100 but they have 45W TDP. They aren't cheap though as they're the top dogs of their respective lines, so you may wanna consider lower models like P8800 or T9600 which cost less while not being much slower. Also it can take 8GB RAM but 4GB DDR2 SODIMM modules are rare and very expensive, so I'd just upgrade to 4GB and be done with it, 2GB DDR2 SODIMM modules are cheap as chips anyway.

[@TheRetroRecall]

THANK YOU!!! I appreciate the info / options! I think I may have a couple of 4gb modules, however I am probably going to save them for a future laptop upgrade.

[@walterlegere1403]

OMG! I can't believe how much useless crap the OEM manufacturers used to put on these systems! These older PC's were like the modern "billboards" for software back then! I guess Gateway was trying to save their company by selling screen space to all those software developers but all they did was just accelerate their demise by literally killing the performance of their systems as a result. Let that be a lesson to you Dell!!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha absolutely. Bloat Ware Mania! I love going back and seeing what was on them but back in the day, I would wipe these so quickly and restore the basic OS and drivers only.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup.

[@OctavioGaitan]

Congrats on 10k subs! :D By the way, will you be posting the restore media discs for that specific model Gateway on the Internet Archive?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Appreciate it and funny thing - I downloaded these from there :) if you do a search for the Zx4800 You will see them on there. Such a great resource!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

In my opinion, that computer is fairly well designed for maintenance, except for the cmos battery of course. The Dell XPS 2720 AIO is well designed for maintenance, however, it has a built in PSU., and those often fail, they are removable though and after market replacements are available.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes that's one thing I will say is that having an external PSU is a win. That CMOS Battery was no fun lol.

[@John-jl3ky]

I really enjoy your videos, I always look forward to new ones, how about twice a week? LOL

[@TheRetroRecall]

I really Appreciate that! I used to do two a week but burnt out a bit die to the countless hours of recording, editing and admin work. I figured one a week is best to make sure everything is higher quality :) if I can do two once in a while, I will definitely do that. Thank you for your support!

[@freednighthawk]

Try some Meguire's Cleaner Wax from the automotive section on the rear of the case. is should help with the scratches and help bring up the shine.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this suggestion - I'll have to give it a try. Never thought of this before.

[@joaoc_PT]

cpu upgrades should be cheap and easy to find. Many laptops used that socket 479

[@TheRetroRecall]

I have a few in a bin (safely stored) I will have to take a look and see what I have.

[@duncangarnett1976]

With the blackboard game, you drag the fan icon. it's essentially a physics game

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhhhhh lol. I seriously had never seen it before haha!

[@duncangarnett1976]

@TheRetroRecall ​It's all good. I had an Acer Version of this computer, nearly the same software. I also liked the touch 'Fish Pond' screensaver.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!

[@hugosimoes5119]

11:26 Yes, the temperature is normal. BIOSes of that era usually poke the CPU at full speed, at least one core. If you leave it like that, the temperature will raise more a bit until the fan kicks in and the terature will fall, assuming no dust bunnies covering the finns. T4400 is a socket P CPU. You can probably upgrade that system to have intel Core 2 Due P8800 or P9600/P9700. I mentioned Pxx00 because those are lower wattage and the Txx00. 44:15 It's probably too late for Windows 10 as MS no longer lets us free upgrade from Windows7/8/8.1 to 10. However, you have digital licenses free from paste Win10 activations in your MS account, you can try to associate one of those licenses to the new installed Win10. I would throw in a intel P9x00, 4gb ddr2-800, and a cheap 128gb ssd. Then I would install Windows 10 x64, or maybe force it to Win11.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It got to 64 degrees and in my experience an intel cpu should be hovering sub 40. Was a bit concerned that the fan hadn't come on yet (you saw the short version on edit). I did read that the max temp on this cpu is 110c - however I didn't want to push it. Thanks for the info on the cpu, I have a few laying around I'll have to check out.

