is it as simple as a hard drive swap?

[hamlet]

Hey guys, I currently have in my possession two laptops. one is a functioning laptop and is great for just getting on the internet and browsing around. However it has no real power for the games i like to play and simply cannot handle them. The other is a laptop with a fast enough cpu and enough ram to play said games, but was given to me by a friend because it no longer worked. the problem with it is that the system was giving a hard drive failure warning. he later told me that he used to get mad and throw it playing after losing games. so i figure that the harddrive is just to damaged from taking hits while its active. I do not want to go spend more money on an operating system. will putting the hard drive from one to another work? they are both sata connections. the only difference is that one ran windows 7 and one ran windows vista.

 

[strollin]

It may or may not boot but the drivers won't be right for the hardware so the odds that it will work well are slim. You really need to re-install the OS as well as the drivers for the mobo chipset, sound, video, nic, etc...

 

[Murphyslaw]

Well if the nicer laptop does not work, depending on who manufactures it, you may be able to get a complete OEM-OS from them. Sometimes it can be for something as little as 16 bucks! Also, laptops can take a beating but if this kid was throwing it out of rage, it probably wont be worth sinking very much effort into. Stuff like micro fractures in the solder, cracked screens/Backlighting, ect will happen with a abused lappy. Just be prepared.

Just ask if you have any other questions!

--Murphy

 

[Tenenbaum]

Well if the nicer laptop does not work, depending on who manufactures it, you may be able to get a complete OEM-OS from them. Sometimes it can be for something as little as 16 bucks! Also, laptops can take a beating but if this kid was throwing it out of rage, it probably wont be worth sinking very much effort into. Stuff like micro fractures in the solder, cracked screens/Backlighting, ect will happen with a abused lappy. Just be prepared.

Just ask if you have any other questions!

--Murphy

Pretty much what he said here. My opinion is the same, except I wouldn't waste my time.

A laptop that had been thrown around may have many more problems. You could go out and buy a new one, and low and behold the problem was much deeper, such as the hard drive connector.

If you think its worth a try, go for it.