ok i have a dell laptop thats getting kind of old. i really like if however cause it has a nice screen and it only needs a few things to improve it. My RAM isnt so good right now, i want to upgrade my cd drive to a DVD burner, and maybe give it alittle more memory. Voiding the warrenty isnt a problem cause its already over its warrenty. How hard would it be for me to do these upgrades? I have a friend here at school that built 2 computers for himself and his roomate. Also anyone have an idea on the price that im looking at?
oh i figured i should give its specs as a help and to avoid the questions that would probably follow Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz 2.79 GHz Performance Rated at 4.19 GHz RAM 511.2 MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 (ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 AGP (0x4E50)) QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242U
yeah thats the problem i really dont have enough money to go out and buy a whole new computer. im holding down two jobs to pay for tution and i cant see dropping like 500 on a new desktop, plus the laptop is good for everything i need in college it just need a little fixin'
umm 512 ram shouldnt be too much, maybe 100 bucks depending on quality. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010170381+1309121111&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=381 heres a list and most of them seem to be about $50 but i dont know which type of Ram you have so you will have to see which one you need. DVD burners are pretty cheap... http://www.meritline.com/slim-laptop-dvd-drive-burner-writer.html heres some and ther seem to be $80-$90
I've never built a laptop before... I think all you really can do is RAM, Drives, and PCMCIA stuff. Is it wifi? If you have a laptop without wifi, you're doing something very very wrong.
yeah it has wifi except i really dont use it cause none of the dorms on campus are wifi and the places that are have very bad connections. i can eject my cd rom/dvd piece so im pretty sure i can replace it. thanks blaze_it_up for those links, looks like i can do a pretty nice upgrade for hella cheap. is installation of ram and such pretty easy?
Pretty easy, RAM you just have to put it in next to the other RAM. I'd call dell or check online or w/.e and make sure you have extra RAM slots. DVD drive should be easy too.
to add RAM is extremely simple. On the back of the laptop you will find a few little compartment that can be accessed by removing one or two philips screws. You can check if you have open slots by just opening it and looking at it. then u pop the new stick in. the cd drive comes out with one or two screws as well, and just slides out. then u slide in the new drive, put the screw back, and your done. edit: remove the batt. and make sure it is not plugged in before doing any of this.
ok i figure ill just keep asking the questions so that i dont fuck something up. im looking through the owners manual. System Chipset - intel 865PE Data Bus width 64bit DRAM bus width - dual channel DDR memory 64 bits ber channel processor address bus width 32bits graphics bus 64 bits Flash EPROM 1MB PCI Bus 32bits Cardbus controller TI- PCI 4510 Cards Supported 3.3v and 5v PC Card Connector size 68pins Data Width PCMCIA 16bits Cardbus 32bit