Is there any upgrades I can do on a Gateway NV79 Laptop?

[diebog]

HI everyone. I'm new here and found the site trying to find info on upgrading (if possible) my NV79 Laptop that I bought used a while ago and its just a little slow sometimes. I am just not sure what I can do to upgrade. Here are my specs

I believe there is another unused slot for a 2nd drive but not sure. I only have one HD named C: under "my comp".

Also the DVD drive is giving me issues and I want to buy a replacement and would be nice to go with something better then stock but again what will fit? Is there a certain style or model number to go by?

I tried trouble shooting the DVD drive but cant find what is causing the issues. The computer recognizes it and says its working properly. I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them but no change. It was working one day and then it stopped. It opens and closes normally but whenever you try to play a CD or DVD it just thinks and thinks and eds up saying there is no DVD in the drive. I had just successfully burned a DVD the day before this happened with no issues.

Any Ideas before I buy a new one? Are these known to just go out like that? My wife does burn allot of CD's on it. Maybe it wears out?

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[zink1701]

Only real upgrades for that is extra RAM (not that usefull and wasting money imo) and replacing the HDD with an SSD (reinstall of the OS req). An SSD will give a noticable boost in performance. If the laptop has an express card slot then you could always set up an external GPU (can be expencive and its not a simple as plug and play). As for the DVD drive it sounds like it does need replacing, has an issue the same on my laptop. There are quite a few reputable sites that do replacements, I personaly would use the same one to avoid any issues with mounting it.

 

[diebog]

Thanks for the response. Ya I figured the drive is bad, Ive seen some used ones for real cheap, like 10 bucks on ebay. Are these worth buying? I would like to buy a faster drive that is more reliable but I guess I am limited to what this computer can use. I thought there would be other replacements out there with different options.


So as far as replacing the HDD to SSD, what makes the difference that makes it faster? Any brands or models you recommend getting? You mentioned the OS (operating system correct?) needs to be reinstalled, the laptop came with win 7 but I don't have a backup disk for win 7. Please forgive my lack of knowledge here, I know a little bit about this stuff but not enough to be confident of which direction to go, what to buy, etc. So any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[diebog]

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[diebog]

On this thread its suggested to get a sata 3 SSD and I was looking a some on eBay and it seems there is a 2.5" and a 1.8" SSD. How do I know which one mine takes? Im guessing this is a thickness measurement?

Intel was the number 1 manufacture to buy from on that thread, is that pretty much the consensus as far as SDD's go? There are just so many choices and I just don't have the experience to know what to get.

 

[hotpeppercheese]

I've done some checking myself also "diebog"
i see you can upgrade the dvd to a blu ray.
and you ram upgrade to pc3 12800 ( 2 sticks of ram 4gb.) total 8 gb.
as for your hard drive there right about the ssd being much faster. And the size you need is a 2.5"
the ssd can be a 128gb. to a 512gb. ssd.
and the nv79 can hold a second hard drive so instead of buying a ssd buy 2 - 500gb. 7200rpm.hdd
one hdd is for main stuff like programs ,ext and the second can hold all your pictures and music and video's
also the cpu can be upgraded to an i7 620m
now with all this upgrading make sure you buy a cooling pad as to not overheat your computer and make it last.
and i would advise a bigger power supply like the upgrade would be a 19v at 4.74a not the small 3.42a that came with the unit from gateway.
keep inmind that you also want to clean out the fan and keys once a month with a can of air when it is turned off.
and don't put the tube to far in to the fan area as not to snap off a blade and only blow in small short burst cause dust can ball up instead of blowing out and stop the fan from moving too.
also a good set of programs to install would be CCLEANER and ADVANCED SYSTEM CARE.
ccleaner is a great way to clean out old temp files and cache that can build up from time to time.
(also go into the settings and make it run at start up every time)
advance system care will give you a blue smiley face when clean (turn on all selected items)
and when in need of cleaning it will show a yellow or red frowning face, so its a easy thing to use and its free to use.
from time to time it will pop in the right corner and ask if you want the full version. thats totally up to you if you want it. full does work better.
WELL HOPE I HELPED YOU AND ANY ONE ELSE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS HERE. HAVE A GREAT DAY ;-)

 

[diebog]

Thanks for the reply!. A while back I put in a i5 430m which was better but not like I hoped. So the i7 620m will work in my NV79? Will heat be an issue? There is not much room to upgrade the heat sink in there. I do have a cool pad with 2 fans that run off USB that it sits on. You also mentioned to upgrade the PS, whats a good place to buy this? And how do I know what size the jack needs to be?

Ive also got a NV79C34U that I bought just recently and it came with an i5 450M, can this one also be upgraded to the i7 620m? How do you know, or where do you find the info on what CPU upgrade will and will not work?

Both laptops have the max 8gb memory and are running SSD's for the OS and other programs

I've done some checking myself also "diebog"
i see you can upgrade the dvd to a blu ray.
and you ram upgrade to pc3 12800 ( 2 sticks of ram 4gb.) total 8 gb.
as for your hard drive there right about the ssd being much faster. And the size you need is a 2.5"
the ssd can be a 128gb. to a 512gb. ssd.
and the nv79 can hold a second hard drive so instead of buying a ssd buy 2 - 500gb. 7200rpm.hdd
one hdd is for main stuff like programs ,ext and the second can hold all your pictures and music and video's
also the cpu can be upgraded to an i7 620m
now with all this upgrading make sure you buy a cooling pad as to not overheat your computer and make it last.
and i would advise a bigger power supply like the upgrade would be a 19v at 4.74a not the small 3.42a that came with the unit from gateway.
keep inmind that you also want to clean out the fan and keys once a month with a can of air when it is turned off.
and don't put the tube to far in to the fan area as not to snap off a blade and only blow in small short burst cause dust can ball up instead of blowing out and stop the fan from moving too.
also a good set of programs to install would be CCLEANER and ADVANCED SYSTEM CARE.
ccleaner is a great way to clean out old temp files and cache that can build up from time to time.
(also go into the settings and make it run at start up every time)
advance system care will give you a blue smiley face when clean (turn on all selected items)
and when in need of cleaning it will show a yellow or red frowning face, so its a easy thing to use and its free to use.
from time to time it will pop in the right corner and ask if you want the full version. thats totally up to you if you want it. full does work better.
WELL HOPE I HELPED YOU AND ANY ONE ELSE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS HERE. HAVE A GREAT DAY ;-)