Dell 15R N5110 meanigful upgrade both RAM and HDD

[zarizvi]

I am planning to give a performance shake to my current laptop. After spending sometime over the net, I have nailed down two things (1. RAM and 2. SSD internal hard drive) that could really help boost the performance. My Laptop has the following configuration:

Dell Inspiron 15R - N5110
3 GB RAM SD DDR3
Intel Chipset HM67 with a core i3 processor
Windows 7 Ultimate 32Bit

My questions are following:

1. Current RAM is 3GB, normally my PC shows 60%-70% usage of RAM on an average, but also sometime it jumps to above 90%.
a. Would it make sense to upgrade the RAM to 4GB or 8GB, can I see any visible difference in performance? I understand the 32 bit win cannot recognize more than 4GB RAM, however if I upgrade my windows to a 64bit and add 8GB RAM, would it worth an investment?
b. What would be the maximum fastest RAM I can use on this laptop?

2. I guess for SSD no one would argue that it’s not going to give a boost in laptop performance. I am also guessing that my laptop can support SATA III. Which SSD drive would you recommend?

3. I do not have an original windows CD or recovery disc. Could anyone please guide or send a link that would help me plan how to replace the hard drive, format and install windows on the newly replaced hard drive and get the system up and running.

Thank you all for the help and advice in advance

 

[Dave8671]

Hi

Yes your system is 64bit, you can purchase windows 7 64 bit at

http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932&CatId=4622

Once you install windows 7 than you will need to install drivers for your audio card and network hardware etc. I would use the use the system analysis on the website if you do not know what network card is installed. Download all of the software that the system analysis lists than burn the drivers on to a CD than you will be set for you new install of windows.

Dells are really not a easy hard drive replacement laptops. Below is a video about that. keep in mind that SSD drives can be more expensive than regular hard drives for GB sizes. Another issues is how much space do you use now and what is your budget? Though keep in mind that a 1TB SSD would cost around $400 and up. If you use your internal drive for music, pictures, videos you would need to have a external drive for those files if you went with a 120GB. muisc can be large like in itunes for example my itunes folder is 40GB and that is music and videos. As for Memory I would not go above 8GB. I see no benefit of adding 16GB unless you use Photoshop or something along of that type software. I would as a caution read about the drive you pick see how is performs and if it has failure rates that are high if any. This is one reason I do not use SSD drives I do not feel they are reliable enough for my needs yet.

Video
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8wWVzSjaOk

Guide yo SSD prices and sizes

http/www.hardware-revolution.com/best-ssd-december-2014/

 

[Dave8671]

New link for windows 7 home and cheaper price

http/www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-System-Builder-Packaging/dp/B00H09BB16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421856618&sr=8-1&keywords=windows7+home

 

[hang-the-9]

You can create a recovery disk from Windows or clone the drive to the SSD. You can also download the WIndows 7 ISO file and create a DVD using the code on your laptop to activate it. Do a search for "digital river windows 7 iso", and you will get the links to download the disk image.

 

[Dave8671]

I never heard of this I must be under a rock, as long as this is legal I have no issues.

 

[hang-the-9]

I never heard of this I must be under a rock, as long as this is legal I have no issues.

Chances are good that a Moderator on the boards would not suggest an illegal Windows setup LOL

Those are official Mircrosoft disks that can be used with an existing license key. It's not a hacked version or anything with an illegal volume key, just a straight vanilla Windows 7 disk. BYOLK (bring your own license key), if you have a key but lost the disk, that is when you use those ISO files. As long as you download the right version that matches the license key, it will activate just fine.