Upgrading an old laptop. Worth it?

steveland?

I have a Dell Latitude CPx J650T. It has 64MB RAM (512MB max), PIII 650MHz, 8MB Video memory, upgraded HDD from 10GB to 20GB.

I've agreed to the sale of a 256MB module from someone on boards, I'm just wondering will this make much of a difference.

It's running Windows XP (originally 2K) and it's slow as hell. I'm hoping the upgrade of RAM will make it any faster?

The battery's fairly much dead (run it from mains mostly) but just wondering is it worth putting some money into upgrading it or saving up for a bit to buy a new one...

I'll be setting up dual-booting with XP and Ubuntu one of these days (read when I'm not busy as hell). Will these specs be enough for Ubuntu Linux?

I don't play games at all so graphics aren't a worry for me, I'll mainly be using this for web browsing, viewing PDF files for college, using MSN Messenger, IRC and some C, C++, Java, PHP programming for college (what I'll be using Linux for mainly)

Is it worth going to the trouble of upgrading it? I'll still be buying the RAM (in case the seller is reading this ) but I just want to know if the laptop is a lost cause

Also, is there a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo I can get that's compatible with the CPx?

Endurance Man

Well basically all you can upgrade on the system is the ram, and while you will probably see a slight improvement you really are just throwing money away . You may just be better off keeping the 256 in there and battle away until you can afford a new one. To find a battery for something that old is gonna be hard and very expensive.

Capt'n Midnight

With the 256 it will run ubuntu , but not as fast as you may like.
If you have the bandwidth you can try the live CD version, the HD install will be much faster.

djmarkus

With 64 mb of ram XP will be unuseable, with 256 it will run fine, and a p3 650 is enough for XP, you might want to turn off themes but a p3 650 with 256 ram should be fine.

Also check ebay for a new battery, someone from Hong Kong can probably fit you out with a brand new one for about 50 bucks

Stephen

I wouldn't bother spending money on it besides the ram module you've already agreed to. Save up for something faster. We still have a couple of those old things kicking around in work, and they're bloody awful. Running XP on them is crazy.

djmarkus

I have to disagree, p3 650 with 256mb ram is perfectly acceptible for XP, XP depends more on ram than anything else. you wont be playing games or video editing but for internet browsing and all that was mentioned in the OP it would be perfectly usable, and saving 500 euro on a new laptop,

Snowbat

Both Ubuntu and XP will run a lot better in 256MB RAM. Another area you should consider is the hard drive. Many older laptops shipped with a 4500 RPM 2.5" hard drive and these are dog slow. Consider replacing it with a 7200 RPM 2.5" drive.