Over the years we’ve collected a seemingly never ending series of computers (this isn’t a complete list) and given the free time opportunities afforded by the covid-19 pandemic, I’ve decided to revisit, restore and reboot some of them to see what ancient gems I might uncover.
(1) iMac 27″ (3.4GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, late 2017)
– external SATA drive as time-machine backup ✓
(2) Acer Aspire ES-13 (ES1-332-P91H late 2016), German Keyboard, very slow, may consider SSD upgrade
(3) Apple Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) 8GB RAM
– upgraded SSD to 500GB
(4) Acer Aspire XC600 Small Desktop ((Intel Core i3 2100 3.1GHz, 8GB RAM, late 2012).
– replaced UK only PSU for a dual voltage version ✓
– upgraded to windows 10 pro ✓
(5) Titan “Spirit” Cooler Master Custom Build (Overclockers 2008)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz, GeForce 9600 GT 512MB,Asus P5QL Pro Intel P43 Motherboard, no upgrades yet, mulling new motherboard and CPU to revitalize
(6) Apple Macbook 2,1 (13″ white polycarbonate, mid-2007)
– hard drive was failing, replaced with 250GB WD Blue SSD, re-installed Lion ✓
– using old SSD from newer Macbook as a timemachine drive and bootable recovery ✓
(7) Sony Vaio VGN-A197VP (17″, 2005)
– Upgraded RAM from 512MB to 2GB ✓
– Installed Lubuntu ✓
– Failed to replace HDD with SSD, none of the SSD options will boot
(8) Sony Vaio X505-CP (2005)
(9) IBM Thinkpad X41
– bought new high capacity battery ✓
– cloned HDD with Macrium Reflect and replaced with PATA -> mSATA adapter plus SSD ✓
– added 2GB of RAM ✓
(10) IBM Thinkpad T410i
– replaced old windows 7 with windows XP and updated drivers for WiFi & Display ✓
– then decided to install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS instead ✓
(11) Sony PCG-C1
Currently won’t power up, have torn down to extract HDD, rest is scrap
(12) Apple Mac Mini (1st or 2nd generation)
Untested
(13) Apple TV 1st generation
Untested