Laptop Restore

Giving new life to something old is something I always enjoy doing. Let’s face it people tend to buy new computers just because their current computer is a few years old. Please also buy new computers whenever there is a new operating system comes along instead of upgrading their current system. In business, this makes sense most of the time. But for the normal everyday home user, you don’t need a new computer as often as you think you might? To me, it is fun to give new life to a discarded computer. In this post, I want to share with you a few basic steps to giving new life to an older laptop.

I will list the steps I normally use here so that you can also try to either restore an older laptop or a desktop. You can also use this list to upgrade your current computer and get more years out of your current machine.

  1. Plug the laptop in and turn it on. The first step is to know what you are getting yourself into. As long as the laptop will power up then you are in business.
  2. Turn off the laptop and unplug it. Remove the battery and remove the bottom of the laptop. Take your time when popping off the buttom not to lose any of the screws.
  3. Pick up a can of compressed air and gently blow any dust out of the inside of the laptop.
  4. Pull the RAM memory out of the slots. There are normally only two little clips holding it into the slots. Use the air and blow out the connectors. Reset the RAM back into the slots.
  5. Pull the hard drive and also blow out the connector. I would suggest getting a new Solid State Drive. I pick up Kingston SSD drive for about $30.00. Order new drive here. Installing the new drive is easy. Just place the new drive into the bracket you just removed and reinsert it back into the laptop.
  6. Put the laptop back together. Get a soft cloth and spray a little dusting spray onto the cloth and gently wipe down the laptop.
  7. In whatever operating system onto the laptop that you wish. I know many of you are not computer people but if you do not have a Windows key then I would suggest installing LInux. I personally use Linux Mint and PopOS! I will do a write up on how to make a USB install flash drive. There are also a million YouTube videos to help you along.
  8. Once the operating system is installed you will have a laptop that you can use for years to come for a fraction of what a new laptop would have cost you.

Some extra thoughts for you. You can find older laptops in second-hand stores as well as on eBay. Just be careful when buying off of eBay there is a lot of junk out there. I have years of working on computers and I have been burnt to try to get a really great deal. Remember if it looks too good to be true then most likely it is. If buying off of eBay plan on spending $100.00 for the laptop this will give you a good base to begin building.

Here are a few pictures of my recent rebuild upgrade of an older laptop.

Old hard drive removed and getting ready to install a Solid State Drive.
Old laptop rebuild. I had to use an external keyboard because the keyboard on the laptop needed to be replaced. This is one of those bad eBay deals I told you about.

By jokorn

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