Everyone wants a brand-new laptop with all the latest specifications and capabilities.
Yet, a good middle-range device may cost you $900-$1,500, and buying it when the laptop that you currently own just seems to be running slow will be a difficult decision to make.
However, one must understand that most laptops actually have quite a lot more life in them than one thinks.
Whatever your problem may be – whether it’s a long loading time, frequent freezes or something else entirely – there is always the possibility to perform some upgrades and improve the performance of your laptop. Some of these upgrades can be carried out in an hour or two.
Before Making Changes: What Should You Consider?
There are various kinds of laptops on the market. Some of them cannot be upgraded without professional help. Before going into action, check the following:
- Your model – usually found on a sticker on the bottom panel of your laptop. You will then be able to determine whether the model uses DDR4, DDR5, M.2, etc.
- The repairability of your laptop – check out the repairability score on iFixit website for hundreds of various models.
- Make sure that you are not in the warranty period anymore as some models of laptops are voided by opening the case.
- Get acquainted with your laptop’s performance – benchmark your laptop before carrying out the changes and compare it after.
- Make a backup – before starting working with your computer, make sure that all your files are saved somewhere else.
Before buying hardware for your computer, make sure that it is compatible with your laptop. It means that you will spend money in vain.
Therefore, it is recommended to look for information about your laptop and its components.
In addition to that, Zeto.ua website provides detailed hardware breakdowns and buying guides with more technical details than review websites.
1. Install More RAM
This point concerns those whose laptops have 4GB or 8GB of RAM and are using them not only for reading emails.
The thing is that RAM is responsible for everything that is being processed on your computer. When it is overloaded, Windows starts using storage as an alternative, and this means slow loading and stuttering.
Installation of another 8GB will not cost you much money – depending on your specs it ranges from $30 to $70. As for the improvement of your laptop’s performance, it will be noticeable immediately.
Important: some newer and slim laptops like MacBooks, Dell and Lenovo do not have replaceable RAM. Be sure to check it before buying it.
2. Replace the Traditional Hard Drive with SSD
This is definitely the most impactful upgrade that one can make and it will not cost you a lot of money.
Just imagine a computer which launches apps and applications almost immediately. The booting time which was usually 90 seconds may become 15 or even less.
Moreover, there is always an opportunity to increase the speed of your laptop. It may happen if it has an M.2 slot which supports NVMe.
You can upgrade your hard drive and get the possibility to use 3,000-7,000 MB/s instead of 500 MB/s which was before.
As for replacing your hard drive with a new one, you can use some free software such as Macrium Reflect. It will only take you 20-30 minutes and you won’t lose anything.
3. Clean the Cooling System
This upgrade does not require spending money. All you need is time and desire to get rid of dust and debris.
Over time, laptops gather dust in the cooling system and it affects the performance. Actually, the processor starts to slow itself because of high temperature – this process is called thermal throttling.
If your laptop works slowly but you bought it 3 years ago, the problem may appear to be in the accumulation of dust.
The first step is to use compressed air to blow the vents. Moreover, you can try to disassemble your laptop (if it allows you to do this) and carefully clean the heatsink and fan.
The next step is to put new thermal paste between your heatsink and the CPU. This way, you will reduce the temperature and increase the performance.
4. Update Drivers and BIOS Firmware
This point is connected with drivers. If they are outdated, your laptop may work slowly. Especially GPU drivers which influence the stability and frame rate of games and other software.
There are frequent updates from manufacturers that improve the work of drivers, fix bugs and improve power management.
What is more, BIOS firmware updates may help you to improve the compatibility of your computer’s hardware, fix instability and improve the efficiency of the battery. Every laptop has its own page in the support section of the website of the manufacturer.
5. Replace the Battery
This upgrade is necessary when your laptop requires connection to the power source all the time. Moreover, if the battery level decreases very quickly, it means that your laptop needs a new battery.
This is normal because in 2-4 years of regular usage, the battery loses its capacity (around 500-1000 charge cycles).
To find out how many percent of its original level of the capacity of your battery, you need to open Command Prompt and type the following command:
powercfg /batteryreport
The report will be generated in HTML format and there you can find out how much of the original level your battery keeps now. If it decreased to less than 60-65%, it is time to buy a new battery.
Most older laptops have user-replaceable batteries, but for the newer and slimmer ones, the process of installing the battery is much harder.
6. Increase the Capacity of Storage Space by Adding the Additional Drive
Having a low level of free storage affects the performance of your computer – Windows requires a certain amount of space to operate properly.
The easiest way to solve this problem is to buy an external SSD for $50-$80 (the capacity usually ranges from 500 GB to 1 TB).
Another option is to replace the optical drive in your laptop with a secondary SSD caddy. There you can install 2.5 inch drive to get additional space.
Some users choose the third way – installing SD card in the SD card reader. It provides you with more storage space, but the speed of working with it is lower than with other storage devices.
7. Add an External Monitor and Upgrading Your Peripherals
It is not a hardware upgrade but it affects the performance and makes it possible to work more comfortably. You will need to buy a 24 or 27-inch monitor with 1080p or 1440p resolution.
Moreover, it is recommended to add a good keyboard and mouse to create a comfortable workplace. This setup will cost you from $200 to $400.
Actually, it will not make your computer work faster, but it will definitely make you feel comfortable while using it. In case if you are doing video editing or graphic design, a calibrated external display is a crucial purchase.
Software Improvements You Can Carry Out for Free
Before buying anything to improve the performance of your laptop, carry out the following actions which are simple and will not cost you anything:
- Go to the Startup tab in Task Manager and disable the programs which load during the boot of your computer. You will reduce the startup time by 30-60 seconds.
- Install another browser which will not consume so much RAM. Chrome is one of the worst browsers in terms of resource consumption. Choose Brave or Firefox (with uBlock Origin).
- Disable Windows visual effects – search for the “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows” and select “Adjust for best performance”.
- Perform a malware scan. This will help you to eliminate the threat and free your computer from malware. For example, you can use free version of Malwarebytes.
- Think about a clean install of Windows if your computer’s performance has become worse due to many years of usage.
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