Experimenting with my HP Laptop

[hoffamania]

I am hoping to get some guidance on what sort of upgrades/projects I can do to the laptop I just purchased.

Model: HP 2000-2d29DX.
http/h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c04016690&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

I got it at best buy as an open box specifically as something to play around with and experiment on. I know it's a piece but I wasn't about to spend a lot considering I'm just getting into this as a hobby. I'll probably end up spending more to upgrade it than if I just bought a better laptop but like I said, I'm trying to do this to learn so spending extra isn't really an issue.

Anyway... I was thinking of the following items (in order of priority):

1. Putting in another 4gb of RAM.

Will this work (I think it's close to what I have now)?:
http/www.amazon.com/A-DATA-Premier-Series-1600Mhz-AD3S1600C4G11-R/dp/B007UHFXBM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1388611655&sr=8-4&keywords=4gb+ddr3+sdram+adata

2. Swapping out the harddrive for a SSD.

What about something like this?
http/pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sh103s3120g

3. Upgrading the processor to an i5 3230M. If I read it right the wattage should be the same as the i3 I have now but do you think my mobo will be able to handle it?

http/www.amazon.com/Intel-Mobile-Processor-i5-3230M-2-6GHz/dp/B00E0NWXVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388613306&sr=8-1&keywords=i5+3230m

What do you all think? Is there something else you'd recommend (other than returning the laptop and buying a good one)

Thanks!!

 

[Nikolay Savov]

1. Putting in another 4gb of RAM.
Will this work ?
- if you have the same Clock/Timings RAM YES
- you can have only 1 x 4GB - the laptop maximum RAm is 8GB

2. Swapping out the harddrive for a SSD.
- yes
What about something like this?
http/pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-dri...
- not the best but Yes

3. Upgrading the processor to an i5 3230M. If I read it right the wattage should be the same as the i3 I have now but do you think my mobo will be able to handle it?
http/www.amazon.com/Intel-Mobile-Processor-i5-3230M-2...
- NO - No one can tell will HP BIOS will manage to clock this CPU
- no one can tell is the cooling will manage to cool-down this CPU
I`m not advise you to upgrade the CPU

If the cash is not a problem for ya there are CTO Laptops - Costumize Before Order - you can have you own specs Laptop for 2x normal Laptop cash .......

 

[hoffamania]

Thank you for your help. I think the cpu was probably out of scope anyway so I appreciate the feedback.

What I don't want to do is buy something already put together. If I do that I stay ignorant and I don't get a fun tech project. At that point I might as well just use the imac already in the house...

Do you have a suggestion for a better SSD?

 

[Nikolay Savov]

Thank you for your help. I think the cpu was probably out of scope anyway so I appreciate the feedback.

What I don't want to do is buy something already put together. If I do that I stay ignorant and I don't get a fun tech project. At that point I might as well just use the imac already in the house...

Do you have a suggestion for a better SSD?

I`m verry pleased with Samsung Evo Series - good performance for the price and good size models - 120GB to 1TB