Dell Latitude Restoration Project

A little while ago, I tried to boot up my HP G61 laptop that I restored with Windows Vista Ultimate, only to find that the laptop was completely dead and flashing me a boot code to indicate that the CPU had failed. With the CPU now dead and the monitor failing, I decided that this machine has more than had its time and that there was inevitably no getting around HP’s planned obsolescence. I could have replaced the motherboard and monitor, but I figured it was only a matter of time before the computer failed once more. So, this brought me to search some used markets for a suitable replacement to fulfill my nostalgia for a Windows Vista era laptop that could run the OS well, with full driver support for all its hardware as well as proper graphics support to run the Aero experience. It also had to be a higher end machine, capable of keeping up with Vista, as the OS became notorious for releasing on systems that were inadequately equipped to run the full Vista experience that I remember experiencing when Vista first launched and I would find any excuse I could to get my parents, friends, or other relatives to bring me into a tech store so I could play around with some of the shiny new Vista laptops, which really reshaped how I thought about Operating Systems and how they should operate and feel.

After some searching, I finally came across a gem; a Dell Latitude E6400 in very good condition, that someone was getting rid of for only $50! This laptop was slightly older than my HP G61, but it was a substantial upgrade in performance, replacing the HP’s single core AMD Semprom M120 @ 2.1 GHz with a dual core Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 at 2.3 GHz! The Dell came with 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, which I instantly upgraded to 4 GB (the HP had 3 GB), and it had a 160 GB 7,200 RPM HDD running Windows 10 (which I upgraded to a 500 GB SSD). I also had to replace the CMOS battery, as that had gone bad and I had to replace the main battery, with a few additional battery packs! Since this laptop is modular and supports swapping batteries quickly, when I take it on the go, I can use up one battery, configure the system to auto hibernate around 25%, then once it does, I can swap the battery packs for a fresh one and continue going without having to plug into a wall outlet until I get home! My favorite feature of this laptop, hands down, is its modularity, allowing me to fully access the motherboard with the removal of only 3 screws, two of which secure the storage drive, which easily slides out of the side of the chassis, allowing very easy service! Even the DVD drive pulls out with the push of a button! Additionally, I absolutely love the build quality of this device; in my opinion, this laptop has one of my favorite keyboards to type on and is the best laptop keyboard I have ever used! And this is coming from the perspective of someone who has both red and blue switch mechanical keyboards, an M2 MacBook Pro, an Acer Swift 3 Ultrabook, and a ThinkPad T470! Another feature I absolutely adore on this laptop is the trackpoint, which I prefer to trackpads, since I feel the ergonomics are so much greater, allowing me to control the pointer without too much wrist movement. I also adore the top firing speakers in this laptop, which are very crisp, clear, and loud! Speakers of this quality are something I have only ever experienced in my M2 MacBook Pro!

For this laptop, I have dual booted my two favorite and most nostalgic Windows Operating Systems, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows 7 Ultimate! These Operating Systems were my whole reason for seeking out this beautiful historical laptop, as it was always a childhood fantasy of mine to own both a high-end Windows Vista laptop (and later, when Windows 7 debut, a high-end Windows 7 laptop) as these Operating Systems reshaped how I viewed computers and truly sparked an even greater interest in the world of Information Technology. Unfortunately, I never got this experience as a kid, as I had used computers passed down to me, with Windows 3.11, 95, 98, ME, 2000, and XP. The Windows 2000 and XP machines were later replaced with Ubuntu on the primary disk, with XP being a dual boot environment and the last hand me down computer that I used as my primary PC. By the time I upgraded from my XP computer, everything had already shifted to Windows 7 and my next computer was an Acer Aspire One D257 that shipped with Windows 7 Starter, restricting my favorite features like the Aero Glass experience and the ability to change my desktop wallpaper (this computer also became a Ubuntu dual boot). I also had the experience of sharing a Windows 7 Ultimate computer with my family, albeit with a standard user account and those dreaded parental control restrictions. After this, I was able to share my mom’s HP G61 laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium, which became my gaming computer, being the most powerful one that I had access to at the time, though with the same parental restrictions. By the time I could afford my own decent computers, Windows 8 and Windows 10 had already taken over the PC market, which was a bit of a letdown for me, as Microsoft had ditched the Aero experience and had become more advertisement focused and I felt the Operating Systems had become less user focused and more ad revenue driven.

I loaded this beautiful Dell up with all my favorite classic games, including a Star Trek Voyager game, Quake, and the Back to the Future Telltale game series, to name just a few; in addition to some slightly more modern games, such as Deus Ex Human Revolution, which I used to play on the HP G61, which (as it did on the HP) really tests the laptop’s capabilities to the fullest! I also installed the Ultimate Extras packs along with Office 2007 for Vista and Office 2010 for Windows 7, which I absolutely love using to type articles, journals, and other things that I can later transfer elsewhere for publishing if necessary. I also love being able to watch my classic DVD collection on this laptop, as this is no longer possible with most modern computers without jumping through a bunch of hoops and adding external devices. This computer is also wonderful when I want to detox from the world of the internet and modern computing and when I just want to experience a computer with a clean, beautiful UI, that I can replace activities such as web browsing with journaling, classic gaming, and playing with older software. I have also installed Windows Virtual PC, which has the greatest level of compatibility with those older retro versions of Windows out of any VM software I’ve experienced, as it was built by Microsoft themselves to get people on older versions to consider upgrading to Vista and 7, while still retaining full compatibility with older versions!