SAVED!! Donated HP & Dell Laptops from 2007 & 2008!!

Saved from E-Waste ... yet again! These two amazing systems from 2007 & 2008 were just about to be tossed to e-waste when a viewer decided to donate them to channel instead!! Both of these laptops look like they have been kept in a time capsule... Let's explore them and see if they work!
#retro #retropc #dell #inspiron #hp #compaq #ewaste #donated #donation #windows #intel #celeron #pentium #computer #vista

[@MustngRydr]

Always a joy to watch. I collect retro machines myself and it's always so great to watch others share the same passion! Keep it up!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you, glad you are enjoying!!

[@Reziac]

I can't bear to see working tech go to recycle... not even the old stuff.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@Reziac Agreed, and my "man cave" at home in a testament to that ethic, considering the amount of old computers I have in there. This is where knowing how to install and use Linux, even at a basic level, really comes into its own - because you can install a modern and secure OS on these old machines and anything dual core or above running at 2 GHz with 3GB RAM can be a perfectly good daily driver machine on the Internet, as long as you're happy with maybe 720p video at the most on here (and the laptop probably only has a 768p screen anyway).

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. My storage would also agree 😂

[@cliffordreynolds1835]

The first laptop I got was 2 years ago, I've always had desktops. It's just so convenient to be able to take your computer with you everywhere. Got a good laptop bag, and I can put everything in it, even my meds.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup, they are definitely convenient!

[@bcupp15]

When I worked for a University in 2007-2014 we purchased a fleet of 40 of the 6710B. I speak from personal experience that they can handle abuse well. They were circulating student loaner laptops. Ours were equipped with an early Core2 Duo so I know that is an upgrade path you may be able to explore.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha that would have been fun, and thanks for letting me know. I have a couple of those CPUs around.

[@Gaspode-uj8jt]

For the first system my suggestions follow: 1. Restore OS & Software with hardware as is and test. 2. Upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit and test. 3. Max out system memory and test. 4. Determine if any other hardware components can be reasonably ($$) upgraded, e.g. SATA SSD, and if so upgrade and test. 5. Switch to a lightweight 64 bit Linux distro and test. On the second system the other 2GB may be soldered to the motherboard. Thanks for another fun video.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

There is no reason to use Windows 7 any more due to security concerns over end-of-support and the fact that less and less software is supporting it as time goes on anyway. You are not going to be doing AAA gaming or heavy video editing on a laptop from 2007 anyway, so "playing Skyrim" or running Adobe tools isn't going to be an issue. Therefore you should install a modern Linux, like Debian, that is still fully supported and is secure online. It is always worth keeping a Windows disk to hand because a lot of these laptops rely on a Windows utility to update the BIOS and you may have to update the BIOS to put in a faster CPU that was released after the laptop was. So it's worth updating the BIOS early using the Windows disk, then installing Linux. I tend to put a ceiling of around $25 on any laptop of this age that I am upgrading - $5 for a 2GHz T7200/T7300 Core 2 Duo CPU (667MHz / 800MHz bus speed respectively, they are not interchangeable), $15 for a small SSD and $5-$10 upgrading to 4GB RAM. (Two 4GB modules will cost $30-$50 apiece, they're not worth the money for performance gain in Linux, and the BIOS may not support 8GB anyway.)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh my, yes a ceiling? What's that 😂. I can sometimes go down rabbit holes with these machines and spend a little too much. That's the fun of these older PC's.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall That's the fun of it! I have a shelf full of really old Thinkpads from the "turn of the millennium" (we're talking Thinkpad 600's, 770 and a few others) that are all in various states of disrepair that I've had for a few years now - missing parts are hard to come by and expensive when they show up, so I know taking those on will go right through my ceiling!

[@mwolf7780]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Maybe, if you try to upgrade the CPU to core 2 duo series and 4 or more GB system memory and a basic 120GB cheap sata SSD, you can run Windows 10 with little hiccups. I used acore 2 duo t6400 4GB RAM 120GB SSD about 4years for my studies and some entertainment purpose and run photoshop and if you have high patience, you can run premiere pro and preview playback is slow (Because my GPU is Intel GMA 4500m (Intel GL40 series chipset)64MB)

[@DaftdogUK]

I had a 6710B a long time ago. I used it for basic web design, and it easily paid for itself. I replaced the HDD, added a second HDD caddy by losing the DVD drive, and had a desk-dock for use in the office. I really liked it. I replaced it eventually with an HP Elitebook 8760W, a beast of a business machine. Now retired, I'm running an HPZ820 workstation with 24TB storage, 2x Xeon processors, and 128GB RAM. Again, another beast of a machine. Linux makes older machines purr along, with great (non-gaming) performance from this old tank...

[@TheRetroRecall]

HP made some decent systems back in the day.. And I agree - it seems Linux can bring back a lot of life to older hardware.

[@branscombe_]

nice score! I’m glad they’re running, decent specs and you said the keyboard are in good shape, which is a make or break for laptops of any era!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes 100%. I'm extremely impressed at the conditions overall.

