I've refurbished a number of old laptops, including Lenovo ThinkPads, HP, and Dell laptops. Here are some notable ones, including ones I use daily!
I get them from thrift stores, online auctions, or Facebook Marketplace, and even from e-waste bins.
I clean them, take them apart, dust them inside/outside, and replace the thermal paste, and sometimes give them an SSD or some extra RAM if I have any on hand.
I like to install Linux on them to give them a new life (Since Linux is way lighter than Windows) and also to try out different Linux distributions.
Lenovo ThinkPad T400
Specs:
Operating System
Fedora Linux 44 KDE
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
GPU
Intel Mobile 4 iGPU
RAM
8GB DDR3
Storage
512GB SSD
Size
14.1 Inches
Upgrades/Maintenance:
Replaced old HDD with 512GB SSD
Cleaned/dusted inside and outside
Lenovo ThinkPad T420s
Specs:
Operating System
Fedora Linux 44 KDE
CPU
Intel Core i5-2520M
GPU
Intel 2nd Gen iGPU
RAM
8GB DDR3
Storage
120GB SSD
Size
14 Inches
Upgrades/Maintenance:
Replaced old HDD with 120GB SSD
Replaced keyboard
Replaced the thermal paste
Cleaned/dusted inside and outside
HP Pavillion DV7
Specs:
Operating System
Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600
GPU
AMD ATI Radeon HD4650
RAM
4GB DDR3
Storage
500GB HDD
Size
17.3 Inches
Upgrades/Maintenance:
Cleaned/dusted inside and outside
Lenovo ThinkPad T490
Fun fact: This is my daily driver for school and work!
