My laptops history

i was bored so i thought i would make a thread about my laptop.

i got it for free in june last year in a small pile of old laptops. it worked but the keyboard was missing keys, it had no hdd, and the power button thing was cracked in half. i got a new keyboard and power button cover on ebay and my dad got the hdd from the guy who had it before me. i formatted the hdd and put windows xp on it. it worked fine for a while but it started to have small but annoying problems. some of them are: i would have to smack the keyboard to make it turn on, the wifi switch broke off, and some other ones. the cpu base was cracked and once it stopped working but i fixed it by forcing the cpu lock switch more than it was supposed to go. but a while later it broke and didnt recognize the cpu anymore. i saved up 70 bucks and bought a refurbished motherboard on ebay. this one had the nvidia gpu. (the first one had intel graphics) the problem with this one was that the nvidia gpu failed a lot. most of the time it takes about a year to fail but since i played cod and overclocked it (it was also underclocked when not gaming) it only lasted a few months. i was able to fix it with a lighter though. i did this every few weeks when artifacts started showing. but one time after i tried this fix the screen was black and it never turned on again. also, while trying to fix it i accidentally cracked the bottom of my 2ghz core 2 duo. that was like 4-5 months ago. a few weeks ago i went to a computer store and they had a d630 that someone spilled red wine on. i got it for 20 bucks. most of the parts were gone except for the ones with wine on. i took it apart and i could only find 2 spots with wine on them so i cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and put it back together. it worked for 5 minutes but then it was just dead. i couldnt get ANY response out of it. also, before after the second motherboard broke i somehow broke off the corner of the base, so i cleaned all of the other parts on that laptop i got. so, i had a keyboard with all the keys, a cdrw/dvd drive, a 512 mb stick of RAM, a screen, a base, and a palmrest/touchpad. yesterday i ordered a new motherboard on ebay for 70 dollars and this one has the intel gpu so hopefully this one will last for more that a few months.

also, when i get it i will probably use some of the parts from that $20 laptop (like the keyboard and the screen) because theyre in better condition. also, it had a 1.8 ghz core 2 duo which ill probably use. i dont really care that its slightly slower since the 2ghz one was underclocked to 1.2 ghz to save battery.

Cool story, bro. Never had a single problem with my D630's. All Nvidia GPU's. Been working for 4 years and still running like new playing Battlefield and Trackmania and some Crysis Warhead.

Just buy a $300 laptop. You'll save a lot of hassle on your next laptop. (do you own another computer/a Mac?)

Sounds similar to the problems I am always having with my past and present PC. Can't wait to buy a Mac this summer!!

Wow, that sucks that you've had all those problems with your laptop. For how much you have spent on it so far, and how much you will for future repairs, you could build a desktop for that total price. Think about it, desktops have better upgrade-ability, better performance (as most laptop processors and graphics cards are no where near the desktop equivalent in performance), and much more. I would save up a few hundred dollars (if you want something more than a budge computer and plan to game a lot, $600+) and build your own desktop. On another note, it's never a good idea to overclock a laptop as they already output a lot of heat and would not be able to compensate for the extra heat with out some sort of extra cooling.

Just save up and buy a quality laptop/desktop

This is the reasons Pcs cost as much as Macs. Seriously!! You've spent SO much probably in maintaining it!

If you build a quality desktop, know how to take care of and maintain it properly, you should have no problem. On the other hand if you like to overclock and things like that, you're bound to either encounter problems if you mess up or invest in more cooling parts.

Not necessarily.

If you buy a crap PC and keep trying to keep it running by buying new parts and stuff then sure but if you're smart about it a PC won't end up like that.

Also a PC's can blow Mac's in specs big time though I will say that Mac's run great and don't typically have issues PC's have.

I still prefer PC though.

since this motherboard i ordered has intel graphics it should last a lot longer than the nvidia one. also, ive spent like $140 in maintaining it. not really enough to build a desktop or buy a new laptop. my desktop may be a bit outdated but it still works fine.

i used to have a mac when i was 9 (powerbook g3 i think it was) and it would freeze a lot, i once had to reinstall the OS, i once had to replace the power jack, and one day the motherboard just failed when i was using it and never turned on again.

also, remember that it was FREE. the first motherboard had the intel gpu but the cpu base was cracked which was not my fault. it just got worse over time.

youve said that before and i still have no idea how youve made them last that long without problems. do you play those games often?

i think i may have sped up the failing process by overclocking it a little and playing games on it every day. but, i did add copper shims and silver arctic 5 thermal paste to reduce the heat so the gpu never went above 160-170. (gpus can usually handle temperatures of about 200f. my desktop gpu once went to 250 when i didnt put the heatsink on right)