[@kk-linux-rocks7269]

This is good stuff. I too have restored a few circa 2008-2012 laptops. I've found it best to put a more modern and supported/secure OS on those older machines for folks who want to make them a daily driver. More importantly, getting those machines online. I've found that antiX Linux, Lubuntu work quite well on these older machines. For the most recent one I restored, I bought and installed a 240gb Sata SSD ($20.00) and 8gb RAM ($80.00) for it and that old laptop runs twice as fast as it did when it was brand new. I gave it to a relative of mine and it works great. Both of the laptops in this episode would perform very well with similar upgrades. One pro tip: Remove the old CPU thermal paste (which is likely chalky and dried up by now) and apply fresh thermal paste ($7.00). Doing that really makes a big difference. Essentially, with both a small bit of effort and money, you've got perfectly usable laptops running a modern, secure operating system with tons of available free and open source and commercial software for them.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Absolutely. That will be the plan!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I'm pleased you found 4GB DDR2 SODIMMs at a price you were happy with but I know they do cost $30-$50 each, and usually from Chinese sellers. If you're installing Linux on Core 2 Duo laptops, particularly a "lite" Linux with, say, an XFCE desktop, then you're really not going to see enough great performance benefits going from 4GB to 8GB RAM to justify that cost.

[@simonlathwell]

For the Dell systems you can find both the OS restore disks, but you will also need the driver disks as they were separate for each model. The OS restore disk is only the version of Windows and was used over multiple systems. You could in theory install Windows Vista and then use the driver disk to install all of the drivers. I had to do that on my Dell XPS 420 that came with Vista Home Premium. I think both would be suited more towards Linux so if you wanted you could get them online. Zorin OS Core is great for older machines, and also other light weight Linux distro's due to them being older systems. As always another great video. Keep up the great work.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Appreciate the added info! I'm glad you enjoyed, thank you!!

[@Pulverrostmannen]

Every time I get a computer that still has the hard drive in it I check the SMART data on it to get how many hours and startups it has. it surely gives you a clue how much the computer been used. I got the HP NC6320 which looks pretty much the same as yours, my laptop has 142665 hours on it ( 16 years! ) and for 15 years it ran without any failure not even on the hard drive. but time have caught up with it and the drive is quickly dying with more and more cluster damage and errors and just recently the backlight in the screen also died, I think the CCFL tube is used up completely and it will just flash one time and go black every time you try igniting it. But in the end everything in this computer have been remarkably reliable and is the highest hour computer I ever seen myself so far with the closer ones around 100000Hours, the computer I am typing this comment with have more than 60000 hours on it too. My stuff is really old isn't it?

[@TheRetroRecall]

I never thought to check the drive times, that would be a good step to take. I personally like older equipment, so the more hours the better!!!

[@colt5189]

I really do like keyboards that have the page up/down etc. keys on the right of the keyboard. As they make it real easy to scroll through webpages instead of having to drag the right scroller.

[@TheRetroRecall]

So true. I was generally ok with the layouts although some OEM's had some weird ones.

[@Reziac]

I have some of similar vintage, Dell and HP. Perfectly good working PCs. If I plan to actually use an old system, it gets WinXP or PCLinuxOS (which will run well on any x64 CPU). Always max out RAM, and SSD, helps more than anything. A lot of old laptops seem to have a slow data bus and really benefit.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Appreciate the info! And agreed :)

[@colt5189]

One positive thing about modern laptops is the trackpads are glass, and the topcase is metal. Back in that era of laptops. I'd stock up on spare parts like brand new palmrests and keyboards so I could periodically replace them as the trackpad wore down or the mouse buttons got mushy from the rubber pad inside breaking down. And would have spare bottoms for when the plastic started cracking around the hinges. But now all of that is fixed on modern laptops other than being able to easily replace the keyboard.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@richardmarkert7736]

I have a similar era Dell Studio model, which was the multimedia-oriented model. It's the 1735 so it has a 17" 1400x900 display that looks amazing. I run linux Mint on it without issue. T5600 dual-core and 4gb ram with a 120gb SSD.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Now that's an awesome build, and in use today! Thanks for sharing!

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I still have my Dell Studio XPS 1640 from 2009, I daily drove that thing for nearly 10 years before I finally upgraded. The only thing wrong with it is the battery is now dead.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! Fortunately the batteries are still easily accessible.

[@Iloveoldtech]

My #1 fan i❤ your content i am a subscriber for 2 years 😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

2 years!!! Nice!!! Happy to have you here :)

[@bellshooter]

Nice video, I get a lot of these, the lack of keyboard and palmrest wear is due to the fact that these spent 90% of their business life docked with a separate keyboard, mouse and screen. The lack of keyboard and hinge wear supports this. I find that a simple sata ssd and install of (say) MX Linux just generates a usable laptop for someone in need.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ah, the lack of wear and being used as a docking station would make total sense. And agreed.

[@brianmiller1909]

I had a Dell very similar to that back in the day. As soon as I saw the double headphone jack, I recognized that! For the processor, mine was a Core 2 Duo, so the processor would be upgradable on there. Can't remember it having Bluetooth unfortunately, though.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes it seems that we can definitely update the CPU in this computer. Double headphone jack actually shocked me lol

[@brianmiller1909]

@@TheRetroRecall will look forward to seeing you work on this one

[@TheRetroRecall]

It will go on the list!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

Good projects!👍👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!!

[@LellePrinter82]

I have two similar laptops to your HP laptop. A nx6325 with a AMD sempron cpu and supports up to 4gb of ram and it has sata interface. The other one is a NC6910P with core2duo 2ghz, 6gb of ram (yes the chipset in this one supports up to 8gb of ram) 4gb sticks are a abit hard to find though. It event runs Windows 10 perfectly fine with an ssd. I mostly use Linux on machines like this though, Xubuntu XFCE in this case. The cpu is socketed in both laptops. 🙂 Both laptops refuses to charge the battery. Your HP probably has a cpu socket too, maybe the Dell too. Great content and nice find.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Appreciate the added info and glad you enjoyed, thanks!

