In fact, newer laptops are becoming harder to upgrade — but you still may be able to upgrade your laptop with more RAM or a solid-state drive. Buy the hardware you need to avoid headaches later.
Some laptops can be upgraded fairly easily, but do your research here. When you build a desktop PC yourself , a typical case will come with plenty of room inside. You can open it by twisting a few screws and get easy access to all the hardware in the case.
Laptops are different. They build a custom chassis case for the laptop and choose components that will fit that case. Many laptops can be upgraded in a few common ways. These upgrades will be easiest on older laptops, which are bulkier and often more upgrade-friendly. Different CPUs and GPUs generate different amounts of heat, so your new components may generate too much heat for the fans and cooling solutions that came with your laptop to handle.
Do your research! Look around online to see if your model of laptop is easily upgradable and if other people have upgraded its components successfully. Check exactly what type of RAM, solid-state drive, or other components your laptop supports. Some laptop manufacturers provide service manuals that will walk you through the process of opening up your laptop and removing various components. Do a search to see if your laptop has an official service manual you can use.
If not, you may find an unofficial guide for opening up your laptop and installing components written by another user. Some upgrades will be much more difficult than others. Do your research ahead of time to see if this is even possible. Even if it is possible later, you may want to seek out a laptop with your desired amount of RAM or a good solid-state drive and buy that instead, as it will save you a headache later.
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If it's available, download the laptop's service and maintenance guide, because it will have detailed information about the specific hardware you can use to upgrade your laptop. Determine how much memory your Windows Vista or Windows 7 laptop is using. Click the Start menu, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
Determine how much memory your Windows 8 laptop is using. On the desktop, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. Determine how much memory your Mac laptop is using. Click the Apple menu, and then click About This Mac. For more information, click More Info , and then click the Memory tab. Determine if you have the maximum RAM or not.
In the laptop manual you downloaded, check the system specifications to see if you're already using the maximum RAM or not. Method 2. Determine the kind of RAM your laptop uses.
In the laptop manual you downloaded, look for the section on memory modules. If you can't find the information in the laptop manual, there are tools online that will show you the correct RAM for a specific make and model of laptop.
Click here for an example of one of these tools. Buy the RAM you need. You can buy the RAM you need in many different places. Once you've identified the specific type of RAM you want to buy, in a search engine, type the specific RAM type, and then choose an online store where you'd like to purchase the RAM.
If you're using more than one RAM memory module, you need to make sure that they're each the same size. They'll both need to be 2 GB, for example. Before opening the computer or handling the RAM, ground yourself. Static electricity can destroy computer components. The simplest way to do this is to touch a piece of metal before handling computer components, but there are methods you can use too. Use a screwdriver to open the RAM memory access panel.
On many laptops, this panel is on the bottom of the laptop case and secured with one or more screws. Your laptop maintenance guide will have very specific instructions on how to do this. Install the new RAM memory. Method 3. Find out what hard drives are compatible with your laptop. In the user manual or maintenance guide, determine the hard drive models that are compatible with your laptop. In a search engine, search for the specific models of hard drives that are compatible with your laptop.
If the hard drive isn't the right physical size, it won't fit in your laptop. Method 4. Plugin the laptop with its power cord and turn it on. Backing up a hard drive can take more time than a laptop battery has charge.
If you plug it in, you won't need to worry about how much battery life you have. Backup your laptop's hard drive. Before installing your new hard drive, copy the contents of your laptop's current hard drive to the new one. This will save some time, because you won't have to reinstall all of your applications. On Windows 8, System Image Backup is the program you can use to backup your hard drive.
On Windows 7 and earlier, it's called Backup and Restore. If you want to start fresh with your new hard drive, don't backup to the new hard drive. Install your operating system, and then install and copy over any files that you need. Connect the new hard drive to your laptop's USB port.
You can also put the new hard drive into an external hard drive case which will have a USB connection. Install the cloning software on the old hard drive. Some hard drive manufacturers include their own cloning software, which may already be on your computer.
You can also use a third-party application. Clonezilla is a multi-platform, free, open source disk cloning utility. Clone the old hard drive onto the new hard drive. Before cloning the hard drive, be sure to read the help files to make sure you understand the process.
The cloning software will check to make sure the new hard drive is large enough to clone the old hard drive to it. After the cloning is finished, shut down the laptop and unplug it. Be sure to unplug and turn off the new hard drive too. Wait at least one minute for the electricity in the laptop to dissipate before continuing. Remove the laptop's battery. If the battery is in the laptop, it can give you an electric shock.
You may also need to remove it to reach the laptop's hard drive. Take out the old hard drive. As noted above, you may be able to reach the hard drive through the battery compartment. On other laptops, you may have to take off the entire outer case or detach the keyboard. A few laptops offer direct access to the hard drive through an access panel on the bottom. If you're not sure how to get to the hard drive for you laptop, refer to the user manual or maintenance guide for your laptop.
Install the new hard drive. Put the new hard drive in, but do not force it. Reassemble the laptop and boot it up. If you're starting up with a blank hard drive, you'll need to reinstall your operating system.
Select your laptop's manufacturer ex: Lenovo. If your laptop can't have its memory or storage upgraded, the advisor will tell you so. Since this particular tool is from Crucial, it recommends Crucial's own products, but as long as you take note of the products' specs, you can buy memory or storage from other vendors.
Here's what to look for. If your laptop has a hard drive right now and you're upgrading it to an SSD, it's almost certain that you'll need a 2. Except for a few high-end workstations, most laptops use non-ECC, unbuffered memory. Some laptops have only a single slot, which comes filled, so you may need to completely replace your existing DIMM rather than just adding to it. Knowing that your laptop is upgradeable in theory is one thing, but performing surgery on the device is another.
If there's one available, check the hardware maintenance manual aka, service manual to find what you need to do to access the components. To locate the service manual, navigate to the support page for your specific laptop model on the manufacturer's website e.
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