Lappie upgrade... scratch that. makeover!

[AmEv]

I have a Compaq 1200 laptop that I thought it would be awesome to upgrade.
266MHz k6, possibly OCed to 300. 32MB RAM. 4GB HDD. XP Pro.

Taking baord and screen into ModCron, attempting at a custom display (and possibly controller).

Definitely pico.



Unfortunately, I'm broke, and have no pix.

[BuzzKillington]

If you're broke I'd definitely avoid upgrading that machine. For the amount of money you'll pay for a custom display you can purchase a worthy P4 for under around 100 bucks.

[AmEv]

Yeah. It's more of a boasting, i-modded-a-lappie kind of thing.

Ah well. I only have paid around $40 for ModCron. Most of the stuff was free, basically headed for the bin.

[Konrad]

There's a lot of sites dedicated to Asus Eee mods, which can apply to any laptop-type machine and are worth looking into.

Some of the better ideas -

- Installing internal WiFi, GPS, Webcam, and other functions that may not be integrated. Basically buy a tiny USB hub (small enough to fit inside the machine after the plastics are removed), permanently "plug" this hub into one of the integrated USB ports (cut & rewire the traces so the hub is inline, then route one of the hub output ports back to this connector; tap into 5V mobo power somewhere else if needed), then "plug" all the other USB accessories (also sans casings) into this hub and squeeze them into wherever the hell they'll fit. PCB butchering skills can help with the tighter fits. Little DIP switches (installed under the RAM flap or somewhere) can be used to on/off add-on hardware modules as desired.

- Keyboard backlighting, through LEDs or EL-wire; tapped into 5V. A popular alternative is affixing a bright LED (or two) to shine down from the lid.

- Touchscreen grid overlay; research your display part carefully, driver support may be poor (or nonexistent) unless you can write your own.

- Battery upgrade; companies can "refurb" lithiums (drain/refill the electrolyte or replace the cells, replace anode/cathode, replace power regulator chips, repair plastics, etc), your battery can actually exceed the OEM ratings if it's older (ie, can benefit from later battery tech advancements).

- Cooling upgrade; more options than I can list, usually involving better fans, blocks, and ducting methods. Very model specific.

- Cosmetic upgrades; different plastics or materials can be used, custom keycaps, surfacing (etching, screenprinting, lasering, decals, painting, whatever) ... brassy steampunk makeovers seem to be the most popular trend.


But I'll second Buzz's statement - this particular model isn't really worth investing into, unless it's "just because you can" and want the practice. It might serve as a useful field programmer device, if refitted with some (properly powered) serial ports; I expect the CPU/RAM are already maxed up for the mobo, it might not even use modern 2.5" lapdrives. You can look at subsequent models in this generation, it's possible that "newer" mobo/CPU boards are available for this chassis.

[AmEv]

HP's support page for Presario 1235

Good ideas, thanks.
Has standard 3.5 HDD and bracket. Standard 5.25 slimline drive and bracket.

Floppy's toast. Don't really need it anyways.........

Battery. Only one hour, three hours to charge. SUCKS...!



Well, I've got another lappie that's much nicer. 12xl300. Triple FSB (66/100/133, which I love ) With a BIOS update, I might be able to stick in a .5gb ram stick. Upgrading it with WiFi built in, has the HP mPCI slot, I've got a HP mPCI card, with cables to boot. CD-RW/DVD-ROM.
As always,