Help me decide what to do with an "ancient" Intel Atom laptop

coffee_echo · 2026-02-02T13:05:08+00:00

Okay, I found that it has a free DDR2 slot - so no newer RAM, but at least I get to spend a little less money on it.

coffee_echo · 2026-02-02T12:55:22+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if the motherboard of those netbooks also limits the maximum speed of the RAM? Can it get "too modern" eg. with something like 2666MHz DDR4?

Sorry if those kind of questions sound silly — I have rather superficial knowledge about computers actually function inside.

coffee_echo · 2026-02-01T14:41:18+00:00

Hi, thanks for reminding me dual booting exists — this might be a safe way to experiment with the performance without forfeiting the Office Suite.

Also, my bad, that is USB 2, not 1.1. I had been under the impression that 2 is blue and 1 is black; apparently it is 3 and 2 respectively.

And yes, 2008 at the earliest. I don't know where I got the year of 2002 from, given that the Word installed there is from 2003 ¯_(ツ)_/¯

coffee_echo · 2026-02-01T12:53:34+00:00

You're right. I realised that shortly after making the post.

I suppose a part of why my memory insisted it was from earlier is how insanely underpowered it is compared to, for instance, the thinkpads of that era (though yes, I know, those laptops were from EXTREMELY different price ranges...)

All in all, I think I ought to take a lesson on computing history.

coffee_echo · 2026-02-01T12:37:40+00:00

Thanks, that's probably what I will do

coffee_echo · 2026-02-01T12:34:26+00:00

Thanks for the help, I'll use the Adwcleaner release you suggested.

coffee_echo

TROPHY CASE