[@Redmage913]

Maybe I missed it - did you put thermal paste on the chipset as well when reattaching the heat sink, or did it have a thermal pad on the cooler assembly?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey there, I did on the cooler assembly side as it had an inset shape for the die on the chipset. Hope that makes sense lol.

[@Redmage913]

Perfectly! Just didn’t want a poor chip to feel all hot and bothered.

[@TheRetroRecall]

@Redmage913 haha!

[@i80386sx]

Those AIO units are a real hit or miss.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I haven't had a lot of experience with them as I tended to stay clear of them. A lot of people share your feedback on them for sure.

[@i80386sx]

@@TheRetroRecall my favorite AIO was actually given to me by Lenovo. It was easy to work on and had a decent graphics card in it. My least favorite was a Dell Optiplex 9010 AIO. They were difficult to work on.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'm hearing quite a bit in the comments that Lenovo seems to have their act in gear and are much easier to work on.

[@nbrown5907]

Never feel that bad for a mistake lol, I have been so worked up before just to realize a plug was not fully inserted on the PSU lol.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha so true. I was like - omg, I didn't just forget to plug the fan power into the board. The good news is, is that I remembered before I ran it for a long time like that. Haha.

[@maniatore2006]

Thank you for that video, Interessting All in One PC. I have Two Lenovo thinkcentre all in One PCs. With the same Foult, both running fine, but both can´t restart (WARM) so i neet to zurn of the PC and restart it cold. Every time i try to restart the PC the PC Froze with Black Screen. Beside that, Both Systems Running well. And both have 8 GB DDR3 RAM one with Core i3 and other with Pentium.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's interesting. I've never heard of that happening unless of course it is overheating.

[@dmcintosh1967]

When that computer was new it would have come with a wireless mouse and keyboard that worked of a usb dongle.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know! Thanks!

[@Pulverrostmannen]

First time I see a 3,5 inch drive in a all in one computer. I could not see how the gpu die made contact with the heat pipe, was it a pad or why no thermal paste?

[@TheRetroRecall]

I applied the Thermal paste on the pipe itself as it has a small inset shaped to the die. You have to have some faith in me :)

[@Pulverrostmannen]

@@TheRetroRecall no problem lol I am just scientific and if I can’t see it I have to verify it

[@therealthirst8099]

I swear my highschool had a fleet of these (Though with slightly better specs) in the computer labs

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh my, I would not have wanted to be one of the IT team members at your school haha.

[@andresbravo2003]

This one is quite neat, but what in the PENTIUM??

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha

[@PiercedJedi]

I was at my local Goodwill (thrift store down here in the states) looking for an old CRT or 4:3 LCD monitor, and they had this 27" Lenovo monitor for $12.99 and I was like "hmmm what's this" then noticed it had a decal for intel Core i7 on it.... I bought it without testing it, and it turns out it's a 13th generation i7 with 16GB RAM 512GB SSD and 27" touch screen..... the screen has a couple scratches, but all and all, it's a great little AIO system....

[@TheRetroRecall]

No way!!!! That's an amazing find for 12.99!! Great work!

[@PiercedJedi]

@@TheRetroRecallRIGHT??? and this thing has two great features, HDMI IN (use it as a monitor) and HDMI OUT (use an external monitor)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok, now I'm jealous lol.

[@PiercedJedi]

I could say the same to you :) @@TheRetroRecall

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha nothing to be jealous of :p

[@Buchoass]

I just found one of these in the garbage but it has a password needed. what can I do to get around that. Thank you

[@TheRetroRecall]

I can't recall, however it may have a BIOS reset jumper on the motherboard itself when you take the system apart as I did. Again, I'm not 100% sure.

[@calvinjaynes1142]

This looks similar to my HP Touchsmart 310 PC that I have floating around here..

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!! You should dig it out haha.

[@calvinjaynes1142]

@@TheRetroRecallIt runs pretty good for what it has in it. Originally found with win8. Not back to factory settings for which it moves alot faster

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh my Win8. I'm sorry for your loss 🤣.

[@calvinjaynes1142]

@@TheRetroRecallit has 10 on it now

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok - saved!!

