Upgrading an old Laptop (sort of)

KillerShamrock

I have a Vaio Vgn Fz11s
specs: 1.8ghz core 2 duo, 2gb ram DDR2 667Mhz, 160 gb HDD 5200rpm Nvidia 8400M Gt

Which is pretty Old and sluggish by now I cant afford a new laptop so Im wondering if I can do some basic things to make it run a bit better
Like: Upgrade Vista to Windows 7 64bit would the laptop be able to take it lol
Install a new HDD thats 7200rpm or even SSD and up the RAM to 4Gb.

I would be able to do these things all myself but is there anything i should know like will there be any problems in changing the above components would it be able to take 4Gb of RAM will i need to get a specific type of RAM, the size of the HDD aint a big problem just wanna get a faster one.

Any help and warnings will be welcome

Alanstrainor

I would go for the free option first.

Reinstall vista, and update all to the latest service pack. The laptop should run fine, it has plenty of horsepower.

Capt'n Midnight

Make sure you have vista service pack 1

also tweak vista for performance rather than for eye-candy

32 bit computer won't see mote than about 3.2GB without using PAE, which make windows less stable? and are only availbale for server versions

KillerShamrock

Thanks for the advice but I'm really looking to get rid of Vista as i find it terrible plus i never got a vista disk with the laptop so no real way to re install it!

I know re installing the os should help and its something i have considered, I'm just curious if the other options I have suggested would be worth my while putting cost aside for now

pslat

Richie6904 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but I'm really looking to get rid of Vista as i find it terrible plus i never got a vista disk with the laptop so no real way to re install it!

I know re installing the os should help and its something i have considered, I'm just curious if the other options I have suggested would be worth my while putting cost aside for now

Hi Richie6904, the Vaio Vgn Fz11s has a max memory spec of 2Gb so I don't see the point of going for 64bit os unless you're looking to add a hdd of more than 2Tb. I'd recommend a re-install then buy a win7 upgrade disk and install that if you can shell out for it. Check with Sony in case they have a win 7 upgrade offer for your model. Your machine should have a recovery partition which will let you reinstall vista without any disk. This guy upgraded and seems happy with the results.

Capt'n Midnight

Don't discount Vista until you have tried all of the below

might as well use Microsoft Security Essentials as an AV to keep the clean install as clean as you can.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61492466&postcount=3

mukki wrote: »

vista is not a crappy OS


when you install vista on a pc you have 36 processess running in the background (taskmanager bottom left corner)


when you buy a vista pc or laptop they usually have so much crap installed that you have well over 80 background processess

1) uninstall norton and mcafee and reboot
2) use autoruns (google it) to disable all non microsoft items
except
anything on drivers tab
dell quickset if installed
lexmark printing service if installed

3)run services.msc and disable...
server
computer browser
error reporting service
readyboost
security center
windows defender
superfetch (only if you have less then 1gb ram)

4) run msconfig and disable
all items on startup tab
on tools tab disable UAC
on tools tab lauch security center and set it not notify or display icon

5) run firewall.cpl and make sure the firewall is on
6) install an antivirus

optional
7)right click my computer
properties
advanced system settings
performance settings->settings button
click adjust for best performance
tick the last 3 and tick show thumbnails instead of icons

optional
8) right click desktop and hide desktop icons, right click on taskbar and add the desktop toolbar instead

optional
9) remove back ground wallpaper

10) on a laptop click on the battery icon (beside time) and make sure its set to performance on balanced, NOT the "power saver" setting as it tries to reduce precessor speed by 50%

Note: if you encounter any problems tap f8 while booting up launch startup repair and run system restore

(edit on request)

doing all of the above will make vista fly even with only 512mb ram.



but if you are still not happy buy more ram, its dirt cheap, and easy to change

Capt'n Midnight

pslat wrote: »

Hi Richie6904, the Vaio Vgn Fz11s has a max memory spec of 2Gb so I don't see the point of going for 64bit os unless you're looking to add a hdd of more than 2Tb. I'd recommend a re-install then buy a win7 upgrade disk and install that if you can shell out for it. Check with Sony in case they have a win 7 upgrade offer for your model. Your machine should have a recovery partition which will let you reinstall vista without any disk. This guy upgraded and seems happy with the results.

OMFG - a 64 bit cpu in a PC with a limit of 2GB ! - means my estimation of Sony has dropped even further

in reality you can slap 4GB in - but double check before you buy
http://okmemory.com/Sony-VAIO_VGN|FZ_Series-FZ11S-L9206-memory.html


Put it this way - if you got the free windows 7 upgrade before the cut off date it's worth a go, but not worth buying a copy.


from sonys site http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/specifications/index.aspx?m=VGN-FZ11S&l=en_IE

Due to the fact that this VAIO model was not sold in your language region, we are not able to provide specifications in your selected language:rolleyes:

Microprocessor Full NameIntel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7100, Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology

Memory
* Memory Speed (MHz)667
* Memory TypeDDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB)
* Max. Memory (MB)2048