Dell Latitude - Transplant Success

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I can't say this topic will interest most people, but I really just want to put my experience out there.

Tonight I finished a "transplant" of a Dell Latitude E7440 from a beat up worn shell into a relatively brand new one.

These business laptops have always been attractive to me since they come with decent hardware, a magnesium chassis, and spare parts are plentiful and cheap. They are used in office settings and then auctioned off at a fraction of what the business originally paid for them, so most don't endure much.

I picked up one of these a month ago on eBay that has an Intel i7 4th gen processor, 256GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM. It must have been used by someone out in the field because it was just a mess externally. The lower chassis was shiny from constant touching, the lid was scratched and dented all over. The keyboard and screen were still quite good, though.


After some agonizing research and shopping, my spare parts arrived today. A newish lower chassis, newish lid, newish palm rest.


I started after dinner and basically dismantled the entire laptop. Every screw, cable, and piece of tape taken off gingerly.

I lost about 2 hours and almost gave myself a heart attack though because one of the display cables was damaged during removal. They didn't really design it to ever be pulled, and in the process some thread-sized wires got pulled out of the connector that's about the size of HALF a tic-tac. It was a HUGE pain to figure out how the connector works and to use a magnifying glass and tweezers to rebuild it. Luck must have been on my side because I was able to get it reassembled.

The LCD assembly was a bit of a pain as well because the bezel is taped to the edge of the LCD, and in the process of removal this tape just became useless. The tape almost looks like woven metal fibers so I have no idea where I'd find a replacement. It provided dust protection, so I'll just have to be careful about where I use mine.. not that I abuse my computers anyway.


Anyway she's up and running..after a few scary automatic restarts (due to recognizing new hardware like the SC card reader in the new palm rest).. but seems stable on Linux Mint Cinnamon. I'll leave it running all night as I had to clean and reapply thermal compound to the cpu/heatsink during the rebuild.


Below pic isn't mine, but it's close enough for visuals.. they all look the same.


E7440.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
I have a Latitude D630, I have been thoroughly impressed by how well it endures use & abuse


Those are the REAL workhorses from back when it was OK to have squared off edges. I was a big fan of the on that I was issued at work.
 
The only gripe I have with newer laptops is that they all seem to have the CPU embedded on the mainboard. It's not possible to upgrade except to replace the whole board, which makes it cost ineffective.

I picked up a free older Acer with a Pentium Dual-Core and $30 later, had a very fast i7 machine running instead.
 
I love those business laptops. I'm still using my HP 8730W, when I was shopping I wanted a 17" laptop and the only options were a multi-thousand dollar gaming rig or a used business unit.

Congrats on the rebuild!
 
I've purchased several of these corporate leased laptops and you can find them in good shape. Would like to interrupt this thread with a question. I hate Windows 10. Are there operating systems out there that I could replace Win 10 with? I'm not real computer literate but can get by. I still have Win 7 on my laptop and will use that until it dies. Is this Linux something I could use?
I'm in my 60's and most people I know hate Win 10.
 
Originally Posted By: loneryder
I've purchased several of these corporate leased laptops and you can find them in good shape. Would like to interrupt this thread with a question. I hate Windows 10. Are there operating systems out there that I could replace Win 10 with? I'm not real computer literate but can get by. I still have Win 7 on my laptop and will use that until it dies. Is this Linux something I could use?
I'm in my 60's and most people I know hate Win 10.


A Linux-based OS (there are many) might be just the ticket for you; but we need to remain mindful of two things:

1) You'd want to make sure your hardware can run Linux well. Linux will run on just about anything these days, but it is still wise to double check first.

2) A few very popular applications will only run on Windows and Mac. If I presume that your main computing activities include web browsing, email and other communications and media/ photo storage and playback then I can assure you Linux will keep your computing experience safe, private, free (meaning both "freedom" and "no cost") and stable.

If you have any more questions about this, I'd suggest you start a new thread so others who are interested don't have to hijack someone else's thread or have difficulty finding information. You can also PM me if you'd like - I am always happy to help get folks set up with free, open source software!
 
OP/Reddy45,
Good job, especially repairing the ribbon episode
any screws left? :p

If you are that handy and you want your time busy, you can always recondition laptops/computers and donate them to local kids club/YMCA

LoneYRider,
You can still find Windows7 serials on ebay
If time and patience permits, some variants of Unix/Linux may work (Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin, ) with some lower hardware.
 
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: loneryder
I've purchased several of these corporate leased laptops and you can find them in good shape. Would like to interrupt this thread with a question. I hate Windows 10. Are there operating systems out there that I could replace Win 10 with? I'm not real computer literate but can get by. I still have Win 7 on my laptop and will use that until it dies. Is this Linux something I could use?
I'm in my 60's and most people I know hate Win 10.


A Linux-based OS (there are many) might be just the ticket for you; but we need to remain mindful of two things:

1) You'd want to make sure your hardware can run Linux well. Linux will run on just about anything these days, but it is still wise to double check first.

2) A few very popular applications will only run on Windows and Mac. If I presume that your main computing activities include web browsing, email and other communications and media/ photo storage and playback then I can assure you Linux will keep your computing experience safe, private, free (meaning both "freedom" and "no cost") and stable.

If you have any more questions about this, I'd suggest you start a new thread so others who are interested don't have to hijack someone else's thread or have difficulty finding information. You can also PM me if you'd like - I am always happy to help get folks set up with free, open source software!

Thanks for the reply. I'll repost it with other questions.
 
Nice! I wont buy anything but business class laptops. I have a Precision M4800 I bought refirb, but it was basically new. It accidentally fell off a counter because I placed too close to the edge a few days ago. It bent the corner of the magnesium lid. Its first war scar. But it works just fine!
 
Zorin. Just get the newest free version and install.

I run it on everything.

Have an old dell d430 that I run Zorin 9 on. 12 year old laptop and it runs fine.
 
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