Laptop Upgrading

Laptop Upgrades

Before deciding to upgrade or replace your coputer, try clean up your computer software and try to speed up you computer system, see our optimize page. Often times software and programs that have accumulated over time have slowed down the system from its optimal performance. Because of this, you should try some maintainence to help speed up their computer.

Here are some resources listed below to assist you in upgrading or making repairs to your laptop computer:

1. Laptop Video Repair

2. DIY Computer Repair Book (Available on CD)

Memory Upgrade - One of the easiest ways to boost performance for any PC is to add memory to the system. But before you go to get that memory upgrade, be sure to gather information about your computer to ensure you get the right memory for your system. You need to know what type of memory the computer uses, the memory module sizes and what already exists in the system.

Can I install the memory myself? Most laptops today have a small door on the underside of the system with access to the memory module slots. If it does, then it is possible to just purchase a memory upgrade and install it yourself without much trouble. A system without an external door or panel for memory access will require installation by a service technician.

This generally will add additional expense to the memory upgrade in the future or possibly even the requirement that the system be sent in to a service center which means the lack of a computer until the upgrade is completed.

Harddrive Upgrade - It is important to install a drive that uses the same interface as the notebook. The big drawback to this is that it is a replacement and all data and software will need to be reinstalled on the system.

Laptop hard drives are normally 2.5" and 9.5 mm thick (some new Sony/Toshiba ultra portables havefitted, while some old Notebook hard drive might be 12.5 mm thick). All the drives listed here are 9.5 mm slim type which means they fit in 99% of the laptops. But some very old laptops (such as Pentium 100 MHz or earlier) might not support big capacity drive, in that case you can try to upgrade the BIOS from manufacturer's website.

From 2005, some new laptops have SATA (S-ATA, Serial ATA, SATA-II) hard drive fitted. S-ATA is different from IDE/ATA (Parallel-ATA, P-ATA, ATA-2,3,4,5,6,7). Unless specially pointed out, laptop hard drives are normally IDE/ATA hard drives. Allcam also stock Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 series SATA hard drives.

Laptop hard drives are easily upgradable with other drives. You do not need to match the brand of the hard drive to the brand of laptop, actually it is quite common that you may find an IBM hard drive in a Dell laptop or a Toshiba hard drive in a Sony laptop. If your old hard drive is 12.5 mm thicker, there is no problem to fit these slimmer 9.5 mm drives (& make it fully working).

All the 2.5" hard drives in the market has similar specifications except cache size (data buffer, 2-8 MB) and rotational speed (4200, 5400, and 7200 rpm). In theory the faster rotational speed, the faster your laptop can work.

CD/DVD Drives

Similar to the hard drive case, some laptops use media bays for the CD or DVD drive. If your system has such a design, it is possible to buy replacement or upgrade media drive units from the manufacturers. For all other laptops, external USB CD or DVD drives can be purchased and used. Once again there is the issue of power and size for the external drive unit. Blu-ray drives are also becoming available but they tend to have higher hardware