Satellite 2430-S255 laptop overhaul?

Hello,

I have a laptop (Satellite 2430-S255) in the mail that i got for free with the following specs:
Pentium 4 2.4Ghz @ 533MHz
Geforce Go 420 32mb
512mb pc 2100 DDR
40GB hardrive (ATA-5)
Intel 845PE+ICH4

As you can buy a laptop at $400 i must not spend more than $300 or this overhaul would be just stupid so please advise.

The laptop does not have any built in wireless so i guess this will be my first upgrade.

I think the Intel 2915 minipci wireless adapter is the bang for the buck it cost less than $30.

The CPU would be a great upgrade as i saw a couple of 3.0-3.2Ghz for less than $70. The problem is when i look at the chipset 845PE specs on intel.com, it doesn't seem to support 1mb L2 cache and both the 3.0 and 3.2ghz have 1mb L2 cache (worst, i believe the 3.2ghz has HT). The CPU upgrade would be sweet as i don't see a way to overclock a laptop.

The memory is easy to figure out but why would the manufacturer would allow only 1024mb max, this is dumb as the chipset is able to support up to 2gb. In any case it should be less than $60.

The laptop might be 5 years old now and i know that the battery must not perform to well at that age so another $70 for a new battery. I do not think it worth to take the battery apart myself and replace the cells unless the battery control module can support higher amperage cells or something of the kind that would allow me to make a longer lasting battery.

The video card case will be addressed once i receive the laptop as it is really hard to find a video card for a specific laptop.

The hard drive should cost me around $80 for 80-100GB.

Total should be:

Mini Pci card..........$30
CPU.....................$70
Memory................$60
HD.......................$80

Total....................$240



Thus if anyone have a suggestion on a laptop upgrade please let me know as i never upgraded a laptop but i took a couple apart before.

Also I will remove the "cheapwhitetoothpastelikegoodfornothing" manufacturer's thermal paste and replace it with artic silver where applicable

You're screwed for the videocard as 98% are built on the board. As far as the cpu goes it's probably not worth upgrading either. Spend the extra cash on a faster HD.

I use to have a similar toshiba laptop (2.4ghz 400mhz instead of 533, and ati graphic card, otherwise the same thing)
Swamping the cpu can be a problem, the cooking for the laptop is weak as it is. That thing is loud too, so you'll probably have the fans running all the time.

i've heard of people getting 2gb of ram to work on there.. but sometimes it doesn't, not sure why. i would get it from a place that accepts returns and test them out first.

the battery it comes with is a 12cell battery, thats why its so expensive, and even though it's a 12cell, the laptop can drain it in less than 2 hours. I think its ridiculous to buy a new battery.

Honestly, i think its ridiculous to spend any money on this laptop... either use it as is until you can save up money for a new laptop or sell it and use that money to buy a new laptop.

That's a desktop CPU in a laptop...hence why the terrible battery life. I had a 2.8GHz P4 in my old laptop and its battery life was probably 70minutes on the lowest saving setting!

My current Inspiron 1520 easily does 3hrs. I haven't tested it fully yet. It would probably do 4-5hrs

Yeah on second thought add the wireless card and if you must the battery but anything else is just not going to be a good return on investment.

You guys are right. I will buy the wireless card and try to get rid of the laptop to buy a newer one as even the cheap laptops they seel today will destroy this one on every single thing but weight.

How about opening it completly up to check that the vid card is not onboard. My Toshiba P105 that I have to send off because of the 7900GS overheating/artifacting and locking up is not onboard but a single card connected mobo. But my older Toshiba A75 and I think it had a Nvidia was onboard