Trashy Compaq Presario F700

I've got it for $30 at the flea market. AMD Turion 64x2 TK- dual core 1.9 GHz crappy CPU, 2GB of RAM in one stick, 120 GB 5400 rpm HDD, 15.4" screen with LED edge backlight of 2007 fashion, pirated/non-genuine Windows 7 failed installation.

Frankly, it's worth just $20 in my mind. My estimate went even lower when I discovered it has Ethernet hardware failure (WiFi connects just fine) and internal sound system for Altec Lansing speakers is plain dead.

However, all is not lost. External Logitech USB speakers work just fine in Ubuntu Studio 13.10 64 bit which I installed instead of that incessantly whining non-genuine Windows 7. Contrary to what HP/Compaq says to you about max RAM for this F700 model, Ubuntu Studio 13.10 (and, naturally, Ubuntu Studio 14.04 Trusty Tahr yesterday's daily) will gladly use 4 GB of RAM.

Talking about upgrades that might (or might not) improve XBMC HD video performance (currently maxxed at 720p) and overall responsiveness, it could be this short and cheap grocery list:

1. AMD Turion 64x2 TL-64 for about $20
2. 16 GB Kingston SSD for about $20 (thank you, Maureen! should get it on January 17)
3. 2GB of PC5300 SODIMM RAM, one more stick for another $20. Could be an overkill for a $70 machine, we'll see.

I added 1GB stick I found lying around already.

It's of different (read: wrong) timing to be a perfect pair for original stick, but apparently dysbalanced 3GB is better than 2 GB for 64 bit systems.

The Ubuntu installation by default uses Nouveau drivers instead of what FY NVIDIA offers for this particular model. I didn't find any comprehensive comparison one vs. FY, so I can try and see whether I can get 1080p hardware assisted playback with that closed source sorcery.

It even hurts to think that one could be able to buy this "machine" running Vista for "just" $999 about 6 years ago.

Anybody knows about where to get a fitting HP/Compaq laptop motherboard running on i5 or i7 for cheap, like another $20? Will Elitebook's mobo fit? It could have a borked audio hardware, as long as USB audio works, you know...

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