Due to unfortunate circumstances (me dropping the laptop) I have now ended up with a half broken laptop that has a broken screen and a dying battery. I could repair it, however, I don’t wanna bother as I’m very likely gonna be getting a new one soon.

The laptop itself still works fine, however the broken screen and dying battery make it pretty much useless as a laptop and I already have a home lab NAS thing, so I’m kinda out of ideas on what to do with it. Any ideas?

Here are the specs:

CPU: i5-8300h

GPU: intel HD830/GTX1050ti

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 128GB SSD

  • appel@whiskers.bim.boatsEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Remove the battery, take the motherboard out of the case. Plug the motherboard in, and voila you have a larger and more powerful raspberry pi. You could use it as a second node for control, management, observation purposes, etc.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Great suggestion, but I’m not entirely sure it’s 100% possible on all models? Some models are built so that it won’t turn on without a battery installed (much like phones) and that the power has to pass through the battery before it reaches the motherboard.

      I believe that scenario would take much more knowledge of electricity plus some soldering skills to bypass the battery. They gave specs, but not make and model. I don’t trust companies like HP to not take the route that requires you to send it in to them for servicing.

      • bastion@feddit.nlEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        Not really necessary to take the mb out of the case, but removing the battery is a good idea. Tuck the laptop somewhere out-of-the-way and install your preferred Linux (like Debian stable). Set up some services on it, and enjoy having a nice, decently low-energy server.

      • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        Because over time the battery degrades, swells, and becomes a fire risk.

        Keeping it only 80% charged can help mitigate it but not fully.

        • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
          02·
          2 years ago

          That is largely a myth and in my experience never happens with higher quality laptop batteries. But yes limiting charge doesn’t hurt if it is only used as a UPS anyways.

          • Railcar8095@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            2 years ago

            Not a myth. Better batteries might have better safety measures, but none is inmune. It might not have happened to you but I’ve seen it happen in several high end/expensive brands already.

          • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
            2·
            2 years ago

            What part is the myth?

            Which batteries are “high quality”?

            Cause it happens… Pretty regularly if you’re not limiting charging. The older the battery the more likely.

            This isn’t something you should fuck around with either: if it pops it’ll burn too hot to extinguish and could take out your house.

          • bastion@feddit.nlEnglish
            1·
            2 years ago

            Happened to my ladyfriend with a macbook pro. Cracked the shell of the laptop. No fire, but it sure did swell.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        Because it is a safety issue and the battery isn’t designed for that anyway. A UPS is designed to stay charged for a long period of time and laptop is not.