Refresh an ageing laptop

wakandem

you certainly won't need 3gig ram in there for xp or linux. just get a gig stick or at least a 512mb one to add to make it at least 768 mb . you can then increase the graphics memory up to 64mb through the bios or 128mb if possible.
as for the hdd, laptop drives have gone up in price recently ! wouldn't worry about the dvd drive, as apple say, use the wifi network to acsess another pc's cd drive

albertross_2

You are planning on giving a laptop away to a complete stranger on freecycle, and want to upgrade it first at your own expense...? That's just throwing money down the drain. Stick it on ebay without the hard disk, it's still worth a few quid.

thuf

sent you a message mate

fwor

No! Give it to me, give it to me!

(just kidding)

Seriously - what Albertross says. The Freecycler is probably just going to Ebay or carboot it, despite their sob story about a disabled son (or whatever). You're effectively just throwing 50 quid or more in their direction.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find a charity (perhaps one working in Africa?) that would be very grateful for it.

BTW, I'm an enthusiastic Freecycler myself, so I'm not having a go at the movement - it's just that it does tend to attract the carbooters...