Can Linux save this old laptop from obsolescence?

Today, I'll be attempting to revive this 16-year-old ThinkPad with Linux. In doing so, I'll try to answer the question: Have computers of this age entered a state of complete obsolescence, or can they still prove useful for everyday tasks when paired with the right operating system?

Thanks for watching!

Music credits:

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

[DanielBrotherston]

Replacing the HDD with an SSD would do far more for performance than the 4GB of ram. That's by far the most important upgrade you can make.

[nitemanify]

The keyboards on these were amazing. You could type forever on them and they just felt great. A hidden benefit from older, less powerful hardware is since it's slower, you are limited in your multitasking and are basically forced to focus on what you're doing.

[purplegill]

I'm beyond thankful for lightweight linux distros because they saved my old 2012 laptop from becoming landfill. I had to move a few years back and I didn't want to rely on my phone all the time for media so I dug up my old inspiron from a decade ago and put in an old cheapo SSD I had lying around. Given that my financial situation collapsed in the 2010s I now can use that laptop as my TV, music player, and even a secondary PC when my friends need tech support. I legit can't imagine life without it and had it not been for enthusiasts' hard work I would've never been able to have the life I have now.

[andrewr]

Lots of good lightweight choices out there - Alpine, TinyCore, Slax and many more. It's been fun to watch computing evolve. I started in 1974. Yeah, I'm that old.

[kelkilkat]

What made this video watchable to the end, for me, was the clear, slower talking, instead of the fast talking on most other channels. This is amazing for an older laptop to just use for linux, maybe an SSD would make it even more useful. Great video

[adibemaxwell]

Void Linux is a solid choice. My T420 uses Void Linux and I've never had an issue with it. Ever. Once configured, it just works.

[rubyvolt]

I just put Linux on an old 3rd gen CORE Pentium laptop with 8GB. It is doing great at college for the web based stuff he has to do.

[emdotrod]

I just bought the X220 for the price of $15. It's in the rough shape but it's still functional and just needed a keyboard replacement. I put whatever SSD and RAM I have at my disposal and with $30 I have a very functional laptop that I can use whenever I need a Windows/Linux machine (I use Mac as my daily driver). These old computers really don't deserve to be on the e-waste, they just need a better software to keep on chugging.

[piratasdecordoba]

I would also like to mention Puppy Linux. It is available as 64 and 32 Bit version and runs fine on almost any old hardware, e.g. on the small netbooks with Intel Atom CPU and 1 or 2 GB of RAM, which are otherwise almost useless today. Use it on my Lenovo Ideapad S10 with a 256GB SSD and it works perfect.

[argetech]

In 2013 I got an Acer C710 Chrome book. I flashed the bios with seabios. Installed a 500 gigabyte Samsung Evo 960 Sata SSD, 6 gigs of ram. I use Bodhi Linux, with the Moksha desktop environment. Still using it in 2023. ♥️😊

[danielshapiro]

I watched this video and expected to see 500k - 1mil subscribers. Very high quality video and editing. Great job!

[Moechella]

I love how Void is slowly becoming the new Arch.

[gattiger]

Thanks for doing this. It’s nice to see getting more use of older hardware and keeping it out of landfills.

[staterbrosmilk]

I have one of these I use fairly frequently, personally im running mint on an ssd. The 4:3 aspect ratio makes it ideal for torrenting old anime and cable shows. It also proved a novel way of experiencing the SM64 PC Port. As you mentioned they work quite well for schoolwork. Glad to see some appreciation for these old machines

[JB-wikr]

I wish that Lenovo (or anyone) would make new computers just like this.

[GeeeEmmm]

Unfortunately the web is a bloated mess

[patw]

I upgraded a 16 or 17-year-old Dell. I replaced the hard drive with an SSD and upgraded the RAM to 4G. It's running the standard Linux Mint, and it runs quite well.
Thanks for the video.

[TinkerCrunch]

There is something so satisfying about these very simple and casual videos that is just so bingeable!

[vha]

I really like this form factor, I wish laptop manufacturers made more like it. The closest things I can find on the market today are 3:2 ultrabooks but these always lack ports and are not upgradeable.

[SantiagoSalse]

Thanks! First time seeing your videos and has a short, precise, calm environment
Real life tests, real life use cases, not only based on using 100% of power all the time
Subscribed!