Introduction
Laptop ownership has never been higher and the number of people that rely on them are increasing on a daily basis. To keep ownership costs to a minimum, you would want to use it for as long as possible. If your current wonder machine from 2 years ago doesn’t seem to be so wonderful anymore, but money for a new model isn’t readily available there are several upgrade options to extend its life and usability.
Upgrading your memory
RAM is by far the easiest internal component to replace. Most laptop manufacturers provide easy access to your system’s memory which in most cases require you to unscrew one or two screws to open a small door at the bottom of your laptop. Upgrading your RAM would probably be the most cost effective upgrade available.
Check your user manual or online documentation for RAM speed and the number of DIMM slots available. Most laptops will have 2 DIMM slots, allowing for a maximum of 4 GB of RAM. Keep in mind that 32-bit operating systems can only address 3 GB of RAM. Check out this video guide to get an idea of how simple this procedure is.
Upgrading your battery
The first thing most people notice is that you are spending more and more time looking for a power outlet to charge your laptop. Laptop battery life start to decrease the moment it is used. The more use it’s had, the lesser the charge it can hold. Simply replace the battery with a new one, and look for models with a higher capacity than the original battery. Battery capacity is rated in mAh (milliampere-hour). The higher the capacity, the longer the battery will last between charges.
Upgrading your hard drive
Upgrading your internal hard drive simply to increase the capacity is not recommended, although it is quite simple to do. Many laptop manufacturers build an access door similar to ones used for RAMs, through which you can replace a new hard drive. If you’re intention is to simply allow you to store more data, an external USB hard drive would likely be a better option.
Having said that, the performance bottleneck in most laptops, and desktop PCs is the antiquated hard drive. New technology used in SSD (Solid State Drive) promise a significant speed increase. They have no moving parts, are more rugged, and require less energy to run, making it ideal for laptops. As with new technologies, the cost is still restricting it from becoming a mainstream product.
To see if your laptop can be upgraded with an SSD HD, please refer to this article. The following video shows an example of how you can install a new hard drive.
Upgrading your CPU
In some cases you can swap for a new faster CPU if it’s in the same family as the current CPU, however CPUs are generally soldered on to the motherboard unlike their desktop counterparts which are secured via various slots. To find out if a swap is possible, you’ll need to conduct some online research. Once you’ve determined that it is possible, mobile CPUs can be purchased on eBay or if you know the exact model number, a visit to staticICE could prove useful.
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