Still diggin' the R32...

[lparsons]

I just picked up an R32 off ebay the other day. I already have one that recently passed its 6th birthday and needed some touch-up work. The 2658 I just bought I picked up for just over $20 and seems to be working better than the seller realized - currently torture testing with GIMPS and a defrag.

Sometimes I wonder if I should feel bad that so many people sell off R32's cheap because they think they are broken, when they are actually just misunderstood. Oh well, that makes for more cheap reliable laptops for me

The only downside is that the one I just bought from ebay with the intent of using for parts for my original R32 almost works too well. I might have to buy another one to have for parts for the two working ones

[mulambo187]

love mine too, i think it was manufactured in 2002. pretty slick still running xp pro and ubuntu 9.04.

i had a ultrabay battery for it that gave me a total of about 3 hours run time but i think i fried it cause it died suddenly. i dont like how this laptop runs so freakin hot, usb 1.0, and mine has to use pcmcia for wireless. also im beggining not to trust it for really sensitive things on the go, cause it takes forever to boot windows now, might reformat one more time... i'd just like to set this one up for my mom, get a usb keyboard and mouse and a monitor, it's a great little box for websurfing, banking, office 2007 etc. also for my moms i will probably make her adjust to ubuntu 9.04, it seems to be quite hassle free.

heres what i have upgraded:

HDD 20GB -> 160GB
Ram 256 -> 1.25GB

its decent...

[lparsons]

love mine too, i think it was manufactured in 2002. pretty slick still running xp pro and ubuntu 9.04.

When I read the pdf on the R3x system specs from thinkwiki, I found that apparently both of my R32s were made in 2002 as well. Though I think the one I've had longer (the A7U) I purchased in early 2003 from IBM as a new clearance item. And when I compare the specs of the R32 to the R40 and R40e I think I made the right choice.
I never got ubuntu (or in my case kubuntu) 9.04 to work correctly with the radeon mobility video in the R32. So I ditched linux and went back to FreeBSD where I am happy again.

i had a ultrabay battery for it that gave me a total of about 3 hours run time but i think i fried it cause it died suddenly

I was considering trying that in my A7U. I almost never use the optical drive anyways and could use more battery life.

i dont like how this laptop runs so freakin hot

I have noticed some heat for sure but not enough to cause any problems so far. I haven't owned any other laptops in a long time so I don't really know how it would compare.

usb 1.0

If I ever met an important device that was usb 2.0 and couldn't autonegotiate down to 1.0 I would be concerned.

mine has to use pcmcia for wireless

I would highly recommend the miniPCI wifi card. They sell pretty cheap on ebay these days and they're a piece of cake to install. I have them in both of my R32s. Unless of course you feel that you absolutely have to have 802.11g or 802.11n...

also im beggining not to trust it for really sensitive things on the go, cause it takes forever to boot windows now, might reformat one more time

Life got better for me when I found out how to do a fresh install of XP on the R32 using the existing license

heres what i have upgraded:

HDD 20GB -> 160GB
Ram 256 -> 1.25GB

My A7U, I went from 30gb -> 80gb -> 120gb for HD. Similarly went from 128mb -> 640mb -> 1gb -> 2gb for RAM.
The BXU came without HD or RAM, I had an 80gb HD and a 128mb SODIMM sitting around to get it going. Good thing I had an extra battery and an extra IBM power adapter too