Samsung Q30; upgrade, downgrade or replace?

[jimbouk]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma about my much loved and used Samsung Q30. It's not what it used to be with all the patches to XP and the 'new' flashy internet. 1.1GHz Pentium M, 1.15GB of ram and a dog slow 40GB 1.8" hard drive.

So, plan a) replace the hard-drive with a CF to ZIF adapter and a 32GB CF card, would a 266x card be fast enough (45MB/sec. read and 40MB/sec. write)? The ram is maxed out so this is all I can do hardware wise. Cost ~£80 for the cheaper CF card and adapter, ~£120 if I need a 600x card.

Plan b) downgrade the OS, lightweight Linux and hope it's still usable enough.

Plan c) sell it (it's a bit tatty so won't get much) and splash out on something else slinky. I'd probably want a new battery if I keep it (£80 Maplin or £25 fleabay special).

Worth spending the money keeping it ticking over? It was premium back in 2005 and I'm not sure I can afford/find a fanless, 12" screened, 1kg ultra-portable at the moment...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

UltraBooks such as the Asus UX21 and an unnamed HP one are being released in the enxt few months. They are meant to be affordable according to Intel.

[jimbouk]

lol, ultrabook. A great new category of laptop recently invented recently by Intel. I'm sure the Q30 fitted the description 6 years ago! Joking aside if they can get the price down and keep them as functional as a 'regular' laptop (if there is such a thing) then I best start saving my pennies.

[jo2011]

Hi Jimbouk, i'm in exactly the same place - love my Q30 too but getting frustrated that it's at capacity and struggling to stream video. I tried reloading windows which helped but already in a few months it's slowed down again. Interested to know whether you upgraded, if so, what you did and if it worked. Cheers!