A blog about an old laptop? Er, why?

And a very good question that is too. In todays World of multicore 64 bit architecture how could an insignificant single core-based laptop from 2003 have any merit? That's the reason for writing this blog: To document how I took my old N620c and turned it into a device that can hold it's own in 2010, seven years after it was 'terminated'.

It all started in mid 2009 when I decided I had outgrown the capabilities of the N620c and was on the hunt for a new laptop. I was tired of constantly having to delete stuff off the already upgraded 100GB disk and I couldn't find anything about being able to add a larger disk. I really wanted a MacBook Pro, a sexy beast indeed, but really couldn't justify paying the premium for the privilege. Trip to Japan, or MacBook? Canon 5D Mark II camera body, or MacBook? Food on the dinner table, or MacBook? That's what the choice was...

So, the MacBook Pro was out. Next stop was Dell, a company known to push out well-specified machines at good prices. I spent quite some time looking at Latitudes and Inspirons and maybe even an XPS or two, but by the time I had something in my shopping cart, I was looking at close to £1000. Do-able, but still I felt strangely loathed to part with the money.

It was at this point that I decided to see if I could solve my immediate issue - lack of disk space - if only to buy some time to make the bigger decision. So out came Google, safe in the knowledge that, if it's on the Internet, Google would reveal all... And for once, Google failed me. In fact aside from the usual reviews from around 2003, there was remarkably little information about this laptop and certainly nothing current. I was on my own...

This isn't going to be a big blog. I don't think it's going turn into a N620c appreciation society. But, my hope is that the next time someone wonders "can i upgrade on the N620c", they will find the answer here...

Cheers,

Dave