Upgrading the old laptop for college

I'm a physics major heading to Illinois State University come August. I plan to upgrade my current laptop rather than waste $600+ when I can get about the same quality for 1/3 the price. Some of you might have seen my previous post on here already, but here's a quick look:

HP Compaq Presario C700 Notebook - It's either a C700 CTO or a C700T Series

OS: Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit (MS Windows Vista SP2)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz, 3M Cache, 800MHz FSB (upgraded from Pentium Dual T2310 @ 1.46GHz, 1M Cache, 667MHz FSB)

GPU: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family (integrated, doesn't handle graphic loads that well)

Memory: 2GB RAM (1x1), DDR2-5300, 667MHz (upgraded from two 512MB, DDR2-5300, 667MHz)

HDD: 80GB, 5400rpm SATA

BIOS: Updated to F.35 in April of 2010 from F.08

Windows Experience Index: 3.2 overall, 5.0 - processor, 4.9 - RAM, 3.2 - graphics, 3.4 - gaming graphics, 4.9 - primary hard disk

Already upgraded the CPU to something that will last a little while. I have to buy 3GB of PC2-6400 to match the 800MHz FSB CPU. ISU's (unbelievably cool/neat/awesome) TechZone is selling Windows 7 Professional Upgrade (32-bit) for $65 so I will upgrade my OS, as well. I also plan on buying a laptop cooler and a 12-cell battery.

More importantly, though, is my HDD situation. I'm running out of storage room and 80 gigs won't cut it for college. The recommended amount was 250GB minimum, but the highest the C700 manual went was a 160GB, 5400rpm SATA in terms of compatibility. How can I tell if a hard drive is compatible with what I have? I don't know if the new CPU will help at all.

ISU's TechZone also has a buttload of free software I can download, but I'd rather do that when I get a new hard drive. Free gifts include:

Ad-Aware Free (remove malware)
Adobe Acrobat Reader (I have Adobe Reader X)
AIMFix (anti-virus for weirdos who use AIM)
CCleaner (already have it, quite useful)
Spybot Search and Destroy (removes spyware)
SmitFraudFix (remove desktop hijack malware)
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
McAfee VirusScan (proactively scans downloads, removes viruses)

The real issue in all of this is the HDD, but opinions on anything else are highly encouraged. Thanks for any help, all.

 

If you're going any kind of graphics work at all I'd look into buy a new notebook.

You can probably use any hard drive you come across as long as its a 9.5mm SATA drive, the manuals on those things usually only state the highest capacity when they're first printed/made.

DDR2 is kind of expensive now, and that battery might or might not come cheap either.

 

Great. Thank you for your input, Blaze.

I'm actually friends with a guy who can get me the battery and RAM for less (his dad works somewhere - obviously computer-related, but I forgot) and perhaps even the HDD, but I'll see what I can do for now.

EDIT: If all else fails, the RAM and HDD will only cost me $80 total.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1GB-DDR2-SODIMM...573?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb8858bc5

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-OEM-2GB-DDR...013?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c57dea9d

http://cgi.ebay.com/WD-SCORPIO-WD25...209?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad8dfb919

 

I'm not one to buy used HDD's normally (but haven't come across any bad ones yet in the few cases I needed to), but maybe look into a 7200rpm drive instead of a 5400, should give you slightly better random seek times, but might cut maybe 5 minutes off your battery life

 

Notebooks a very inexpensive these days. 14" i3/i5 systems consumer systems like a Dell 14R go for $400 on ebay. That's two gens newer than your box. Or could look at at buying a cheap 14"/12" 6930P/2530P/2730P(tablet) off ebay, using your DDR2 RAM. You'd get one-gen newer 45nm tech, a sata ODD and LED backlit LCD, plus the remainder of HP's onsite global warranty they have on their business range.

 

new 17" machines go for under $500......

And the Compaq CQ62 can be had for less than $300-.

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