[@MaskedGEEK]

I would say that with the HDD-less HP laptop, put an SSD in it but still roll it back to it's manufacturer's default install if you can. I do love to see old machines as they were, but I also love the speed boost you get with an SSD.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I agree - there's something about loading up all of that bloatware that came with the machine from that time period.

[@dave4shmups]

Great video! Those laptops are in great condition! For the HP laptop, I would like to see it running Linux from an SSD. The cpu in it is actually 64-bit; I Google it. Intel still has some great information about their older CPUs. I don’t why it was running a 32-bit version of Windows 7. Maybe that just runs better on that old, slow mechanical hard drive.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I think the previous owner had just thrown it on there for me. I agree, they are in really great condition - quite surprising honestly.

[@Alex-sz8ku]

My favorite era of computers! I love seeing them on your channel! That Dell looks a lot like the red Inspiron 1520 my parents had when I was a kid. I don't remember it being used much because nobody could ever find the charger to it and we had a more powerful desktop anyway. I found it in a box a few years later, cleaned it up and gave it to a friend in high school because they required us to have laptops by then. That one had a Core 2 Duo (can't remember the speed), 2GB of ram, either a 120 or 160GB hard drive and a Geforce 8600m in it. The 1525 must have been the newer model. I'd assume it would support a Core 2 Duo, probably something up to an 800mhz FSB?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yessssss I remember now that they came in different colors! Thanks for jogging my memory. Also, you are probably correct as other have commented these can be upgraded to Core2 Duo CPUs. Thanks for sharing!

[@Alex-sz8ku]

@TheRetroRecall Yeah it was cool when Dell did that! I had one of the Insiron R laptops with the switchable top lids too. It was such a neat feature! I miss when they offered that!

[@TheRetroRecall]

It definitely allowed you to customize the machine to the end user. Today everything is quite bland.

[@BilisNegra]

15:45 From what I can tell from a quick glance at some Dell forum thread, you can upgrade this model to a T7XXX Core2Duo series CPU. The highest model in that series is the T7800, so, as usual, the best option is the model immediately below that, the T7700, so that you will be able to buy one for very cheap (about 5 bucks on AliExpress; the superior model would be 3 times as much for almost the same performance). On the other hand, the Wikipedia article (yes, weirdly enough this model has a dedicated Wikipedia article!) lists all the CPUs this laptop came with, and a couple of models from the T8XXX and T9XXX series are mentioned, although who knows how reliable that info may be.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. In some cases I've been able to update systems passed their recommended specs without an issue. If would be interesting to see what the limit would be and how usable it would be afterwards.

[@joshwalker4834]

A great Friday afternoon watch! Amazing content as always, these are beautiful systems!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you! Early release for the long weekend!

[@rmcdudmk212]

Free is always the best price. 👍 Glad you were able to save these cool laptops. 😁

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!!

[@colt5189]

Whenever I buy a used laptop, I always replace the CMOS battery while it's apart to be cleaned. I leave it out for several days just to really help remove any charge in the system so the motherboard does a full reset just in case any viruses or something got into the BIOS. And I always flash the bios to the latest version.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I tend to do the same for the CMOS Battery however I have mixed opinions on the BIOS flashing. I have had issues where. The latest BIOS causes me more grief than good.

[@colt5189]

@@TheRetroRecall Hmm, I've never had a problem flashing the BIOS. On a newer laptop I bought, I was reading there was a big vulnerability that was patched in a newer BIOS that I'd want to flash when I get it put back together and running.

[@PiercedJedi]

love seeing laptops with socketed CPU for easy replacement/upgrade

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I could have sworn that Dell was going to be an XPS before it was revealed to be an Inspiron. It is almost identical in style, port selection, and internal layout to the XPS and Studio XPS laptops of the era.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ahhh you are bringing back some deep memories. I think you are right.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Me too, I recently picked up a couple of Dell XPS M1330 laptops and the Inspiron 1525 here looks very similar from a distance.

[@autingo6583]

always nice to see old stuff that was handled with care. hint: the extra connector on the back is for a secondary u-shaped battery (pb993a) that could stay in place while being docked. this battery was also compatible with other hp machines like the tc4400 tablet pc convertible, even over several generations, and usually doubled the overall battery life. i had the 6715s at the time, the version with an amd turion x2. it was okay, but the intel version you have here was much better and the preferred option. better and more consistent performance, quieter operation. 6710 was intel. 6715 amd. and then there were s and b versions. s (mine) was the budget option, b the more professional stuff: more usb ports, docking port, card reader, fingerprint reader, s-video. on these systems the cpu is not soldered on and easily upgradable. i would say go for it and give it a decent dual core cpu. i'm quite surprised, this is a higher range model of the line, but the cpu on this is an absolute joke.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this breakdown and recommendation, thank you!!

[@richchester187]

my brother gave me that hp laptop also without the bluetooth. I got 1 on ebay for next to nothing. I also got a dock and that version of the dock doesn't use those hidden connectors. I can only presume they are for power maybe an external battery pack. Larger battery packs, I never seen 1 go out the back they normally go under in my experience

[@TheRetroRecall]

I think you are right based on the feedback I'm getting in the comments. Neat concept!

