Nice one! I really like the Latitude series, you got the iPad hype working in your favour, it is a kind of technological fashion-victim 😀

After having this computer for a little over a week, I've finally taken a photo!

LARGE PHOTO:
http://i.imgur.com/1ABQg.jpg

Recently I installed VMWare and played around a bit with OSX Lion. I've actually been pondering the idea of making this into a Hackintosh. I've decided for now, no but whenever this computer needs a fresh install (usually I do that once a year for my computers) I'll try OSX as the OS for this machine.

Newegg had refurb D520s for ~$170 (Celeron M, not C2D) a few weeks back. I was tempted by the XGA screen since it's 4:3 and would scale old games correctly, without bars. It only had Intel 945 video though.

The problem with slightly outdated hardware is that it can still do everything you'd expect a new PC to do.. it's just slower. No nostalgia or wow factor there.

Be glad for the Intel 945 video. If it would have an NVidia Chip instead, it would be the 7600GS and the laptop would be at risk of an early death because of the 7600GS overheating the solder.

Yeah, Wikipedia has information about problems with the Latitude D630 and 620 that apparently the 520 is immune to. Also, apparently, the D520 was also available with an SXGA+ screen. Furthermore, there was one more model after this, the D530 which is updated with the newer Intel Santa Rosa architecture; still integrated graphics and 4:3 screen.

This model, the 520, could be had with Celeron, Core Duo or Core 2 Duo. The Celeron models use the 945GML chipset whereas others have 945GM. I think the only significant difference there is ram limit. As for the GM950 integrated video, it's not bad but not awesome. I can play 1080P youtube videos in fullscreen. However, the screensavers from reallyslick.com run like a slideshow on this thing (but on the Dell PIII tower with a GeForce 256 I once had, they ran flawless). The GM950 is enough to run GTAIII with all the eye candy on max, SimCity 3000 and ZSNES so I'm happy. I'm not much a gamer anyways.

Also, FWIW, the ThinkPad T61 was available with a 4:3 screen but I'm unsure if the 4:3 models had discrete video. I think the best bet for a 4:3 laptop with modern specs if you're concerned about the graphics chip would be a ThinkPad T60.

GXL750 wrote:

Yeah, Wikipedia has information about problems with the Latitude D630 and 620 that apparently the 520 is immune to. Also, apparently, the D520 was also available with an SXGA+ screen. Furthermore, there was one more model after this, the D530 which is updated with the newer Intel Santa Rosa architecture; still integrated graphics and 4:3 screen.

This model, the 520, could be had with Celeron, Core Duo or Core 2 Duo. The Celeron models use the 945GML chipset whereas others have 945GM. I think the only significant difference there is ram limit. As for the GM950 integrated video, it's not bad but not awesome. I can play 1080P youtube videos in fullscreen. However, the screensavers from reallyslick.com run like a slideshow on this thing (but on the Dell PIII tower with a GeForce 256 I once had, they ran flawless). The GM950 is enough to run GTAIII with all the eye candy on max, SimCity 3000 and ZSNES so I'm happy. I'm not much a gamer anyways.

Also, FWIW, the ThinkPad T61 was available with a 4:3 screen but I'm unsure if the 4:3 models had discrete video. I think the best bet for a 4:3 laptop with modern specs if you're concerned about the graphics chip would be a ThinkPad T60.

I've owned a T60p. They are not the most stable laptops...
Lenovo resorted to using a pure copper heatsink in those (due to the FireGL chips getting so hot), and they can reach 80C and beyond. Mine happened to die one day while using it.
Because I have a bunch of spare parts for one now, I may buy another... but redo the thermal paste and see if anything can be used instead of thermal pillows...
Also, when you type really fast, the T60s will pause and shoot a BIOS beep (typically you should have to press more than three keys for that to happen, not on T60s apparently). With flaws aside, I did really like it.

Really? That's interesting. Over on the thinkpads.com forum I've always heard very positive things about the T60s. Newest ThinkPad I've owned was a T42 and I never once had an issue with it. I kind of wish I hadn't sold it.

GXL750 wrote:

Really? That's interesting. Over on the thinkpads.com forum I've always heard very positive things about the T60s. Newest ThinkPad I've owned was a T42 and I never once had an issue with it. I kind of wish I hadn't sold it.

The ONLY thinkpad I have left working is a mint (and rather obscure) iSeries one. It looks like this:

It can be used as a CD player without turning the machine on.

T42s seem to be the most reliable. But yeah, I am unintentionally building up an impressive array of spare T40/60 parts from machines that keep dying!
I may buy another T60 in the future, because truly, it was very nice in spite of its flaws.