Speeding up old laptop: Ram or SSD ?
- Thread starter CarLuver
- Start date
True; but at least there are choices available: There are new *and entirely capable* distros out there that do not require whiz-bang fancy-pants 3D graphics. Ubuntu has a MATE spin that'd bring an old machine to life.
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$44 for a 'name brand' PNY 480GB SSD from Amazon directly. That's pretty hard to beat, and I looked around a bit. SATA II will not take full advantage of an SSD's capability but it's still WAY faster than a spinning drive.
A 4GB SODIMM for an HP ProBook 4540s (if that's what it is) will be $18-$21 from a few different places.
Do a BIOS update first. Then install Windows 10 cleanly afterwards and enjoy.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
As others said, SSD. I do this for a living and you wouldn't believe what happens when I have slow 2014-2015 PCs and throw an SSD and a fresh copy of Windows 10 on it. It flies!
Used RAM is a good idea too.
Used RAM is a good idea too.
SSD for boot, operating system and programs. I usually use 4Gb of memory (only use Linux) but as Linux gets bloated I've found 8Gb the new minimum. I've only upgraded to 8Gb on machines that are pegging ram usage (photo editing). I check System Monitor occasionally but I'm sure Windows has an equivalent. I only use spinning rust for long term storage.
In your case I'd put 8GB of DDR3 sodimm in there and a 120GB SSD, plus an ebay optical drive bay to 2.5" HDD adapter to move the HDD over to the optical bay. This should be about $20 for the DDR3, $20 for the 120GB SSD, and $15 for the optical bay to 2.5" HDD adapter. You may get a cheap used 120GB SSD for like $15 or $10 but 8GB DDR3 is in high demand so you won't get many cheap used one.
good reading even though i gotta look up what some of the slang-shortcuts mean. changed 2 HDD's in the past i EZE a bigger thicker 17" Dell + a PITA 15.4 thinner Dell. been buying cheeper HP's lately + they serve me well enough for surfing + buying + although i run google chrome Windows 10 is a PITA to find the functions that were simple on Windows 7 + the Cursor STILL has a mind of its own opening + closing stuff without clicking + just passing over not even hovering!!
