YOUR LAPTOP WILL RUN FAST AGAIN
3 upgrades to make – and 1 to always avoid
Laptops typically give you a lower spec than a desktop PC for your money. If you bought yours with 4GB, 2GB or even less, it may be struggling to keep several Windows 10 programs running smoothly. Expanding the memory won’t speed everything up, but should make loading programs and switching between them noticeably faster.
Use a memory processor sales site such as Crucial’s ( www.snipca.com/24451, see screenshot below middle) to see what upgrades are available for your laptop. There’s no need to buy processors from your laptop’s own brand; they’re highly standardised. You’ll usually have to throw out what’s already installed and replace it with higher-capacity modules. 8GB should suit most purposes.
To get at your laptop’s memory, there may be a small hatch, or you may have to remove either the back panel or the keyboard. Next, pull apart two clips to release the module, which will flip up so you can pull it out. Slot the new one in the same way round and push it beyond the clips until it sits completely firm. Check your laptop maker’s support website for specific instructions.
Hard drive
Some laptops now come with NAND processors soldered to the motherboard, making storage upgrades impossible. Others have them on a small PCI board, which is tricky to replace. But most have a hard drive or SSD in a standard 2.5in format, and you should be able to get at this to replace it. Removing a panel or the back cover may reveal the drive plugged into a SATA connector, or it may slide out in a caddy, in which case you remove the old drive, replace it with the new one and slide it back in (see picture above).
If you have a 1TB or smaller hard drive and need more room, swap it for a 2TB drive. If speed is more important, replace the drive with an SSD. This will make your laptop start faster and load programs quicker. It could well be three times faster than your old hard drive.
Assuming your laptop has one drive with Windows installed on it, you’ll need to clone it to the new one so your PC can boot from it. This requires a drive-cloning program and an external caddy to connect the new drive temporarily, via USB. You can do this using free software such as Easeus Todo Backup Free 10 ( www.snipca. com/24452) – pick the System Clone option (see screenshot below) – but make sure you untick all the options to download unwanted extras. Kits are
Replacing your laptop’s battery could give it a new lease of life if the original one isn’t lasting as long as it used to
available (see Kingston review above) that pair an SSD with a caddy and software to get you through the whole process.
Battery
Replacing your laptop’s battery could give it a new lease of life if the original one isn’t lasting as long as it used to. Search online for ‘authorised replacement laptop battery’ and you’ll find official sources for the big manufacturers. Batteries typically cost £100-£200, so you’ll need to consider if it’s worth it for an older laptop. Cheaper ‘compatible’ batteries can be found on ebay, but obscure foreign suppliers and flammable lithium-ion technology are not reassuring bedfellows. One option is to buy a compatible battery from a reputable vendor such as Maplin: search for your model at www.snipca.com/24453.
Processor
We’ve left this until last to remind you to think about it first. Replacing a laptop’s processor is unlikely to be practical. So before planning any upgrades, consider whether a sloww processor means your laptop isn’t worth improving. If you have an Atom, Pentium or Celeron processoror – anything less than a Core i3, i5 or i7 – Windows 10 will feel sluggish even with more memory or an SSD.
If you’re happy with your laptop’s performance but need more storage, a drive swap could make sense. But if speed isn’t a concern, plugging in a USB stickck or SD card is a simpler way to make roomm for your photo collection, for example.
Older machines running Windows XP,P, Vista or 7 may not be able to upgrade to Windows 10 (use Intel’s ‘Processor Support’ page for help: www.snipca. com/24450), meaning their useful life is limited. Upgupgradingdi is great, but the time comes when your money is better put towards a new PC.