Old Laptop - How to Upgrade Your Own Laptop for Under $175
How To Upgrade Your Own Laptop For Under $175
Do you have an old laptop lying around just collecting dust that for whatever reason, you no longer use? It just seems so antiquated, and slow. All you want to do is get rid of it. The hard drive is too small, and the memory sucks, plus you’re already planning on getting a sweet newer laptop.
I was in the same predicament. I have a 2 and half year old Compaq Presario 2500 that’s seen better days. I was thinking of giving it away, or putting it to sleep in favor of a newer laptop. It was my workhorse for the longest time, and had seen some serious abuse and usage. I was ready to put it to sleep and move on when I decided to refurbish, and upgrade it.
Just like I did, you may not have to get rid of that old laptop just yet. I’m going to show you how I breathed some some new life into my old laptop, and I did it for under $175. Consider this a perfect time to polish off your tech skills. I will show you how I upgraded my laptop, and how you can too.
Unlike a PC, there are only a few components that can be easily upgraded in a laptop. The main 2 are the hard drive, and the memory. If you were skillful enough, you could replace the motherboard, and if you knew how to solder, then you could possibly fiddle with the processor as well, but we’ll work under the assumption that this is beyond your knowledge.
You won’t need any fancy tools to upgrade your laptop. All you’ll really need is a jeweler’s screwdriver set which you can get for under $10 from any hobby store.
Before you begin handling any of the internal components, make sure your laptop is turned off, and that you remove the battery. There’s no sense in getting shocked. Also, make sure to get rid of any residual static electricity by touching the chassis before you dive in.
I went to my favorite online hardware store, http://www.newegg.com/, for my upgrade purchasing. I go to that website because it’s loaded with every type of computer hardware under the sun, and they have the best deals I’ve found. I had to really focus on the task at hand because once there, I’m like a kid in a candy store.
The hard drive is relatively easy to get to and replace on most laptops. However, I still had to check my laptop’s user manual for hard drive removal instructions. Originally, my laptop had come with a 40GB hard drive, but
1000
I wanted to double that. I found an 80GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive at http://www.newegg.com/ , and for only 80. 99, this is the one I went with.
Next came the memory. Originally, my laptop came with a paltry 256MB of RAM. I wanted at least 1GB because my laptop had been moving glacially slow. I’m not sure how I dealt with it for all those years. Please note, that not all laptops can support a memory upgrade so you should make sure yours can before you buy anything.
To see if mine could, I went to http://ramfinder.com. You can go there too and see how much RAM your laptop can support. Fortunately, the Compaq Presario 2500 can support 1 GB so I went with two 512MB Corsair memory sticks, which I got from NewEgg for only $45.99 each.
Once I had the hard drive and the memory installed, I re-loaded the operating system, and all the drivers. The whole process from start to finish (after I had the components shipped to me) took about 45 minutes, and now I have a laptop that behaves like new but cost me only $172. 97. Considering a new laptop with equal components would have cost me between $700-$900, I think I did pretty good, and you will too. Just follow this simple guide and you can save yourself hundreds of dollars while extending the life of that old laptop of yours.
By: Erick Charles
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Erick Charles is an IT professional who is eager to share his knowledge with others. He has created a website to help even non-techies become more comfortable with their computers. You can visit thetechboy.com for more information.
Best Business Apps For Android – Yahoo! India News
Mike Hendrickson, Forbes.com
Business is shifting to a more immersively connected state, where everyone knows where and what everyone is doing at all times. We are sharing statuses, updates, files, directories, location check-ins and a host of other personal things about our lives and business. And if you work in a professional environment and travel, you likely know the feeling of being disconnected from your office, tools, family and friends.
But if you have one of the numerous phones that run on Google's Android platform, you can not only alleviate some of the inconveniences of traveling, but also gain some extra productivity from your device while in the office, on the road or at home. Whether you are looking to access your files from multiple devices located in different locations or finding a local restaurant in a foreign city, you are just an app away from what you want with your Android phone.
Best Business Apps For Android
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There are a number of apps highlighted in my book, “The Best Android Apps,” that are not overly complicated, use the powerful features of Android and should give you a bit of productivity boost.
The very first app you should install is Barcode Scanner. With this app, you can simply scan the QR Codes and go directly to the app's installation page. Click, scan, install is all you will need to do.
My pick for the best travel companion app is ALOQA because it lets you “Always Be Local.” Using your GPS to determine where you are, this app will find activities, events, stores, restaurants and a host of other things in your vicinity. I find this a great way to get more connected to a city that I am visiting. Last time I was in San Francisco I found a yoga studio in the Mission District that was a great stress reliever. Be a local, get this app.
My pick for the best file-sharing, management and storage tool is GoAruna because it is simple, intuitive and liberating. If you have ever been somewhere without your laptop or access to your files, you would have no problem if this app was loaded on your phone. Before you leave on your next trip you could simply drag and drop files that reside on your Mac, Windows or Linux computer, and you will have them accessible wherever you have your phone.
The business app I use the most is EverNote. It's great for taking notes in meetings and also lets you embed voice recordings, pictures, Web pages and pretty much anything you want to make your notes more complete. The app is location-aware and provides access to your notes on pretty much any device (iPad, iPhone, Android, desktop, laptop).
Whether you are trying to find a misplaced phone or a perfect place to relax while traveling on business, there are plenty of Android apps aimed at boosting your productivity, or alleviating some of the trepidation and lost time that business travel may cause.
Mike Hendrickson is the co-author, with Brian Sawyer, of Best Android Apps. He has held a variety of positions in the publishing industry including product development manager, editor-in-chief and most recently associate publisher at O'Reilly Media.
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