Should I upgrade my current laptop? Or buy a new one?

deano546

So currently I have a Dell Studio 1555, I bought it about 2 and a half years ago, here are the specs:
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4200 (2.0GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache)
1GB DDR2 RAM (Had 3GB but the 2GB stick died)
256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

It's been particularly slow since the 2GB stick of RAM died, but thats to be expected, however, it was still quite slow before that and I'm wondering if its worth my while to get 8GB of RAM http://www.amazon.co.uk/Komputerbay-800MHz-PC2-6300-PC2-6400-SODIMM/dp/B004LTCGSK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1DOMLI5RUFY0W&colid=38GECHIIY2AO5
and a SSD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-128GB-2-5inch-Notebook-bundle/dp/B004BP93FS/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1321988595&sr=1-3
to speed it up or should I just get a new laptop? I'd prefer to keep my current laptop but maybe the reason for its sluggishness is the processor? (I'd browse flash sites fairly often) My budget would be fairly limited, about €350-€400 but all I would do is surf web, watch videos and listen to music, battery life would not matter but I'd like a 13-15 inch screen like my current one.

Thanks

Alanstrainor

No. Not worth buying that amount of RAM or even an SSD. You'll see the biggest performance increase with a reinstall of the operating system. And maybe add in an extra GB of RAM to help it along. As 1 just isn't enough.

I would have my doubts that, that laptop would even support 8GB of RAM. Could be wrong of course. But that amount of RAM is just wasted if all you're doing is browsing the web, and similar things.

Best bet would be to reinstall and get another stick of RAM cheap to keep it going. Then save up the rest of your cash for a proper upgrade in the future.

deano546

Alanstrainor wrote: »

No. Not worth buying that amount of RAM or even an SSD. You'll see the biggest performance increase with a reinstall of the operating system. And maybe add in an extra GB of RAM to help it along. As 1 just isn't enough.

I would have my doubts that, that laptop would even support 8GB of RAM. Could be wrong of course. But that amount of RAM is just wasted if all you're doing is browsing the web, and similar things.

Best bet would be to reinstall and get another stick of RAM cheap to keep it going. Then save up the rest of your cash for a proper upgrade in the future.

I have re-installed fairly recently (maybe about 6 months ago at this stage, Windows 7 Home Premium) it still got fairly slow after that so I thought maybe it was either the processor/slow HDD making it sluggish, thanks for the advice also, I'll just get the 1 stick of 4GB RAM if I do upgrade

Jaafa

I would say stick it out a bit longer. Don't upgrade or buy until you got about 500 euro saved and you can get yourself a nice laptop that'll last you a good 3 years.

U_Fig

Ya running win 7 on 1GB ram will make it slow Alright..I'm running win 7 on 512 ram here and it's like a snail with a limp .
RAM is fairly cheap anyway..if you decide to upgrade I'd say stick 4GB max. There's no need for more unless you use RAM heavy program's..I'm using 4GB on my Main laptop and can run flash cs5 office 2007 and VMware with iTunes and firefox without the laptop being too sluggish. Also the biggest performance upgrade you'll see is from a SSD and fresh install. I installed one recently and the difference is huge.. Boot time went from 3 mins to about 30 seconds it's about 40 secs after i installed a few programs at startup.. And programs open instantaneously..I also replaced my optical drive with a HDD for storage and now use and external CD drive.

dilallio

If you're buying 4GB of RAM make sure you check if your machine supports 1 block of 4GB. My partner has a similar Dell to yours and I'm fairly sure she was told previously that to upgrade to 4GB, she would have to buy 2 x 2GB rather than 1 x 4GB.

sqwarez

^ if she was told that by Dell customer support, theres about a 1% chance its true. :P

You definitely need more RAM, I can't imagine you're running youtube or anything well like that. 1x or 2x 2gb stick will do fine, any type of laptop ddr2 RAM should work. On a computer forum you should be able to get that 30 euro. I know theres a world of difference but I recently got 2x4gb (8gb) for 30$ usd.
4gb ddr2 sticks are kind of rare and expensive so i dont think thats worth it.