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2ndLife: Refurbishing HP ENVY 13-d065tu laptop

     I managed to dumpster dive a HP Eny 13-d065tu laptop. This is the lightest laptop that I have found and has reasonable hardware specs to run a normal Linux distribution. However, I noticed that the laptop is unable to charge the battery anymore and also there are times when the power will be cut off and cause the laptop to be shutdown or power off unintentionally. This problem actually prevents me from wanting to use this laptop. Only recently I decided to remove the problematic battery from the laptop and see if it fixes the power issue and it really did. I was right that the power cut mechanism is due to protect the battery from overcharging but is causing issue to the laptop. I do not intend to buy a battery replacement since I do not want to spend money upgrading anything on the dumpster dived laptops. 

Image from HP.com
HP Envy laptop specs:

  • Product name: HP ENVY Notebook - 13-d065tu
  • Microprocessor: Intel® Core™ i5-6200U with Intel® HD Graphics 520 (2.3 GHz, up to 2.8 GHz, 3 MB cache, 2 cores)
  • Memory, standard: 8 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM (onboard)
  • Video Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 520
  • Display: 13.3" diagonal QHD+ IPS BrightView WLED-backlit (3200 x 1800)
  • Keyboard: Island-style backlit keyboard
  • Pointing device: HP Imagepad with multi-touch gesture support
  • Wireless Connectivity: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2x2) and Bluetooth® 4.0 combo
  • Expansion slots: 1 multi-format SD media card reader
  • External Ports: 3 USB 3.0; 1 HDMI; 1 headphone/microphone combo
  • Minimum dimensions (W x D x H): 32.65 x 22.6 x 1.29 cm
  • Weight: Starting at 1.36 kg
  • Power supply type: 45 W AC power adapter
  • Webcam: HP TrueVision HD Webcam (front-facing) with integrated dual array digital microphone
  • Audio features: Bang & Olufsen; Dual speakers
AnduinOS 1.1 on HP Envy Laptop
    Instead of opting for installing Linux Lite 7.4, I decided to install AnduinOS 1.1 on the HP Envy laptop. AnduinOS is a new Ubuntu Linux distribution with themed based on Windows 11 using GNOME desktop. I would be doing a separate review of this Linux distribution later. So far my experience is satisfactory (since I can get around and installing stuff using flatpak instead of deb package mangers) but it is not designed for lightweight so it does not support too limited or old hardware. The inital RAM usage is about 1.25-1.33GB so it is not meant for laptops using less than 2GB of RAM. After the normal removing of apps and installing my preferred apps, the laptop is pretty usable and also no more power issues. It even became my favourite laptop if I want to carry it on my backpack unless there is no power plug available. 

    As I have removed the back cover of the laptop, I can only find the SSD and network adaptor. I suspect the RAM is soldered or placed behind the keyboard so there is no sign of upgrading the RAM. With such a slim and lightweight laptop, I have no complains. 


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