Hi guys,
My sister just gave me her old laptop. Here are the specs:
Acer Travelmate 4000
Centrino "Dothan" 1.5ghz w/ 2mb cache
512mb DDR memory
Intel integrated graphics
40gb hard drive (15-25mb/sec read speed, 18ms access time)
4400mAh battery
15" 1280x800 display
Integrated bluetooth and firewire
I need to replace the battery. I got software that says it's "75% worn out". Ubuntu also warned me that my battery is "damaged" (how it knows this I have no idea).
A new battery will cost me around $80CDN, taxes in and shipped ($65US or so).
I was considering maybe upgrading to a 120gb 5400rpm hard drive for $54CDN ($45US or so).
Also, to add 1gb of ram is around $50CDN ($38US or so).
Should I spend that $163CDN, or invest that into a netbook or something? Should I just get the battery?
The laptop is nice and does what I need it to do (word processing, creating presentations, surfing the web, and light gaming). It currently lasts around 2 hours on a battery charge if I underclock and undervolt the processor, and use the laptop frugally with very agressive power savings. I figure I would easily get 5 hours of battery life with a new battery.
Right now I don't get enough battery life out of this thing for it to be useful for me. I need it to at least last through a 3 hour lecture.
My sister just gave me her old laptop. Here are the specs:
Acer Travelmate 4000
Centrino "Dothan" 1.5ghz w/ 2mb cache
512mb DDR memory
Intel integrated graphics
40gb hard drive (15-25mb/sec read speed, 18ms access time)
4400mAh battery
15" 1280x800 display
Integrated bluetooth and firewire
I need to replace the battery. I got software that says it's "75% worn out". Ubuntu also warned me that my battery is "damaged" (how it knows this I have no idea).
A new battery will cost me around $80CDN, taxes in and shipped ($65US or so).
I was considering maybe upgrading to a 120gb 5400rpm hard drive for $54CDN ($45US or so).
Also, to add 1gb of ram is around $50CDN ($38US or so).
Should I spend that $163CDN, or invest that into a netbook or something? Should I just get the battery?
The laptop is nice and does what I need it to do (word processing, creating presentations, surfing the web, and light gaming). It currently lasts around 2 hours on a battery charge if I underclock and undervolt the processor, and use the laptop frugally with very agressive power savings. I figure I would easily get 5 hours of battery life with a new battery.
Right now I don't get enough battery life out of this thing for it to be useful for me. I need it to at least last through a 3 hour lecture.