[@maxtornogood]

Hehe, the glossy Dell screen inadvertently gave you an on-screen appearance! 😝 . If you could get like a Core 2 Duo in that Dell you would at least get support to put a 64-bit OS on there. Not much support for 32-bit anymore so it would be a nice upgrade & give it a few more years. Did such an upgrade with an old Acer Aspire. Both laptops seem to be working pretty well.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha, not the first time that has happened. Yes, I'll be on the hunt for a Core2 Duo cpu for this system!

[@maxtornogood]

@@TheRetroRecall It was the Gateway All-in-One that did the first accidental face reveal! 😝

[@TheRetroRecall]

Not accidental :). I can see it.

[@DuneRunnerEnterprises]

Btw,the PSU's are most expensive part, except for a motherboard,and it's screen. Because,it can be easily re-sold.😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh for sure. Finding just the right one in this form factor makes it difficult.

[@SGTMacBC]

OEMs really screwed its customers over when they cheaped out and put in 5200 RPM hard drives. Not like a 7200 is much faster. But it is. Fun video. Glad both were in decent shape after all these years. I personally like restore to original OS.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I agree, the baseline should have always been 7200... But the majority of customers focused on the capacity, not performance.

[@colt5189]

Back many years ago. I had a laptop that was running an HDD and become almost unusable when Microsoft patched the Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities and caused a performance drop. Putting in an SSD really helped with performance, but still wasn't where it was before the patches.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I have the same Dell 1525 model with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 CPU running at 2.0GHz. However, it has 4MB onboard cache and 800MHz bus support which will give you much better performance than the T3400 with 1 MB cache. You can go faster but these CPUs are the "sweet spot" as you can pick them up online for about $5 US. Plus you can upgrade the RAM to DDR2 800MHz. I also have a HP Compaq 6710b that I have recently repaired and that has an Inter Core 2 Duo T8300 running at 2.4MHz with 3MB cache - another good "sweet spot" for a CPU that again can be picked up for about $5. It also supports an 800MHz bus speed. I run Gentoo Linux on both of them (on all of my PCs actually) and they make perfectly good daily driver machines - although, like you, I am a huge Thinkpad fan and collector.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok I think I need to look around for some the T series CPUs you have mentioned and try them out. And yes, ThinkPads will always have that place in my heart.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall For me personally, I choose L2-cache over raw speed because that's the best performance improvement, IMHO. So I am more likely to go with a T7200 (667 FSB Mhz) or T7300 (800 FSB Mhz) at 2GHz with 4MB L2-cache than a T8300 (800 MHz FSB) at 2.4GHz with 3MB L2 cache. But they are all about the same price of $5 so cheap enough to experiment with yourself. Just bear in mind that's from Chinese sellers which means a long delivery wait but I've never had an issue with the CPUs I have bought from them.

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

peace be upon you sir and wow you have amazing machine right there

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@pierreinthavong181]

Cool video so far!😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!!

[@asland408]

You can upgrade the CPU in the first computer. SSD will give it a modern speed feeling.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@liliwinnt6]

3:48 oh, that's a brush, i thought it is a spare detachable antenna from a wifi device lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

😂 Yup, a brush :)

[@liliwinnt6]

lol

[@colt5189]

One big issue I had will Dell laptops from that era were the hinges falling apart and/or cracking plastic at the hinges. Sometimes caused by the hinge screws coming loose allowing the plastic to crack. But the plastic would still crack at the hinges even if you threadlocked the hinge screws down, it would just take longer. I assume though that Dell eventually fixed this problem since they've started making cases out of aluminum and probably have better hinge designs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes I've experienced the same. Makes me respect IBM, Lenovo much more.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

There are some good videos on here of people doing hinge repairs - much of the time it's a case of packing epoxy resin around the hinge screws to put some strength back in. I recently bought a very cheap Lenovo G570 laptop (not a Thinkpad!) which had loose hinges and when I opened up the case, small bits of broken plastic fell out along with the metal screw holders. In the end, I just drilled through the bottom of the case and put nuts and bolts through, rather than trying to glue or resin it back together. Again, there's quite a few repair videos on here showing how to do that effectively.

[@colt5189]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 There isn't fixing it. Only thing you can do is replace it with a brand new piece. Though I guess you could buy a brand new piece and reinforce it maybe, but I don't think that will do anything as it's just a bad design and will just start cracking and fall apart. One thing I also did was I got a small wrench and loosened the hinge nut so it didn't take as much effort to close the lid, which is easier on the hinge. And I stopped closing the laptop unless I just had to. So it pretty much stayed open every day, which usually would then get me 2-3 years on a bottom and LCD back piece before it fell apart at the hinges. But it doesn't really matter anymore as recently I bought a newer HP laptop that is made of metal. So I won't have to worry about it anymore. Though on that old laptop, I did buy a bunch of brand new bottoms and LCD back pieces to have as spares a while back and rebuilt it with all new plastic pieces like a year ago and used Rufus to put Windows 11 on it just to keep as a spare backup laptop until I get a 2nd newer laptop that can properly run Windows 11.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@colt5189 Sure, if it's too far gone at the hinges then all you probably can do is replace everything - but I sometimes enjoy the challenge!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, I would say hinges would be one of my weaker points in my repair talents. It would be good to watch and try out the various methods.

