Used Laptops

United States
February 24, 2009 11:09pm CST
I am wondering, Can i put any old motherboard into a case and have it work? Let me expand that a bit. I have an old laptop. The screen is just fine. It has RAM, and a dead battery. No hard drive, no CD Drive. It does have a nice keyboard and touchpad. Now, I NEED a HDD for the computer to run (OS). And i prolly need a CD drive to install the OS. And of course, i need a new battery! Can i buy a cheap laptop (say on ebay) that has a HDD and CD Drive and working battery. Can i just swap the motherboards and call it good? My main question is the battery. Does the battery fit the motherboard? or the case? THankx!
4 responses
EliteUser
@EliteUser (3964)
• Australia
15 Sep 09
Hey, I don't really know if you can buy one, but just search online maybe, I don't exactly know. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer your question better than I have done, in a really good way so you can actually benefit from it. Make sure you have a good day, Happy Lotting!!
scann33
@scann33 (101)
• Italy
8 Mar 09
I think that should change as many things, you buy the new one on ebay it is certainly a competitive price. As for the battery you should see that number and has a similar look. The motherboard is not a factor.
WC1989
@WC1989 (595)
• United States
25 Feb 09
Yes...but mostly NO. When PC's were invented the idea was to only upgrade the parts you needed. However over time exclusivity managed to pop in. Now, regardless of what type of computer you're talking about (except maybe Mac's), you can't just swipe stuff. You need to do research to see if all of the parts are compatible with each other. CD drives you probably won't have too much to worry about, but for HDD you definitely need to check that it's compatible with your motherboard. For batteries you should get one meant for the same case because batteries come in a lot of sizes and forms.
Sorhan
@Sorhan (26)
• United States
25 Feb 09
bottom line, potentially yes you could. but be advised that not every laptop CD drive is going to fit in every laptop, same with battery. while hard drives will generally fit, you need to make sure what type your mainboard supports. as far as a "new" mainboard fitting in the old casing, without more specifics, i really couldn't say, but 9 times out of 10, no the newer board will not fit the older chassis.