Can You Change Parts In A Laptop

How to upgrade your laptop components

Vanquish the credit crunch and save a few pennies by adding some performance to the erstwhile laptop you forgot you had

One of the wonders of the modern computer is its modular nature. And at times like this, when money may exist tight, it's more tempting than ever to open upwards your PC'southward case and event an easy upgrade instead of spending much, much more on a new system.

Some extra memory will improve your machine'due south ability to multitask, while a faster difficult drive will raise file writing. The proposition changes a little if your system is a laptop – but it needn't. Your notebook computer is in many ways merely as easy to upgrade as your desktop. All it takes is a little more training.

Here we pass on the tips that nosotros've learned from corking open the shells of numerous notebook computers, from picking the all-time tools for the job to finding the right guide to help you do things properly.

Upgrading a laptop is very different to upgrading a desktop PC. Whip off the case of a standard belfry and the motherboard is instantly exposed, with the slots, CPU and bulldoze all easily accessible. In a notebook, the components are crammed into a much smaller infinite and are oft layered on top of each other. Some forward-thinking manufacturers design their machines to provide easy admission to the parts that are well-nigh likely to be upgraded.

On the back of a Toshiba Satellite Pro, for example, you'll find cutaway hatches for accessing the RAM, Wi-Fi card slots and the difficult disk. Other machines hide their wares, requiring you to remove the keyboard and sometimes even other components before you can get at a part to upgrade it.

Why carp upgrading?

There are three good reasons for upgrading your laptop. The first, and nigh important, is cost. Yous can easily eke out the effective life of a laptop with a inexpensive upgrade or two.

Another reason for cracking open your laptop case is to make repairs. Notebooks are prone to drops and knocks; components tin come up loose and elements with moving parts are easily broken. You'll save yourself a bundle in labour costs if yous're confident enough to replace an ailing optical drive or sticky keyboard.

Our third reason for conveying out some DIY upgrades is to make your notebook a improve, stronger and faster device. Adding the latest Wi-Fi bill of fare or a solid state drive to speed upward information admission could transform your notebook from a mobile standby into an effective desktop replacement.

Earlier you lot start

It's important to begin with the correct tools. While modern desktop cases are held together with quick-release catches, you'll need at least a minor Philips screwdriver to tackle a laptop case. A inexpensive, basic set up of electrical screwdrivers should be fine, although in some cases we've had to resort to a powered screwdriver to loosen tightly fitted screws.

Some laptops – notably Dell and Apple notebook computers – have Torx screws to deal with, which take a star-shaped slot at the top. It might well be worth investing in a set of screwdrivers for those likewise. You shouldn't take to pay more £four, and they'll come in handy for pocket-sized hex socket screws as well.

In rare instances you may need a soldering iron, just simply to repair whatsoever harm yous've wrought by being over-eager with your modifications. You'll find all the tools that we've mentioned here in your local DIY shop or online at www.amazon.co.uk/tools.

These are standard tools, but we've institute that a couple of other bits and pieces come in handy too. A scope magnetic pick-upwardly tool can exist useful for grabbing small-scale screws that have fallen down cracks: Silverline do one for around £two. A pair of pincers or tweezers will help you when removing small-scale ribbon cables or motherboard connectors.

Y'all'll too observe that many laptop cases click together with plastic clips. A plastic putty spreader is often the right size to get between gaps and strong plenty to give you some leverage without causing as well much scratch damage to the exterior case. Of course, you'll only demand something like this if you're planning on fully disassembling your machine – and hopefully it won't come to that.

No laptop model is the same equally another. You tin can look notebooks in the same family to exist broadly similar, but it's never guaranteed that all the screws are in the same identify, or that the hard drive e'er slots into a handy bay on the side. Sometimes y'all have to remove the keyboard to get to a screw, or have off the back to admission the hard drive.

Before you outset, flip over your machine and take a good look at the trophy and ports on the back and sides. If it'due south not articulate how to easily access a component, don't get blundering in: read the manual kickoff.

Some laptop manufacturers provide service manuals online, including Dell and HP. Websites defended to 'have-apart' guides – documents created past enthusiasts that particular disassembly procedures – are also helpful.

If yous have a Toshiba laptop, endeavour www.irisvista.com. MacBook owners are well served by iFixit. The largest repository of guides we've institute is Repair4Laptop, which hosts a list of guides for laptops from effectually 100 manufacturers. If none of these sources comes upward with the goods, try ix Manuals. Here you'll find a excellent set of official service guides in PDF format that y'all can download for $5.99.

Gathering tech specs

The main difference betwixt a service manual and a take-autonomously guide is that the former will give you a full, official overview of the components in your machine. That'south important when because upgrades. An official guide should reply all sorts of questions, like what kind of memory you need, if there are any spare USB or PCIe ports in the machine and whether the optical drive is of a standard size.

If you don't have access to a full service transmission, y'all tin can interrogate your notebook's architecture using costless software tools. Nosotros recommend System Information for Windows, a freeware program that interrogates your reckoner and digs out valuable hardware and software data. It can tell you what drives yous have installed and what the interfaces are, what kind of RAM is nowadays and more. You can even use information technology to call back software licenses and passwords, which will come in handy for your pre-upgrade back-up routine.

A similar program, PC Magician 2008, is also gratis. It supplies yous with sufficient data to attempt upgrades, though in less detail and with no software information. Information technology also includes a handy benchmarking tool, so you can mensurate any improvements in performance subsequently you lot've upgraded.

Some guides recommend a BIOS update before upgrading. We retrieve that'south just actually necessary in two specific circumstances: if your machine is having problems that diagnostic tests advise are BIOS related, or if yous want to install components that your current BIOS won't support. Nosotros say this because flashing your BIOS is a procedure that can plow your laptop into an unbootable brick if washed badly. It's too trickier to carry out on notebooks than on desktop PCs, considering most lack a floppy drive.

One manner around this is to boot into Windows using an former install disc and so access the BIOS upgrade – available from your motherboard manufacturer – from a CD-RW. Alternatively, and more safely, endeavor world wide web.bootdisk.com for DOS and Windows boot discs, including a bespoke 'Flash CD' with BIOS upgrade instructions.

See the visual walkthroughs in an e-version of the original commodity on the PC Plus website.