Skip to main content

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. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MX Linux Fluxbox Review - For Low-End Laptops

  MX Linux logo from https://linuxiac.com/mx-linux/      Recently I have successfully installed MX Linux Fluxbox on my Acer Aspire One 725 (AO725) netbook. I initially wanted to install Bodhi Linux onto my AO725 netbook, but failed. Finally I tried MX Linux Fluxbox, after trying Anti-X linux and some other ultra-lightweight Linux. MX Linux Fluxbox is suppose to be a lightweight Linux for low-powered laptops such as netbooks or very old laptops. Upon bootup, it only takes 337MB of RAM (438MB for Thinkpad X200) before you load any apps. With 4GB RAM, it is still a lot of RAM for for most apps, like the browser but the CPU utilization is close to 100% after running a Chromium broswer and DeadBeef music player. Things likely be slow... after this point from my observation but I have not tried to do anything more than those common things that I usually need to do.      Since I managed to install MX Linux Fluxbox, I initially did not bother to use the A...
Post a Comment
Read more

Linux-DesktopEnv: RAM Usage Comparison For Sparky Linux LxQT and Xfce and Q40S MATE Desktop Environment

  Today I did a test on RAM usage for the following desktop environments (DE) using VirtualBox to determine their RAM usage: MATE DE with Q4OS 4.7 Sparky Linux 6.2 LXQt Sparky Linux 6.2 Xfce      The main reason is for me to decide which desktop environment I want to use for my Lenovo Thinkpad X200. I have tried other desktop environments: Enlightenment with SparkyLinux MininumGUI  Trinity with Q4OS Bodhi Linux with a customized Enlightenment DE      The main issue with Enlightenment with SparkyLinux is that it does not work well with autologin. Sometimes it gets kicked out and you have to login again. I suspect is the windows manager issue but I cannot find the solution for this. Trinity has an issue with using jpg wallpaper so it is a turn-off as I don't want default wallpapers. The customized Enlightenment desktop in Bodhi Linux has limited themes but is still acceptable but I want to look for the best for my Thinkpad X200.     ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Connect To Singapore Free Public WiFi - Wireless@SG For Non-SIM Operating System

Image from: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details/Wireless_SGx?id=sg.gov.imda.wsgapp2_android&hl=en-SG      All the while Singapore's free public WiFi - Wireless@SG only supports Android and IOS devices with SIM cards, Windows and Mac operating system. Any other operating system such as Chromebook, Linux or devices without SIM are faced with an issue of unable to connect to this public WiFi network. However, recently I noticed that I am unable to download the Wireless@SGx app for my new phone and started looking at Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) website for Wireless@SG. The link is below: IMDA website for Wireless@SG     There are now more options to connect to Wireless@SG now. To allow more platforms/operating system, especially Chromebook and Linux to connect to Wireless@SG, choose the " Android non-SIM Setup ".  Choose the URL or QR code to get to the registering page. Android non-SIM Setup Once at the website. Choose the "Devi...
Post a Comment
Read more