[SOLVED] Is it worth upgrading windows on my old dell M70? Can it be done for free?

[Islandstyle54]

Have an old dell laptop, Precision M70
Pentium M 760, 2. GHz, 2 MB DDR2 SDRAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX Go1400 256 MB Open GL Graphics
100 GB Hard drive,
Docking station, extra 80 GB hard drive, and Optical drive

 

[USAFRet]

What OS is on it now?
What do you use it for?

 

[Islandstyle54]

What OS is on it now?
What do you use it for?

It has XP pro , hoping to use it for basic home internet usage, programs like excel, word, but it is the computer number 5 in our house! My oldest, it was sweet in 2006!
It would be nice if my kids could use it for zoom school call, not sure if it will handle it. Just fired up for the first time in a while last night.

 

[USAFRet]

It has XP pro , hoping to use it for basic home internet usage, programs like excel, word, but it is the computer number 5 in our house! My oldest, it was sweet in 2006!
It would be nice if my kids could use it for zoom school call, not sure if it will handle it. Just fired up for the first time in a while last night.

There is no free upgrade from XP to Win 10.
Anything Win 7 or later will run like a dog on that system.
Unlikely there are actual drivers for the hardware...touchpad and video in particular.
Using that system for anything in 2021 will be like watching paint dry. Software needs has far outstripped its capabilities.

Its had a 15 year run. Put it out to pasture.

 

[punkncat]

It will not upgrade to 10. That processor lacks the prefetch tech that it needs to run that. It will run 7, haven't tried 8 on one.

 

[Islandstyle54]

There is no free upgrade from XP to Win 10.
Anything Win 7 or later will run like a dog on that system.
Unlikely there are actual drivers for the hardware...touchpad and video in particular.
Using that system for anything in 2021 will be like watching paint dry. Software needs has far outstripped its capabilities.

Its had a 15 year run. Put it out to pasture.

Yes, I guess I'll make sure i've saved anything I want to keep (again) and retire it!
Watched a video on repurposing old laptops for funky projects.

Could the hard drive be used as an external drive with a SATA IDE reader? Could use like a thumb drive?

 

[Islandstyle54]

It will not upgrade to 10. That processor lacks the prefetch tech that it needs to run that. It will run 7, haven't tried 8 on one.

Maybe its time to move on...

 

[USAFRet]

Could the hard drive be used as an external drive with a SATA IDE reader? Could use like a thumb drive?

In theory, yes.
There are applicable USB IDE+SATA docking stations. A useful thing if you're going to use it for other drives as well.
But an appropriate adapter cable or dock would cost more than a 128GB flash drive.

And it IS a 15 year old drive. I wouldn't put too much stock in it lasting much longer.

 

[punkncat]

Maybe its time to move on...

It was time to move on a decade ago. The only 'real' use for a legacy machine like this is typically in an industrial or commercial environment where it talks to or used programs to equipment that cannot be dealt with other ways.

One of the fun things I do with equipment this old is to disassemble the drive(s) for the magnets and then use the case and components as target practice or bashing with a bat. Even "donating" this would be to hang an albatross on someone.

 

[ClapTrapper]

NO NO NONO!!

As soon as you said you go on the Internet, I said NO!
MS stopped support in 2014. Don't go on the Internet unprotected. I could make a crude anology right now,but I am way to classy of a guy to do that.


I know what sub I'm in, but have you every considered using VirtualBox if you must run WinXP,or using a Linux variant that will run fine on your ancient computer AND be safe for the Internet? (I like LinuxLite for my old hardware)

 

[mdd1963]

Find a leaner/less flashy, resource hogging Linux distro for surfing....

Mint XFCE, Lubuntu, Xubuntu

 

[punkncat]

^ Agreed. Lubuntu is very slick.