Cheap Ways to Upgrade Your Laptop
Replacing an old laptop is very expensive, and in the current economic climate, many folks are looking save money wherever possible. With some cheap, easy-to-install laptop upgrades, it’s possible to breathe life into an old machine and keep it humming along for a fraction of the cost of replacing it.
One of the most cost-effective upgrades available is more memory. RAM is cheap and maxing out the memory on a machine (at a cost of maybe $50) will give it a terrific performance boost. Other upgrades that don’t cost much but will have a marked effect on the usefulness of the machine are a bigger hard drive (either on-board or external), higher-capacity battery and the addition of Bluetooth. Revamping an old machine might not be as exciting as buying a new one, but saving hundreds of dollars feels pretty good, too.
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Thanks for the kind words, Shahab
If you just need it for browsing and email, and the occasional document, you might consider moving to Ubuntu Linux, too. You have to learn a couple of tricks to install it, but then you get a system that boots in 1/3 the time, includes a full suite of applications, doesn’t require $50/year of security software, and confounds your friends.
Yeah, there are some gotchas, but so far each one has meant a quick Google search and a 3-min workaround. If you’re really trying to save money, give it a shot (just keep your Windows disks handy).
That’s a good point Paul. I decided to stick with hardware changes for my WWD post, but moving to Linux on an older machine is worth considering.
i have a computer repair shop that caters to the very price concoius. the biggest mistake everyone seems to make is waiting too long to upgrade. if you have a laptop w1ith 1gb of ddr2 now is the time to max out with 4gb; if you wait the price will go up, by the time mos
of my customers come to me for an upgrade they can buy a new machine for the same price(since theyneed ddr1, an IDE nootbook drive, and a battery that is nio blonger produced)Oh, in these economic times, don’t we all want ” cheap, easy-to-install laptop upgrades”. Great post. My computer, my wallet and I thank you for the info.