Upgrading a laptop's RAM and Hard Drive?

14-05-2009 08:12AM #1

Hey guys,

Rarely ever post in this section, as I'm not exactly all that familiar with the kinda discussion that goes on in here, but thought I'd throw this in here, to get a bit of advice from people who would know what they're talking about.

If I were to go out and buy a laptop off Powercity or eBay or wherever i can find one cheap enough, with say, 1GB of ram and a 100GB hard drive (just making these numbers up as i go along) would there be much effort involved in tearing out the hard drive/RAM and sticking in a 500GB hard drive and 3/4GB of RAM?

Or is there a lot more to it than that? I remember seeing a few tutorial videos about 'building a desktop computer' before, but, although it looked relatively easy (once you know what goes where) i never actually tried it, and I'm not sure if having a laptop (rather than a desktop) would futher complicate things.

Also, if it is as straight-forward and simple as im trying to convince myself it is, would I save much € doing it that way, or would i be better of just buying an good laptop to start with?

Sorry for the long-winded post. Any help would be apreciated. I'd like a laptop, but I've no real use for one, so I don't want to spend a fortune on it

darconio · 14-05-2009 08:54AM

Upgrading the ram and the HDD in a laptop is quite easy: just make sure that, whatever you are planning to buy, will support the amount of ram that you are planning to upgrade.
E.G. some old laptops max memory supported is 2GB

Solitaire · 14-05-2009 02:23PM

It's usually pretty simple; remove screws and take off the panels on the bottom cocealing the HDD/RAM then replace offending component and reassemble

The thing to remember is to get the corresponding type of part for your laptop; most laptops need 2.5" HDDs and can't use larger; make sure to check whether your laptop uses IDE or SATA! (almost always the latter now). Also make sure you get SODIMM (ie. not the desktop stuff) memory - DDR2 for DDR2-based lappies, and DDR3 for DDR3-based ones.

14-05-2009 03:48PM

Thanks for the replies guys.

Some more questions though, if you could please help me:

1. I haven't bought a laptop yet, is there a commonly used website that will let you enter a model number and tell you what kind of RAM/HDD you'll need specifically to upgrade it? Most sites i read that sell laptops tend to be very vague in their item specifics (unless im just coming across the wrong sites).

2. Seen as I'm planning to open the laptop as soon as i get it, i'd be voiding any warranty that comes with it (i believe). So does anyone know of any sites that sell cheap ass laptops that work, and would be suitable for this kinda thing (but they must be perfect looking). Adverts.ie has never really been of use to me for things like this (and most laptops on there that i've seen have the odd scratch, etc. on them that'd drive me insane looking at).

3. Seen as i've never bought a HDD or RAM before, is there a particularly good (aka cheap) online retailer for such things?

4. Seen as im gonna be upgrading the RAM/HDD, is there anything in particular i should look out for in a Laptop? (Usually RAM/HDD size are all i'd take into consideration.

Sorry for the cluelessness of my post, but I plan to read into it a bit more. For example:

Solitaire wrote: »

make sure to check whether your laptop uses IDE or SATA! (almost always the latter now). Also make sure you get SODIMM (ie. not the desktop stuff) memory - DDR2 for DDR2-based lappies, and DDR3 for DDR3-based ones.

I don't know what any of that means, so I'll have to spend a little while checking out online stores and general Googling around to make sure i'm getting the right parts for the right laptop.

Thanks a lot guys!

Solitaire · 15-05-2009 01:45AM

Exactly what do you intend to use this laptop for? That'd help give us an idea of what you should be looking for.

And buying a really cheap laptop and upgrading its RAM and HDD could wind up as expensive as buying a slightly better laptop in the first place. Plus a really cheap laptop may have sub-par CPU etc. which can't be so easily remedied, and the CPU is much more important performance-wise. Similarly there's no way whatsoever to change the chipset and graphics in a laptop, unlike a desktop, so you're stuck with whatever came in the machine forever. Same with screen - particularly large or small laptops tend to cost more, but are far better suited to certain users. And then there are nettops, with useless CPU and graphics but small (which is a double-edged sword) and inexpensive, perfect for more basic requirements.

If you have specific needs say so and don't try to cheap out on laptops unless you see a deal on a unit that has the size/CPU/graphics you need, or you'll simply cost yourself unneccessary money, time and hassle.

And to answer your questions:

1. Best look up the model specifications for what it takes, also check manufacturer's website. For memory alone you can use MemoryC's Memory Configurator here or the Kingston one here

2. If you tried to replace your memory or HDD you'd probably stand a whopping 0.001% chance of voiding your warranty

Asus tried to void warranties when people opened up their Eee nettops. It was a "revolutionary" idea, and coincidentally nearly got them laughed out of the market

And so Asus gave that game up quick enough

3. Plenty - MemoryC, Komplett, Dabs, sometimes Elara or many others - depends on how obscure the type of component is and even then you'd need to shop around to get the best deal, just like bricks and mortar. P.S. Avoid bricks and mortar

4. As I said, CPU/graphics/size are the big issues as only RAM/HDD can be replaced. And if you need a certain level of CPU/graphics/size then your budget will be dictated to you by how high your requirements are - no such thing as a free lunch in the portables market

15-05-2009 08:31AM

Excellent post Solitaire. Extremely helpful.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm not familiar with different processors.

I think I may be going a little over my head here. If there are parts to the laptop that are going to be permanent then I suppose I'd be better off just sticking with buying one normally, rather than being cluelessly adventurous.

I'd like to get my hands on something that could, ultimately, run a copy of GTA IV.

Generally speaking, I'll never use the laptop for anything more than internet, movies and MAME. But I've to go to Spain for a week in September for a weeding, and I have no interest in going, so I'd like to be able to sit around playing GTA IV whilst I'm there.

There's a decent looking laptop in a Harvey Norman catalogue i have beside me here. It's got an Intel Celeron Dual Core T6400 Processor (dunno what that is exactly, but it sounds good!), 4GB RAM and a 250GB Hard Drive, which seems fantastic to me (it's better than my dekstop) but it's €750 and I don't really want to spend that much on something that will only be secondary to my PC (well, it's not that I don't want to spend that much, it's more that i don't want to spend a lot of money on unnecessary things).

Would i be better off making a thread in the laptop forum?

Thanks again.

thepcgp · 16-05-2009 05:10PM

Hi, personally I wouldn't spend real money on anything with a Celeron processor.

If you want to play GTA IV at some stage, let's look at what you'll need:

Processor: Dual core processor (Intel Pentium D or better)
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive: 18GB free hard disk space
Video Card: 512MB Direct3D 10 compatible video card or Direct3D 9 card compatible with Shader
Drive: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive

This is a good starting point to find a suitable laptop. You're main issues here are the processor and graphics card. The down-low is that you're probably not going to get something second-hand that will run this, and if you do, it probably will cost you almost as much as a new one, or more, especially if you have to upgrade it.

I'm not a big fan of Acer, but they probably offer the best value in gaming laptops. You can get one that will meet and beat the above requirements for €650. Here are the specs:

Processor - AMD Turion X2 mobile processor RM-70 2.0 GHz Dual-Core
RAM - 4 GB (installed) 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive - 250 GB
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Screen - 16 in 1366 x 768
Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM
Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - 512 MB
Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel
Warranty - 1 year warranty

So that's a better spec than your Harvey Norman one, and it's €100 cheaper. Can you see yourself getting something like this?

Upgrading a laptop's RAM and Hard Drive?

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