'Izzy'
HP Notebook 15-ac657TX
Current Status: Working but extremely slow. Thinking bad hard drive because it's a nine year old HDD.
(will put photo later)
CPU: i7-4510U 2.0GHz x2
GPU: Radeon R5 M330
RAM: 8GB DDR3 (can take 16)
Storage: 1TB HDD (needs replacing)
Optical: DVD-RW
Current OS: Linux Mint 22.1 - Cinnamon
Was given this laptop by my Dad in 2025. He had no use for it because he already replaced it, and it was running too slow for him to work with anyway. Battery is also dead and needs replacing.
The slow speed seems like the same problem I had on my Asus Vivobook, where the internal hard disc drive becomes unusably slow after several years (physical damage or corruption). My guess is it's either an average 'capitalism breeds innovation' moment (manufacturers using cheaper parts as time goes on to increase profit), or maybe the HDD gets more vibration/shock damage because modern laptops are typically lighter and more plastic forward. My point of reference for this is my older, sturdier Toshiba Satellite which still has it's original HDD from 2011 running fine.
This laptop is difficult to look up info for, I've encountered this before with my Asus one, they release about a dozen almost identical laptops at a time with long and complicated model numbers. The official support pages are generic and meant to apply to all of them, and they usually have the same parts compatibility.
Usage/Plans
- I am fixing this up for a friend, so he can have a reliable laptop with Linux installed to use for study, image & video editing, and pre-2016 gaming.
- Will be replacing the HDD and the battery, potentially add more RAM, depends on what is wanted. Distro is also up to him, but probably Mint+Xfce because it's easy with high compatibility.
Troubleshooting/Testing
- It will not boot from one of the USB ports, specifically the USB 'SS' ('SuperSpeed', now known as USB 3.0). I have seen this mentioned before online regarding other laptops; some are designed that only specific ports allow USB booting (I think this is the case here), it may be too old to support booting from the USB 3.0 port, or that port could be damaged.
- OS/HDD: Installed Linux Mint 22.1 - Cinnamon as a test, it boots faster than it did with Windows 10, but still over 90 seconds. Once in, the panel and menu are fine but opening apps takes 5-15 seconds. Tested antiX just from USB and that was much quicker, obviously, but I think also because it wasn't drawing from the HDD as much.
Resources
- User Guide from HP support website
- Maintenance & Service Guide
- iFixIt.com guide for HP Notebook 15-ay011nr (not the exact model number, but everything looks the same)