Dump Pick: 2007 HP Pavillion dv9700

[rwh63]

ok, took this 17" HP home today from oiur local re-use shed (with a Targus bag!). Excellent condition. Battery might be good. Apparently it last saw action in 2020. Seems the windows software has been removed and it is operating on LinuxLite 4.8.

Not sure if it is worth keeping. And, I don't know the password for any of the users (believe this was a work/group computer). Would i have to replace the hard drive, download a fresh OS, and personalize it to use this laptop?

 

[velocityg4]

Just make an installer flash drive or DVD, wipe the hard drive and install a fresh copy of Linux. Whichever distro you want.

As for being worth it. It’s only worth it if you want to fiddle with it or desperately need a computer. As it’s pretty much worthless is monetary value.

 

[rwh63]

yeah, wasn't thinking monetarily. it has a number of ports on it, unlike my Apple. got a 250 gb drive. just wanted to access it fully on the cheap.

 

[sracer]

Definitely worth it, IMO. Looks very similar to one that I owned back-in-the-day.

I recommend swapping out the spinner HD for an SSD. They're cheap and it will dramatically improve the performance. Install Windows 10 on it.

 

[velocityg4]

yeah, wasn't thinking monetarily. it has a number of ports on it, unlike my Apple. got a 250 gb drive. just wanted to access it fully on the cheap.

Yea, just burn a Lubuntu DVD. Wipe and install. You should be good to go. As long as there is no BIOS password protecting the HDD. Which I don't think there is. Since you can boot.

 

[rwh63]

I’ve never done what you guys are suggesting. More on that later (I’m sure none of it is very difficult).

Took three bottom covers off. Want to confirm what they are, and how to improve their contents? I guess from left to right us a hard drive, RAM, and a spare HD slot?

 

[CWallace]

Took three bottom covers off. Want to confirm what they are, and how to improve their contents? I guess from left to right us a hard drive, RAM, and a spare HD slot?

This is correct: http://www.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01951704.pdf