Laptop upgrade

[Cookson]

So the laptop at home is getting old as f**k and really slow. Toshiba Satellite L300. I think it was bought in 2009.

The battery is on it's last legs and the specs are a whopping 2gb of RAM and a 160gb hard drive. It's still running Windows Vista

Rather than splurge out on a new one, I wondered whether I could just chuck a couple of upgrades in. A new battery is about £15. Maybe up the RAM to 4gb and put a SSD in at say 500gb? It literally gets used for Sandra surfing the web and downloading virus' whilst viewing spiritial web pages etc. We don't really store films and music on it.

@YorkshireKyle you're an IT nerd aren't you?

 

[JamesBryan]

Buy a used one off @Perrinho

 

[Cookson]

Buy a used one off @Perrinho

Would it not be cheaper to lob a couple of parts at this? Ram is what £10? Battery £15, and SSD of 120gb about £30? So £60 or so rather than £150

 

[JamesBryan]

Would it not be cheaper to lob a couple of parts at this? Ram is what £10? Battery £15, and SSD of 120gb about £30? So £60 or so rather than £150

Depends if you can still get that RAM, it'll be old stuff now.

 

[Krarl]

I'm pretty sure there are toasters on the market with better spec tbh 😂

You could upgrade or it might just be better to get a new one

 

[Rojer]

So what you need is

SSD
Max RAM the motherboard will support
New Battery
Fresh install Win 10

 

[Krarl]

And your RAM might even be DDR2 SODIMM which is definitely less than £5 for a 4GB stick

It's just whether your CPU and mobo will hack it

 

[Cookson]

And your RAM might even be DDR2 SODIMM which is definitely less than £5 for a 4GB stick

It's just whether your CPU and mobo will hack it

How do I find out what it's running? The sticker on the front says Intel Celeron

 

[JamesBryan]

How do I find out what it's running? The sticker on the front says Intel Celeron

Task manager will tell you.

and if you click on Memory it'll tell you what RAM you have.

 

[Krarl]

Or just type 'dxdiag' and it will tell you everything you need to know

 

[Cookson]

Or just type 'dxdiag' and it will tell you everything you need to know

I've got a feeling that would end the same was as @thekopistop asking @Bubbles for nudes. A crash harder than Wall Street in 1929

 

[JamesBryan]

Or just type 'dxdiag' and it will tell you everything you need to know

Forgot about that one.

 

[djp66]

Just been having a clear out and found some laptop memory that I no longer need, same as in the link below. If it's anygood to you, just PM me your address and I'll send it to you.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006EWUOL8/?tag=cliospnet01-21

 

[Cookson]

Update on this, I was going to sort the laptop and decided the one from Perrinho would probably be better. However, due to the apocalypse, I assume he has been mad busy. So I've set up my older tower to work from home and brought a spare screen home from work. At first, it would not even recognize the screen despite being plugged in (one DVI, one VGA), and I put that down to the crappy onboard graphics card. I installed the updated driver for it and it started working and sees both screens. Awesome.

However, after around an hour of working remotely through the VPN at work and having youtube on the other screen, it does this s**t.

I guess it's being overloaded then and I need a better graphics card in there? Can anyone recommend anything that isn't going to bust the bank? I assume it goes in the blue slot?

May as well chuck some more DDR3 in there whilst I have the cover off eh?

@YorkshireKyle @JamesBryan

 

[Cookson]

Would something like this work?

AFOX GeForce GT710 2GB 64bit DDR3 PCI-E Graphics Card HDMI VGA DVI | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AFOX GeForce GT710 2GB 64bit DDR3 PCI-E Graphics Card HDMI VGA DVI at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Krarl]

If you can get some more DDR3 then get some mate. Make sure it matches the size speed of the other as DIMM's need to be matched

I might have a a few old GPU's about that might work mate nothing special but will easily push out to a few screens and have 1 HDMI output

 

[Cookson]

If you can get some more DDR3 then get some mate. Make sure it matches the size speed of the other as DIMM's need to be matched

I might have a a few old GPU's about that might work mate nothing special but will easily push out to a few screens and have 1 HDMI output

Whats a GPU?

 

[Krarl]

Whats a GPU?

Graphics card mate😂

 

[Cookson]

LOL. Didn't know if it was something else I was missing. I'm not exactly Steve Jobs

 

[Krarl]

I'll dig one em out and then post em to you if you want mate. I've got no use for em, they're old but would probably still help you out without spending more money

 

[Cookson]

I'll dig one em out and then post em to you if you want mate. I've got no use for em, they're old but would probably still help you out without spending more money

Legend

 

[Krarl]

Legend

I'll pm you spadge

 

[Darren S]

When you take the side off next time, just check on the CPU cooler itself - that big fat Intel thing with the fan on it the picture. Just give it a quick blow (ideally outside) to get rid of any residual dust build up - or with an air compressor ideally. The stock Intel coolers are paired with the CPUs themselves with about 0.00001% margin for overheating - by that, they do the job, just.

Any dust that builds up over time in between those cooling vanes, restricts airflow and can make the CPU overheat and shutdown.