Is Gateway Solo5300 Laptop upgradable?

Question

Can a Gateway Solo5300 laptop be upgraded enough to run Windows XP? It has an Intel Mobile Pentium III processor with 64MB DRAM (PC100) upgradeable to 512MB and a 10GB hard drive.

Answer 1

I run XP Pro on a Pentium II ThinkPad 600E so I think you'll be fine.

The only thing you'll want to address is your RAM. XP min. Requirements suggest 128MB (although they also say you can get by with 64... it would get tedious!). Fortunately, that PC-100 RAM is cheap and easy to come by.

Answer 2

I think the Solo 5300 will run Windows XP once you scale it up a bit.

1. 512MB SO-DIMM PC-100 (256MB x2 numbers)
2. Maybe a larger hard-drive (XP takes up more space

But, you should really consider one of these two options,

1. If you must run Windows, probably you need a newer laptop
   upgrading laptops is usually costly business -- particularly memory (cost of PC-100 might not sound good)
2. If you must use the same laptop, consider using Linux.
   At 64MB you might use PuppyLinux or DSL.
   And, if you can get memory upgrades, it would be useful.

In summary, I'd suggest a hardware change.