Contribute to MacDat
Email: macdatnet@gmail.com
Want to help? Here's what I'm in need of.
Laptop Portal
The top two things you can do to help with the Laptop Portal is to contribute images of a vintage laptop you own, and/or to contribute specifications/other info about a laptop you own. This doesn't have to be a laptop that's currently documented on MacDat.
Photos
You can see a template of what photos I need of a laptop here. Basically, just a photo of each side of the computer, photos of the BIOS/POST and the system booted (if your laptop works), and photos of the power supply (if you have the original supply).
The most important shot of a laptop that I need is a head-on photo of it open and booted (if it boots), such as what is shown below:
Do not worry about the background of the photo. I run all of these main shots through a tool that removes the background. Good lighting is far more important than the background.
When sending an image to me, be sure to remove the EXIF location data (I'll double-check myself just to be sure), along with letting me know if you'd like to be credited or not. If yes, let me know what name I should credit you as.
Specifications & Other Info
You can see what specs I need for each laptop in the table on this page. I'm often missing the exact video and sound chips that laptops use since many manufactures didn't list that info in their specsheets.
Other info I could use would be information on hardware failures and other quirks that you've run into. Does the plastic around the hinges crack? Varta battery? Let me know!
Capacitor Reference Library
If you have recapped something and would like to make it easier for people in the future to get the information they need on recapping your piece of hardware, send over your cap values! Check the Library first to see if I already have reference information for your item. If I don't, then send the values in! Here's a list of what I need for a complete page of capacitor reference:
- Capacitance (uf) and voltage (v) values for each capacitor
- Any special requirements for the new caps (ie, low ESR)
- Ideally as well, the dimensions of the caps (height and diameter)
- A high-quality top-down image of the board you've recapped. If the cap values cannot be seen in the image, please label each cap with its value and voltage with an image editing program. If all the values are visible in the photo, I can do this part myself.
If you only have partial information (like just the values, no image), that's fine, I can still add them. Having an image is ideal, but not 100% a requirement. Also, if you check and see that I have the values already but no image, as stated above, feel free to send one in!
Also, remember to double check that the values you provide are correct! I will likely have no way of confirming them myself.
Error Correction
Found an error somewhere on the site? A typo? Broken link? Incorrect information? Formatting error? Send it over to me and I'll get it fixed in the next site update, or earlier if it's something critical.
Feedback & Ideas
I also accept any site feedback or ideas that you may have. If there's something you'd like to see added to the site, a suggestion for a change to make, or anything like that. Let me know! I can't promise that I'll do anything you ask, but I always appreciate your ideas.
If you'd like to contact me about any of these things, either send an email to the address at the top of the page (macdatnet@gmail.com), or alternatively, you can send me a PM on any of the forums listed on my contact page.
Thank you in advance to anyone that helps me out with site development!
- 3lectr1c
Page last updated (MM/DD/YYYY): 08/17/2024
Update Reason: updated and re-wrote many parts
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