This is one of my newer acquisitions, a Tiger Direct Systemax laptop which in reality is a MSI MS-1719. It had Windows XP Home edition on it but was originally purchased by the first owner about the time Vista came out. It has a 17" screen connected to an Nvidia Geforce 8600 graphics card in it which is the same graphics card that is in my DVR at home.
It has a dual-core Pentium (also the same as my DVR) but the specs fall down where it has only 1Gb of memory and a 110 Gb hard drive.
If this was a puppy, it would be a rescue. The laptop was apparently more than this person could handle as it has clearly been abused. Many things on the right-hand side are broken, covers are missing, and the screen case is cracked. I have repaired much of the damage but it also smells like the cross between an ashtray and a harem. The wireless card is currently not working in Linux and the PC is - well - still pretty dirty. Stuff has been spilled on it and before I got it, the user complained the keyboard didn't work all the time. I cleaned it up and it seems to work ok.
Normally, I would clean a system up like this and consider selling it. Not going to happen with this one. It has been thoroughly abused and I am even having an odd quirk with the screen after my repairs. It may be a capable laptop, but it is not - and probably never will be - in any shape to sell.
I will add more memory, maybe a bigger hard drive if I decide to turn it into a gaming/media laptop. I will have to work on the wireless issue but that should be fairly easy as it is an Intel Pro Wireless 4965.
For now, I will work on cleaning it up and fixing the quirks. Then we will work on the upgrades.
MR GB
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