[@tonyhughes1958able]

I would put an SSD in both Laptops max out the memory if you can and then Put Linux Mint 22 on the Dell Mate should 4run fine. I would put 32Bit MXLinux or antiX Linux which is Debian based on the HP. That Dell dual core laptop with Linux would make a great little homework PC for a middle school student.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I suppose. The nice thing is that these systems can still be used.

[@deadreaver666]

My folks got me Dell #1, or something close, for Xmas in like 05 - 06. I remember it being a real dog with the default OS. By that token, I VOTE FULL FACTORY RESTORE!. I believe mine was a Pentium D and it featured a Navy blue LCD outer cover. Im not surprised that thing is still in good nick, mine was a tank. I always thought the side profile was weird, as its angled. I also resurrected MANY of those HP units in my days as a break-fix. The later ones were better to work on, mostly tool-less. I THINK that hideaway connector is for a larger battery but i could be wrong.

[@TheRetroRecall]

You are correct re: the battery connector! As for the Dell, I had forgotten these came with different colors so that's cool. Yes - a full default installation with all of the bloat is a good time 😂

[@virgilwalker683]

the Intel 965 express chipset can play a lot of games. I mean nothing modern in 2024, but still can play Skyrim, X-Men origins, Need for Speed Most wanted (the 2nd), GTA IV, Call of Duty 4 (which you can still find servers to play on in 2024), and thousands of other titles as well. That machine would make a nice gaming rig.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ah, I didn't know that chipset could do that, I'll have to check that out. The GPU always seemed to be a huge limitation unless you ordered them configured with Dedicated hardware.

[@virgilwalker683]

@@TheRetroRecall that chipset can def play those games as long as if you have a windows 64 bit and push the max memory.

[@virgilwalker683]

@@TheRetroRecall you could still play Black Ops 1, and still play online multiplayer plutonium servers in 2024.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@virgilwalker683 You can do the same in Linux with WINE without any noticeable performance hit - plus the Linux you install will be far more secure than a dead Windows OS that hasn't been updated in years. WINE is an amazing application because it acts like an "instruction gateway" to the CPU, hence "WINE Is Not an Emulator", as the acronym is expanded. I don't use Windows (apart from old versions up to XP and MS-DOS) but I understand people running modern Windows can run WINE implementations that give better compatibility for running older software and games than what is built into Windows.

[@virgilwalker683]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 I have a machine with Linux installed with WINE. Plays some games and some won't run.

[@stevencamp6824]

Almost made the biggest mistake assembling a pc today, was a standoff where there should not have been one, board would not post and thought it fried but thankfully no. the board is a Gateway slot a AMD board, hard to find them now. The first time in 30 years I have EVER done that

[@TheRetroRecall]

You are very lucky, I've fried a board that way before.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

It happens to the best of us - I managed to fry the circuit board on an expensive aluminium Raspberry Pi case because it provided a barrel jack (not USB) for power and I mistakenly stuck in a 12V PSU rather than a 5V one.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oops.

[@EdgarGrefve]

another interesting video! and I´m watching this on a Thinkpad z61m from 2006 that I just got WIN 11 installed on and speaking on Western Digital my Thinkpad has got a Scorpio Black drive 7200 rpm

[@TheRetroRecall]

Niceeeee love spinning rust, the 7200 series AND all things ThinkPad!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

"that I just got WIN 11 installed on" You have my deepest sympathies. I am sorry for your loss of your personal data and privacy.

[@krispayne729]

Take that Dahl on HP to the max. Maybe try new operating system, then Brennan back to original. But I would upgrade the Ram replace the processor if you can and put SSD In them

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup, with proper adapters SSD is quite possible.

[@gentuxable]

12:25 Crestline is the codename for the 865 mobile chipsets.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhhh thank you! You learn something new everyday :)

[@evefavretto]

Since its a Dell, you might be able to find a lot of data about that specific laptop on Dell's support site by just typing the service tag. At least a service manual that may tell which WWAN card it uses.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. It would be neat to test it out although the tech may not be able to work on today's cellular network.

[@evefavretto]

​@@TheRetroRecallBeing from the Windows Vista era, it's certainly some 3G module. It's not going to work in the US. Still, it's nice that Dell has service manuals for a lot of stuff, even consumer models.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@MajenkoTechnologies]

On the HP laptop the connector under the sliding cover is a second battery connector to connect an extra battery pack to the computuer.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you, I don't think I've seen one before now.

[@ViewpointUnique]

15:58 Windows 7 32-bit limits RAM useage to 3.5gb. Using the 64-bit version would unlock the remaining RAM.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes yes, you are right - slipped my mind although I did mention anything above 4gb is 64bit. And I still think the 8mb of vram is shared.

[@vtbbbnk]

that hp compaq looks like the one i had in my childhood - thats an hp business line laptop from around 2006 with pentium 4 mobile and 512 mb ram plus 60 gb hard drive in stock config that i had - mine died with vague intel raid error that basically boils down to dead hard drive , also its got a smashed screen still have its carcass as a memento of those days , was a great machine for gaming btw - ran most stuff that released before 2007 on 30 fps

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! It seems they kept this form factor for a few configurations.

