Thread: Old Laptop

Hey T-I,



I got an old laptop off a friend for free, I formatted it and installed Windows SP3, and it runs surprisingly fast. It's an Acer 370 TravelMate, 250MB RAM, 1.40 GHz Processor etc.
It can't really play games except flash and what not, but it's hooked up to the internet, so any ideas what I might be able to use it for?

I use a laptop almost like yours to seed like 600 torrents for bonus points on different trackers.

You can connect the laptop with your stereo and playback your favourite music at a very good quality.

Originally Posted by yalanyali

Hmm, hire a spambot to spam the irc with Canadian jokes.

jalanyali-I am sending you a warning PM about spamming the forum and also posting in places where you shouldn't be.Please take on board the advice im giving you,If you do not then infractions will be sent

Originally Posted by bridskid

jalanyali-I am sending you a warning PM about spamming the forum and also posting in places where you shouldn't be.Please take on board the advice im giving you,If you do not then infractions will be sent

I don't get it man? This is not a spam. Can't we just give unserious answers? I was just joking? And I still think that was a good joke.. Bah. We should also have fun-based posts here in my opinion. This guy is asking for opinions, and also his need is not high-priority so we can have fun here. Besides he gets opinions about his answer, we must let him laugh for a sec with an unserious comment. That's just me :)

Originally Posted by yalanyali

I don't get it man? This is not a spam. Can't we just give unserious answers? I was just joking? And I still think that was a good joke.. Bah. We should also have fun-based posts here in my opinion. This guy is asking for opinions, and also his need is not high-priority so we can have fun here. Besides he gets opinions about his answer, we must let him laugh for a sec with an unserious comment. That's just me :)

It is considered spam because your reply didn't contribute anything to the topic, you just made a joke.

Anyway, back on topic.

Maybe set it up as a media server? You can use it to stream content to your TV or stereo (if you have any hardware capable of it, like a game console).

You can also use it as a NAS.

Also, you might want to read this for ideas.

8 Practical Uses for Your Old Laptop | Maximum PC

I don't think its powerful enough to do full HD transcoding as a media server, but should handle SD just fine. For NAS / seedbox / sd media server all should work fine.

However, i am not sure if laptops can handle running 24/7 as some kind of server, they do get hot pretty fast. I would definitely invest in one of those laptop cooling platforms (with 2 - 3 fans) and keep it running in cool temp conditions.
If you can trade it in with an atom based mini-pc and a small 15" monitor, you might be better off.

Also, remove the battery if you will run it for extended periods of time, otherwise overcharging can cause problems.

You could always do an upgrade of the o/s to windows 7 and add microsoft office 2010 to it and possibly use it for a good back up office computer. I think all you would have to do is upgrade the ram to about 1 gig. Once that is done it would make a great second computer for backups, and if you dont like Windows 7 there is always other o/s like Linux for example. Just be sure to research the hardware needs before any upgrade or change over of your o/s.

If you're tech savvy and have multiple workstations in your house then you could turn it into a ghetto media server. Power consumption would be almost negligible so you can easily keep it running 24/7. Assuming it has USB 2.0, just attach a big external hard disk to it and use it to serve media files to all the nodes in your house.

Just remember to keep it well-ventilated though so it doesn't overheat.