[@miguelque9102]

ZX4800 should take up to 8GB of ram, given that it's based on Intel GM45 chipset. However, expect to pay exorbitant price if the motherboard uses DDR2 module. Update: on laptops with identical chipset, I have also managed to replace the stock processor (usually some mid-range Core 2 Duo in my case) with something like a Core 2 Duo P9600. And yes, I absolutely hate replacing cmos cells on AIOs and many laptops.😮‍💨

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thabks for the great info, much appreciated! Yes - that CMOS replacement was a thing for sure.

[@anumeon]

"If disable, System Fan will run direstly the maximum speed.." Did a BIOS engineer back in the day use google translate from mandarin or something.. :D

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah I saw that 🤣

[@dmcintosh1967]

My parents bought that same Gateway AIO computer new and I liked the computer but unfortunately It wasn't that reliable. Two years old the HDD drive. Three years later ODD failed and on fifth year the screen backlight failed. After that it got parted out.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's the disadvantage of an AIO for sure.

[@dmcintosh1967]

That's why I never bought another All in one I ended up replacing it with a PC I built my self. However if I'm given an all in one I won't turn it down. Like a Sony Vaio from 2010 it had 1080p screen and was very well made.

[@canthearu4876]

HaHa, the blackboard game program. So tied up in narrating the video, you missed that the game was giving you the solution right in front of you! But it is cool, all in good fun!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nothing wrong with narrating :) Be awfully quiet if I didn't lol. Someone else commented and let me know about the game - it was literally the first time I've seen it haha.

[@canthearu4876]

@@TheRetroRecall It is OK, I am often terrible at games too. It often takes a lot of blunt force truma to complete them for me :-)

[@WanderingCactus]

That battery location is terrible, if'n it were me, I prolly would've soldered a couple wires to the holder, and then mounted a holder somewhere more convenient so I never have to deal with that. As to all in ones, I like them, I'm currently running a POSIFlex for my laser engraver.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's actually a good call out. Hindsight is always 20/20 :) However with a fresh battery, we are now good for a couple of years.. Lol. I'm sure the newer AIO are good with he updated tech - engineers just have to remember that people will work on these eventually, make the common components accessible :)

[@WanderingCactus]

@@TheRetroRecallChuckles, "More a matter of approach to me, it was such a pain to get into that, that I simply would make sure I don't have to do it again by upgrading the memory and the battery location, even if'n the battery is likely to outlive me. Heh, the system I have is no better, possibly worse, look up what that is,I won't spoil the fun, but the brand should give you a clue.

[@fra4455]

Great✌

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!

[@Hadisabetghadam]

I was right Can Upgrade CPU

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great to know!

[@ruthlessadmin]

AIOs are also not my cup of tea, to the point where I barely care if it's retro. Nevertheless, I suffered through this video with you lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahahahah I am genuinely laughing here! Thabks for muddling through the video with me. I promise to not do another AIO for a while lol!

[@KevinSills]

I would have replaced the SATA HDD with a SDD while you had it apart.

[@TheRetroRecall]

As I stated in the beginning of the video, i was interested in replacing the coincell and ensuring the system was restored / cleaned and tested. In the future, we could add more memory, upgrade to an SSD and through a different OS on there.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

I Thinking Cpu On AIO In Upgradable

[@TheRetroRecall]

Do you know what CPUs this system will support?

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Install Speccy And Tell Me What Chipset On There@@TheRetroRecall

[@monsterquinn30]

Why not install a fresh copy of windows 10 on it, I'm sure it would work good on this all in one, my 16 year old Lenovo ThinkPad t61 works good with windows 10, it has a intel core 2 Duo CPU and a nvidia Quadro GPU

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice, and yes it is always an option. Whenever I work on one of these systems I always restore them to factory first while cleaning them up. Maybe in a future video we will upgrade the hardware a bit then choose an OS.

[@DaarkCloud]

I'm over here like upgrade???