[@vtbbbnk]

so i managed to dig out the specific model i had and it was a HP Compaq NX6320 which is same chassis as the one in video but all black and slimmer bezels - was an awesome machine still got its original box with all the original accessories and laptop itself sitting in a shelf - obviously only as a memento- it's dead since 2010 , served a good 10 years before the hard drive died in it and screen got broken due to accidentally dropping it , now it still posts obviously but can't be used much when its got a diagonal crack across entire display and doesn't boot with a hp smart array failure error please replace hard disk message ( yeah nx line of laptops used some sort of raid controller for it's ide hard disk and not regular old ide - just weird hp things from that era) last time i booted that thing was 2015 or so

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yikes, that is a shame especially since you have all of the original packaging!!

[@MajenkoTechnologies]

You might be able to replace the CPU in the first laptop with a Core2 Duo. Dell made versions of this laptop with them, up to the T9500 (according to Wikipedia)

[@TheRetroRecall]

It's seems I'll be bale to based on the comment consensus. It would be neat to upgrade, update the memory and switch to an SSD. The install your favorite version of Linux - Ubuntu :)

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

A T9500 would be too expensive for such a laptop. You can pick up a T7300 or T8300 for about $5 used online, there's not a lot of point or cost benefit paying $20-$30+ for a "top of the range" CPU.

[@vivienm7]

I think a lot of Dell laptops in that era had socketed CPUs, or at least in theory, you could probably put a higher-clocked Merom C2D.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Now this is good news. I see a T series model, I wonder if I can change it out with I higher model.

[@vivienm7]

@@TheRetroRecall Specs say that laptop supports up to 800MHz FSB, Some stuff I googled suggests the board miiiiiiiiiight support Penryns too and you could go to the T9500.

[@TheRetroRecall]

🤔😯

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@vivienm7 The board *technically* supports Penryns, both PCs are essentially the same architecture with the same CPU socket. I have both machines at home, my HP one has a Penryn T8300. My Inspiron 1525 has a Merom T7300 and whilst a Penryn *should* work, the BIOS might say otherwise. It's important to do research.

[@miguelque9102]

Last year I saw a very similar HP laptop, but came with some low voltage Core 2 Duo and a weird ZIF hard drive. Expandability and performance wise I found it to be pretty lackluster.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Interesting. From what I am reading thia for factor came in a few configs.

[@williama29]

I have had a dell Inspiron 1525 before in 2008 it was a great laptop mine came with the bare basic configuration with a core 2 Duo processor and or the bare minimum of wifi and Ethernet and dial up modem in it with no Bluetooth and it had everything else

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!! It seems like a neat machine. I don't remember them much except for the changeable color panels.

[@williama29]

​@@TheRetroRecall mine came in black and silver and it lasted forever through to 2023 and the rubber got gummy and sticky and it the optical drive failed eventually but it was a good one

[@jdebultra]

I got a Fujitsu XP pen tablet / laptop if you want it. I'll ship it to you if you want it. People give me stuff all the time. It works 100%. I've never used Windows. It's beat up but works perfectly. Even had the pen. Would make for a unique video.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Send a note along to [e-mail] and we can chat there. Not sure if it would be feasible to shit depending on location.

[@energygameplay6513]

I own exacly same dell inspirion 1525 C2duo 5750 (upgraded to 6600 c2duo) 4gb ram 2x2 It had 250gb hdd hitachi i put ssd 120gb Itvwae ingood condition overall

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice and I bet that SSD upgrade made a big difference.

[@joshj88]

if the wwan is firmware locked to specific cards you may be out of luck.3g was shut down a long time ago and these laptops were made before LTE was a thing.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this info. I suppose that even if I did find something, it would be shirt lived as the networks continue to drop legacy hardware support.

[@jonathangrzonka1369]

14:07 NO DAMN WAY a few days ago i found the exact same dell inspiron 1525 you have right there i upgraded it to 4 gb ram and a 250 gb hdd the reason it got thrown out probably was because of an overheating problem i fixed otherwise it runs completely fine i put win7 on it and played return to castle wolfenstein

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!!! I Think this one definitely deserves some upgrades.

[@nushnume]

Both can get a cpu upgrade. The HP might be socket m478 and the Dell is either socket m478 or m479

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

They are both M478 and both support 800MHz bus speeds, so can take the same CPU. The "sweet spots" are either Core 2 Duo T7300 (2MHz, 4MB cache) or T8300 (2.4MHz, 3MB cache) which can be picked up on eBay for around $5 US.

[@TheRetroRecall]

From what I understand they can be upgraded for sure.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Lucky they are cheap enough to get. Fortunately I have a few and some contacts locally that stockpile parts. I'll go check and see what we can use to update these.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall I used to have a really great source for PC parts local to me here in the UK because he used to do hardware disposal for businesses - but he ended up moving out of area. I am still finding good deals online, you just need to know what to look for. A photo of a BIOS screen in a listing can immediately tell you if there's a bargain there or not.

[@chrismclaren113]

Have you checked if the battery is on recall or not

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'm not sure what you mean, as in a recall on the battery and if so what system?

[@harryrickenbach5890]

I have the same Dell Inspiron 1525 minus the webcam intel dual core CPU T2390 1.86 Ghz 3 gig ram and 256 gig SSD Bluetooth and dual band Wi-Fi running Win Vista ultimate

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!! I like that you still have it running :)

[@daol03]

Nice video i like old computers, but as i have been grewing older soon 40. I have had some old machines not so much laptops but servers SUN 420r, dec alpha ds10l,xp900 and so on. Now i only have a SUN blade 100 that i’m messing with sometimes. But the older i get the more useless they seems for me, what should i use this for? the OS is out of date Solaris in this case. And it’s to old to and slow to use as a desktop. Do you think like this sometimes as well?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Interesting perspective. I rotate through so much tech that I haven't given it much thought to be honest. I mean, the point of what I do as a retro tech hobbiest is to enjoy the tech as it was at that time - not always trying to find a role for it today.

