Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Apr 2009
- Posts
- 11,973
- Location
- Cheshire
For the RAM, you would be best off going for a 2x2GB kit - as it will preserve dual channel mode (so more memory bandwidth). With windows 7 I found there was a noticeable difference going from 2GB to 4GB - so worth going for considering the low price of DDR3 RAM.
As has already been mentioned, backing up the important data and doing a clean windows 7 install is probably the cheapest and simplest upgrade you can do - as after 2.5 years of regular use it will have got a bit bogged down. A fresh install should bring it back to how it felt when first bought.
That said, I certainly wouldn't discount an SSD upgrade. It may be an expensive upgrade, but you could consider it an investment - as you can always transfer it to any new laptop you buy and again get a big speed boost compared to the pre-installed mechanicall HDD which will doubtless come with it. Personally, I upgraded a really old 65nm Core 2 Duo/4GB RAM dell laptop with an SSD (a last gen Vertex 2) and it honestly made a relatively sluggist old laptop feel as fast as my much newer desktop in Windows and applications - as there is so many tasks which are heavily limited by a mechanical HDD (especially a 2.5in laptop HDD) and these bottlenecks are blown apart by even a relatively cheap SSD.
As Sasahara points out, that bay that converts a laptop DVD bay into a 2.5in drive bay is a very good ideal. I would personally install the SSD in the standard HDD location, install windows and then replace the DVD drive with that bay (and the old HDD installed in it - for use as a storage drive).
As has already been mentioned, backing up the important data and doing a clean windows 7 install is probably the cheapest and simplest upgrade you can do - as after 2.5 years of regular use it will have got a bit bogged down. A fresh install should bring it back to how it felt when first bought.
That said, I certainly wouldn't discount an SSD upgrade. It may be an expensive upgrade, but you could consider it an investment - as you can always transfer it to any new laptop you buy and again get a big speed boost compared to the pre-installed mechanicall HDD which will doubtless come with it. Personally, I upgraded a really old 65nm Core 2 Duo/4GB RAM dell laptop with an SSD (a last gen Vertex 2) and it honestly made a relatively sluggist old laptop feel as fast as my much newer desktop in Windows and applications - as there is so many tasks which are heavily limited by a mechanical HDD (especially a 2.5in laptop HDD) and these bottlenecks are blown apart by even a relatively cheap SSD.
As Sasahara points out, that bay that converts a laptop DVD bay into a 2.5in drive bay is a very good ideal. I would personally install the SSD in the standard HDD location, install windows and then replace the DVD drive with that bay (and the old HDD installed in it - for use as a storage drive).