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha Ram, SSD, possible CPU :)

[@DaarkCloud]

@@TheRetroRecall Would be cool to see : )

[@TheRetroRecall]

I think the ram can go to 4gb, the drive can certainly go to an SSD and someone mentioned the CPU can be upgraded however I would have to do research to find out what one would work :) stay tuned!

[@DaarkCloud]

@@TheRetroRecall I look forward to it! I think you might be able to get a max of 8gb of ram. There might also be a bios upgrade somewhere in the ether that is the interwebs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'll check that out, thank you!!

[@milak111234]

ANother interestig PC with potential for upgrades!!Bios update and CPU ,RAM and maybe SSD!!Of COurce x64 bit OS!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Definitely

[@Agoz8375]

Cool video but I don't like this kind of PCs. There are often thermal problems with this 😊. This All in one PCs only have heatsink without fan.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, you definitely need the airflow. I find these tend to be lower end to allow the cuts like no fans etc.

[@eugene7173]

you should have upgraded th Cpu , It's socketed

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha should? I did mention in the video that I was keeping it original to clean everything up, repaste the cpu and perform a factory restoration. Anything like that in the future will be done along with ram an SSD and possibly a different OS :)

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Nope This Is SouthBridge Chip Not GPU

[@TheRetroRecall]

I will have to check the chips. If so, where is the GPU? I didn't see it. Maybe I'll see if I can locate the schematics.

[@LJfromWV]

@@TheRetroRecall I think that it's actually the northbridge chip, which has the graphics integrated into it, along with the memory controller. The southbridge is the larger chip on the back, IIRC. Core 2 based CPUs didn't have the integrated memory and graphics that the Core i series have.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

This Gateway AIO Never Ship And Mentioned On Site@@TheRetroRecall

[@Hadisabetghadam]

​@@TheRetroRecall This Gateway AIO Never Ship Or Mentioned GPU On Site Like CNET

[@NguyenHoang-pv2xd]

Gateway ZX4800 All in One PC Windows 7 include Microsoft Office 2007 but not Microsoft Office 2010

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup. That's what was on this system.

[@michaelwood9866]

i absolutely hated all in one systems as they are hard to work on and all the ones friends had were trash

[@TheRetroRecall]

You share my feelings for sure. Having to take the MB out to replace the CMOS Battery was 'annoying' lol.

[@vivienm7]

My mom had a ZX6800 that had to be taken apart a few times (let's just say the original hard drive was not very reliable). Interesting that the 6800 uses desktop components and the 4800 uses laptop components; the 6800 also had a built-in power supply. Random observation: these came with elcheapo non-bluetooth wireless keyboard/mice with a teeny little dongle that would easily get lost... This was certainly made by Acer.

[@vivienm7]

Wow, the hard drive is much more accessible on the 4800 than on the 6800...

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know. Thank you! Yes I found it relatively easy to access the HDD, however that CMOS Battery is a different story.

[@WalterKnox]

My mother bought the same machine new in '09. I do remember the hard drive in the machine being specifically loud, when you turned it on, it had a very distinct spin up sound, and the seeking sound when booting up was also quite noisy. I have read 3 comments saying here about the HDD being un-reliable. Ours never did have an issue though, it was also a Hitachi, but it was a 750gb drive which I still have and is still working. I also remember it having said non-branded mouse/KB combo, IIRC, the mouse ended up dead after getting slammed on the table too many times because at times the computer would become unresponsive, and as everyone knows, if a computer isn't doing what you want it to do, slam the mouse on the desk a few times and it will.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha indeed! Yes, you can definitely hear the sound of the HDD spin up - part of the spinning rust charm!

[@2xtreem4u]

my dell is cursed

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha. Aren't all?

[@2xtreem4u]

@@TheRetroRecall thought that now i can go to the next project but noo said the fans and stopped working (hello proprietary fan connector)

[@TheRetroRecall]

I've actually had that issue happen more on Lenovo than Dell's, and I love Lenovo!

[@iSamYTBackup]

we can't really call it retro Windows 7 is still usable in 2024

[@TheRetroRecall]

I would say your not wrong.... With an equal balance to say more the hardware is on the cusp. :)