[@christopolis1]

i think it'd be interesting to see if that fingerprint reader on that hp, could be used with windows hello on windows 10

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hmmm I'm not sure. The first step would be to get Windows 10 functional then test it out. What makes you think it wouldn't?

[@christopolis1]

@@TheRetroRecall i don't think it wouldn't, just curious to see for sure if it would. those specs should be more than enough to run windows 10 though

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok cool, I'll see what I can do.

[@caffeinatedhuman4035]

Hybrid system (1) I would be lazy... (2) Any machine 2004 and up you can boot from USB 2.0 (3) Which means you can run a Linux distro (4) You have to make sure it's as modern as you can get (5) But you can run a (WINE compatibility layer) (6) This will give you access to alot of applications for windows (7) Wine is not great with games (8) I would download virtual box and run tiny 7 (9) Keeping in mind once system got to dual core virtual machine ran decent (10) Then any game expirence is in a VHD up to 128mb video cards. (11) I would attempt also a steam client also on the Linux side (12) Running their gaming compatible layer. (13) Steam client was given up for old windows... (14) But it still work under modern Linux... (15) Also yes with a SSD up grade. (16) Short version Wine old windows apps/steam native in Linux/ and VHD windows games. 😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks, love the detail here!

[@awesomereview2358]

I have been collecting retro smartphones such as the blackberry key one why no Mac’s yet if I may ask

[@TheRetroRecall]

I have done a couple of Mac videos but to be hinest they have been harder to source here.

[@Tundreq]

20:56 that's to add a second battery to give you a few more hours extra.

[@TheRetroRecall]

At 21:56 is the memory. Are you referring to the second interface port below the docking station port?

[@Tundreq]

@@TheRetroRecall Yes, the port below the docking station port, I was a minute late. I made a correction to the timestamp

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! Thanks for letting me know!

[@neonfreak24]

i have the hp compaq 8510p and it still work with windows 10

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!! A lot of these old systems still have life in them.

[@WeatherMan2005]

i saved a laptop from the trash recently. a dell latitude 3300 with 8g ram and 256g nvme drive.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!! I love when people share what they've rescued. That nvme drive is a bonus.

[@NguyenHoang-pv2xd]

What about this 2 laptop install Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC ?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hmmmm I'm not sure if they will support Windows 11? Would definitely require a slight upgrade in terms of the HDD, cpu and possibly the ram... And for a sure a modified installation of Win 11 that removes the checks. Hmm.. I mean it should be possible.

[@marksmith9566]

If going legacy, keep Wi n 7 and maybe SSD. If upgrading, max out memory 1 TB ssd and win 10.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Windows 10 is a bloated and privacy-hating OS, it should be completely avoided by the general public. It will crawl on these machines unless you spend lots of time fighting against Windows by debloating it and reverting any changes Microsoft makes in the background every time it installs an update. You are much better off investing that time in learn some basic Linux use and installing that instead. Windows 10 goes out of support within the year and there is no way Windows 11 will run on those old machines - so you might as well "bite the bullet" now and start learning Linux.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Not 100% sure I would do Win 10, just new enough however IMO it's fun to either go back and 'retroize' them or go to a Linux distro not requiring a lot of resources to really bring them out

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall I've been around computers for several decades, both work and hobbies, and the era of the Commodore Amiga from around 1989-1993 was a wonderful period of hobbyist computing with public domain and shareware software, as well as BBSes and the start of the Internet through dial-up modems. In the 1990's, when it was beginning to look like Microsoft and Apple would totally close up the home computing ecosystem, along came Linux to turn it back into a "hobbyist thing" again. Since then we've had a glut of cheap new and used hardware to play around with and a huge amount of free software and emulation too. Me personally, I am having more fun now than I did in the Amiga days, it's a great time to be doing this stuff. And it utterly shocks me that I can pick up a used computer for less than a McDonald's meal for two people, or even just have stuff given to me for free!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha yes! I love reading your comments when you talk about your experiences.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hmmmm it would be cool to do a bloatware restore to see what it came with.

[@mwolf7780]

Intel crestline Graphics means Intel Crestline Graphics (GM965 Express Chipset)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!

[@EastAngliaUK]

I am looking for a laptop that will pay 4k movie files. I have a 4070 laptop but this ones over kill for that must have a 1080p screen to. but want some thing cheaper UK hear

[@TheRetroRecall]

Keep an eye out, there is quite a bit of older systems that will support it.

[@brandonconstant7226]

Modem and HDMI, don't see that too often.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha good point, never thought of that.

[@virgilwalker683]

Why did you tape over the information on the back panel of the machine? are you protecting previous owners? Product Keys?

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'll have to go back and look however I don't recall doing that in this video.

[@SinaFarhat]

Nice! I like the way you present and go through these old laptops.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I love this feedback, thank you!

[@joshj88]

maybe put Vista on both systems for nostalga

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes it's going to be a toss up between a retro / original restoration or do we max out the performance. Either way, it will be a fun journey!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I once got stung by a jellyfish in the sea. Me going back into the sea now to try and get stung by a jellyfish again is the same kind of "nostalgia" that going back to Windows Vista would be. "Erm, no thanks. I did it once, never again."

