Opinions: Upgrading Old Laptop?

[Doogals]

I have an old Dell Studio 1535 laptop that sees very light use and is still running great, but in need of more HDD storage capacity.

I was thinking about upgrading to SSD, installing Windows 10, and adding 4-8GB of RAM. Current specs are below, any opinions on the limitations of this old hardware or any potential complications doing these upgrades? Much appreciated, thank you.

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750, 2.0GHz, 667Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3450

 

[jaslion]

I have an old Dell Studio 1535 laptop that sees very light use and is still running great, but in need of more HDD storage capacity.

I was thinking about upgrading to SSD, installing Windows 10, and adding 4-8GB of RAM. Current specs are below, any opinions on the limitations of this old hardware or any potential complications doing these upgrades? Much appreciated, thank you.

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750, 2.0GHz, 667Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3450

to be honest upgrading that laptop is kind of a waste. It's really old and even with an ssd it will still struggle with todays tasks due to the weak processor.

 

[dudeman509]

For what you'd spend upgrading that, I'd look at picking up a current i3u or i5u-based laptop instead. You can usually find one with 8 gigs of RAM for ~$300-400, with excellent battery life, and can then switch out the HDD for a SSD (or buy a model that already has a SSD for a bit more).

I have an old 1.86 GHz C2D laptop that I don't even bother with anymore - the CPUs are so lethargic they're not useful for much these days.

 

[Doogals]

Perhaps a better short term solution (for additional storage at least) would be replacing my optical drive with a 2.5" 1TB HDD and a conversion tray:

https/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817997049&cm_re=hard_drive_caddy-_-17-997-049-_-Product

to be honest upgrading that laptop is kind of a waste. It's really old and even with an ssd it will still struggle with todays tasks due to the weak processor.

For what you'd spend upgrading that, I'd look at picking up a current i3u or i5u-based laptop instead.

 

[robert600]

I have an old Dell Studio 1535 laptop that sees very light use and is still running great, but in need of more HDD storage capacity.

I was thinking about upgrading to SSD, installing Windows 10, and adding 4-8GB of RAM. Current specs are below, any opinions on the limitations of this old hardware or any potential complications doing these upgrades? Much appreciated, thank you.

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750, 2.0GHz, 667Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3450

I have a similar speced dell at the trailer I still use - it's still ok for email, office tasks, playing movies, light browsing etc.

Not the kind of thing you want to spend a lot of money on though ... 2nd hand ram would be ok ... there's tons of ddr2 available at good prices. I have 4 in mine and it's ok ... 8 would obviously be better. You know that to go past 4 ... you need a 64 bit OS ... right?

Thinking of Win10 ... i wouldn't purchase it for your machine ... but if it has a registered version of win7 or 8 ... you can upgrade for free ... I haven't done that with my dell yet but I've been thinking about it.

The SSD is a different situation ... you'd notice a huge difference ... and in my view it would not be a waste of money because it could easily be moved over to another computer in the future.

I'm not sure how handy you are with laptops but here's a thought: the cpu below is < $13 (delivered) on ebay ... it's noticeably better than the T5750. Swapping cpus is not all that difficult a job and it gives you the chance to replace your thermal paste and to totally clean your cooling system at the same time.

Core 2 Duo T9600 (Socket P) 2/2 2.8 GHz 6 MB 35W