If you’re anything like me, you probably have a laptop. If you are anything like my other friends, they too have a laptop. Odds are that your laptop is a few years old and running Windows 7 or 8. Though it may seem fine to you now, the programs you use everyday are getting bigger and more demanding as time goes on. To keep up with these larger programs, you need more RAM, a faster CPU, and more storage space if possible. In this guide I will show you how to upgrade your older laptop for under $300 without breaking the bank.
Memory: Today’s top of the line programs require at least 8GB of memory in order to work with ease. The new generation of laptops are coming with 16GB of memory! If you have an older model laptop, chances are that it only comes with 4GB of memory or less. You can purchase an extra 4GB stick of DDR3L (low voltage) RAM to add to your existing memory for around $30-$40 USD dollars. WD Blue 1TB Hard Drive: If your existing hard drive is full or slow, it may be time to upgrade your storage capacity. A new 1TB Western Digital Blue hard drive will run around $50 USD and is
I recently upgraded my old laptop and the process was a lot easier than I expected. In this post, I’ll go through the process I used to upgrade my laptop for under $300 and explain how you can do it too.
The first thing that you need to do is decide what you want to upgrade and what your budget will allow. If you want a new processor, or want to add a lot more memory, then you’re going to have to spend more money than if you simply want a new display or keyboard.
If your laptop is still under warranty, then I would definitely recommend upgrading everything while still within the warranty period so that you don’t have to pay for shipping and handling fees. Also, if your laptop’s warranty is about to expire, it may be worth getting everything done now before the prices go up.
If you are considering upgrading your old laptop for gaming purposes, then you should consider adding some extra memory. Most laptops only come with 2GB of RAM but there are some laptops that have as much as 4GB of RAM which will make them much faster when playing games. However, if you are planning on doing any serious gaming with your laptop then it might be worth paying the extra money for an upgraded graphics card which will increase the frame
If you’re like me, you probably have an old laptop or netbook laying around that is starting to get a little long in the tooth. Maybe it’s a little slow, or maybe the battery only holds a charge for 15 minutes, or maybe it’s just plain ugly. There are plenty of reasons you may want to upgrade an older machine instead of buying new.
The first thing to remember is that although your machine is old it doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be improved. Here are some ways that I’ve upgraded my older laptops for under $300:
– Buy a larger hard drive and replace the smaller one
– Buy some more memory and add it
– Replace the keyboard
– Upgrade the operating system
– Get a new battery
– Install a solid state drive (SSD)
I’ll talk about each of these upgrades in turn. I’ll start with the least expensive upgrades and move up from there.
A good laptop is one of the most useful devices to have. It can be used for work, gaming, entertainment and much more. Unfortunately, it can be very expensive to buy a new one. That’s where old laptops come in.
If you know what you’re doing and which parts to buy, there are plenty of upgrades that can be done on your old laptop to give it more life. The following sections will take you through some of the best upgrades you can do for your old laptop under $100 each.
Memory:
Upgrading the memory on your laptop is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to increase performance. If you’re using your laptop for gaming or other intensive tasks, I highly recommend upgrading the memory to at least 8 GBs. Luckily, this is fairly cheap these days and only costs around $30-$40 on Amazon.
Make sure to get DDR3 RAM as this is still common in laptops and most manufacturers don’t support DDR4 yet. You should also get a 1600MHz stick or two 1x 8GB sticks running at 1333MHz if you want two slots filled.
Hard Drive:
If you’re looking for a cheaper way to get more storage space, look no further than getting an external hard drive. This can
So, you want to spruce up an old laptop and make it feel new again.
Upgrade the RAM
Upgrade the SSD
Upgrade the CPU (with a Coreboot BIOS)
From the post:
_In addition to the issues outlined below, you may also find this guide useful in your quest for better laptop performance: 5 Ways To Make Your Laptop Faster._
If your laptop is running slow, switching to a solid state drive is the best way to speed it up.
This step alone will make your computer feel faster.
The most common type of solid state drive in laptops is called an mSATA SSD. To find out if you can upgrade your computer with a solid state drive, you need to know how many mSATA slots your computer has and what size(s) they are.
Finding out how many slots you have is the easy part. Just look on the bottom of the laptop and count the number of available slots. If you have more than one slot, you may be able to use multiple smaller drives to add up to a larger amount of storage (e.g. 256GB + 256GB).
The tricky part is figuring out what size(s) your mSATA slots are. You will need to do some research or contact the manufacturer to find this information out. If you can’t find it, I recommend finding a computer repair shop near you and asking them to look it up for you.
If you have multiple sizes available, check prices on both sizes and see which one is less expensive per gigabyte (e.g., $150 for 128GB or $300 for 256GB