[@joshj88]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Vista SP2 isn’t that bad. It’s mostly the stupid centrino and underpowered iGPUs that sunk Vista. If everyone was running 9600s and 5200s or better it would have been much better but since when do PC makers like putting real GPUs in cheap systems?

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@joshj88 I take your point and your opinion on Vista is no less valid than my own negative one. But I don't believe any GUI (even in Linux) should require 3D acceleration to work properly. The "Windows Classic" GUI that was introduced in Windows XP and essentially improved upon the Windows 2000 is a great example of perfect GUI design, and that has been copied by XFCE in Linux. A simple, low-resource GUI that just gives you access to your applications and then stays out the way is good design. By the time Vista and Windows 7 came out, Microsoft had gone downhill in GUI design - I thought Aero in Windows was ugly and had too limited configuration options. I have a similar disdain for GNOME and KDE in Linux - I don't like seeing valuable CPU cycles wasted on eye candy.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah I love this analogy

[@LiamTabor-dj5hy]

i have a dell inspiron 9400 and a dell latitude d410 the dell latitude has a broken screen hinge and the 9400 has a loos screen hinge and a bad keybord. if you want to try and fix these then you can. i am a subscriber and i am a computer collector my self and i have a lot of computers working and not working. let me know if you are interested in fixing these 2 laptops.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey there! It would all depend on where you are located. Send a note to [e-mail] and we can chat :)

[@adonfjv]

Do you update bios of all pc you get?

[@TheRetroRecall]

No, I do not. I will if I see an advantage to do so. Not all BIOS updates are beneficial.

[@waize]

both of these can handle up to Core2Duo cpu at 2ghz.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhhh now this makes it quite interesting.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

They can go beyond 2GHz. There are a lot of Core 2 Duo CPUs and, in simple terms, a laptop of this age with a socketed CPU can either take what I call "even" or "odd" number CPUs, depending on whether or not they have a supported bus speed of 667MHz or 800MHz. For example, in the "Merom" CPU class, the best CPUs with the highest cache of 4MB are the T7XXX series. The "even" numbers (T72XX, T74XX, T76XX, etc.) support 667MHz and the "odd" numbers (T7200, T7400, T7600, etc) support 800MHz. Both of these laptops have 800MHz buses so can technically take "odd" number CPUs. I have both laptops today and the my Dell one has a T7300 CPU running at 2GHz but the HP machine has a T8300 CPU ("Penryn" not "Merom") running at 2.4 GHz. You also need to be careful with CPU upgrades because there may be limitations in the BIOS imposed by the manufacturer anyway. Plus if you're running Linux, you'll see little benefit in installing the fastest CPUs which get expensive very quickly anyway. A T7300 (2.0 GHz, 4MB cache) or T8300 (2.4 GHz, 3MB cache) can be picked up used for about $5 but a 2.6 GHz T7800 might cost you $25 or $30, likewise the faster Penryn CPUs - I don't think the performance benefit you get is worth that additional cost for Linux machines.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this added info, it's appreciated and helpful.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall It's a shame because I posted a few other additional and helpful comments that YT's "wonderful" algorithm has decided to shadow ban. It seems to happen when I mention a certain online auction site, an online vendor named after a big South American river, or if I use the word that rhymes with "backer" that is the name of someone who breaks into computers.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Interesting. There's a section I can go in to review comments held but I don't see anything for you. Ohhh good ol KZbin lol

[@bobamu]

I'd be strong with the urge to put 8gb ram in those laptops. It's not economically sensible lol.

[@vtbbbnk]

hp doesn't support more than 1 gigabyte of ram - bios limitations on it to lock it down to 32 bit only- had a similar HP Compaq NX6320 and it's not capable of more than 1 gigabytes of ram

[@TheRetroRecall]

The HP has 3gb of functional memory.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall Both laptops are fully 64-bit, they support 64-bit CPUs and a full 4GB RAM, possibly 8GB if the BIOS allows it. Both the current CPUs in the laptops are 64-bit but they have less cache which is a big performance hit - this is why I've recommended spending about $5 US on T7300 (2 GHz, 4MB cache) or T8300 (2.4 GHz, 3MB cache) CPUs for about $5 US online because they will make a big difference. There's not a lot of point putting much money into laptops of this age - the best upgrades are "the $5 CPU", a cheap SSD for around $15 and upgrading them to 4GB of 800MHz RAM (assuming you've done the CPU upgrade to an 800 MHz bus-supporting CPU like the ones I said above) which you should be able to do for $5-$10. If you're moving towards installing Debian Linux on these types of machines then 4GB RAM is fine. Two 4GB DDR2 SODIMM modules to get the RAM to 8GB are going to cost you somewhere between $30-$50 each from a Chinese seller and, with Linux, you're not going to see a huge improvement in performance between 4GB and 8GB RAM.

[@bobamu]

@@TheRetroRecall HP causing sadness yet again

[@bobamu]

@@vtbbbnk That's quite poo of HP to do that. But quite typical.

[@MattMcCullough]

Install Linux

[@TheRetroRecall]

Flavor?

[@2xtreem4u]

@@TheRetroRecall Debian 12

[@VintageLizard486]

Debian 12 is nice

[@2xtreem4u]

@@VintageLizard486 it also comes in a 32 bit version