I have a 5 year old Compaq Presario M2000 which seems to be working perfectly except for the following
1. Strange clicking noises coming from the 40 GB hard disk.
2. Occasional freezing when I run a web browser.
The only time it was opened up was to install an additional 512 MB RAM stick a few years ago.I know for a fact that there are no viruses/malware on the notebook.
http://www.techenclave.com/laptops/dell-complete-cover-is-amazing-166867.html - This thread has inspired
hyeah: me to extend the life of the notebook - possibly use it only to stream music to my Audioengine speakers.
Q 1 . Is it advisable to spend any money rejuvenating this notebook - I will be buying possibly 2 Macbooks soon.
Q 2 . Are the hard disks available nowadays compatible with such an old product and what price could I get a replacement for ?
Q 3 . I realise that a part of the slowing down problem is because there are at least a 100 programs installed and the notebook has NEVER been formatted.It's currently running on XP.Is getting Windows 7 a good idea.What about driver compatibility ?
Q 4 . Is it possible to move all the software/documents from the old hard disk to the new one as some sort of image file,so that I don't have to spend time re-installing stuff ?
Would really like opinions on my situation.Thanx.
1. Strange clicking noises coming from the 40 GB hard disk.
2. Occasional freezing when I run a web browser.
The only time it was opened up was to install an additional 512 MB RAM stick a few years ago.I know for a fact that there are no viruses/malware on the notebook.
http://www.techenclave.com/laptops/dell-complete-cover-is-amazing-166867.html - This thread has inspired

Q 1 . Is it advisable to spend any money rejuvenating this notebook - I will be buying possibly 2 Macbooks soon.
Q 2 . Are the hard disks available nowadays compatible with such an old product and what price could I get a replacement for ?
Q 3 . I realise that a part of the slowing down problem is because there are at least a 100 programs installed and the notebook has NEVER been formatted.It's currently running on XP.Is getting Windows 7 a good idea.What about driver compatibility ?
Q 4 . Is it possible to move all the software/documents from the old hard disk to the new one as some sort of image file,so that I don't have to spend time re-installing stuff ?
Would really like opinions on my situation.Thanx.