Just bought a laptop...Anything I should know ??

hi guys,
I just bought a used thinkpad a31 laptop.
Got it on ebay for $300

Pentium 1.6
20 gig
256 meg (definately want to upgrade to at least 512)
wireless capable

Basically, all I need to do my webmaster work on the road. I'm pretty satisfied with it, screen has a few dead spots, cdrom only seems to work in one of the side ports, but so far i'm pleased.

Since this is my first laptop, do you guys have any tips/tricks or software i should know about?

thanks

 

reformat it and start with a clean install.

 

Since you say you are on the road, you may want to think about getting some GPS tracking software/hardware for it, just in case it ever gets stolen. Also, use strong authentication so in case it gets stolen or some peeping tom tries to access your computer. May even want to think about setting up a BIOS password, so it won't even boot without a passcode.

Other, security all I can think of is trying to spill-proof the hardware as well as drop-proofing it!

Hope this helps!

 

I like this idea as well as buying an external USB drive to clone your HD - use for b/u's

the memory would be the 1st thing. it must be slower than sin with only 256. shoot for higher than 512 even if your budget allows.

 

i have 1.73 centrino (Not pentium)

2gb ram.. I still think it's slow

 

Yes, I'll send you my mailing address momentarily.

 

Those specs sound fine for work purposes. You would want to upgrade to at least 512Mb RAM as you suggested though.

 

For sending the laptop to you? That would be a very nice donation to your cause. Why didn't I think of that?

 

Yes, he needs my address.

 

How about he sends it to me and we split it 50/50 when I sell it on Ebay? I should get at least $350 for it!!

 

Ok, but I want it first so I can take out all the good stuff, I'll then send it to you and you can have your way with the shell.

 

Ahhhh! Gotta love those laptop shells. They make very nice looking artificial reefs you know!

 

artificial reefs!! LMAO! Yeah like maybe after I stomp on it a bit and twist and turn it and spray it different colors! I am going to go dream about this now. My sweet little Toshiba Satellite here is getting jealous!

 

Can you imagine how many little fishies would appreciate some more hidy holes from this? I think Dell could become the new BP. Dell "The quiet achiever".

 

a bios-password would only keep the stuff safe from my parents! use google, there are a lot of ways to bypass bois passwords in less than 10 mins!
some notebooks support a harddisk password, but this password is stored by the harddisk itself - so if you take the harddisk out and stick it into another notebook it will still ask for the password.
some other guy i know had a programm to encrypt a part of a filesystem with some pgp-like tool ("pgp disk"?). basicly you can define a filesize there and mount this file as another drive if you know the password. i had the demo version and it was limited to a few GB afaik.
maybe the EFS-format in windows2000 is another option for you.

 

Definitely invest in a quality padded laptop sleeve/bag to protect it while you are traveling (or even at home).

 

time for a core duo

how fast is the hard drive. I have a 5400rpm and it drags hard...worse is that I only have 512MB ram

I'm wondering if I step to the 7200 it wouldn't chunk as much as this one does.

 

is there any software out there that suports dual core yet?
reminds me of a thread in some gamer forum. someone bought a dual processor board for servers to play some 3d shooter on it and he complained that it wasnt even close to 2x speed compared to a single prozessor board.

 

You Can Remove The Dead Spots Easily
PM Me How You Can