June 25th, 2011 Paul Wallbank Posted in Hardware | No Comments »
I was given a friend’s computer after she died. I think the hard drive is over 10 years old. It’s a Compaq Presario Colorreal with Windows XP. I had a lot of trouble with very slow functioning and then trouble getting connection. TPG weren’t able to solve the problem so I just cancelled them after months of back & forwards with them. I haven’t used it since.
I was thinking of getting a new hard drive and keeping the other parts of the system. That is, a Compaq FP7317 screen, Dlink ADSL router DSL-502T, and HP psc 2310 all-in-one printer, scanner and copier.
A friend has suggested i could get a re-conditioned hard drive for about $200 that would be ok. he got one with a 12 months warranty and was very happy with it.
I’m wondering whether to do this or get a new hard drive, or just get a wireless laptop.
I dont have a lot of computer skills or knowledge. I mainly want it for emails, letter writing, internet research and maybe EBay and photo storage. It would be handy to take it away on trips, etc.
I find the magazines so technical it’s hard to understand what may be best.
Can you give me any advice ??
You’re looking at spending at least $200 for a new hard drive for this computer that, given its age, could have any component fail at any time.
On top of this, replacing the hard drive means reinstalling Windows and all the associated software, so there’s at least several hours work in getting the computer running after replacing the hard drive.
Given you can buy a good modern and new notebook computer for under $500 running the latest operating system and which will be compatible with new equipment it’s really not worthwhile refurbishing the old computer.
It’s best to let this machine go.
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