Upgrade laptop with SSD and RAM? Or buy new laptop?

[chen123]

Hi everyone,

I have an Acer Aspire 5741-5193 that's about 5~6 years old.
It has
i3-350M processor
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
802.11 g/b/n

Should I purchase a Crucial MX200 500GB and another 4GB RAM to upgrade the laptop?
Or should I just purchase a brand new laptop?

What's the better option?

 

[basroil]

Not worth upgrading at this point. Save money and get a new laptop, you'll be happier in the end, since this one probably doesn't even last 3 hours any more

 

[Hlsgsz]

Hi everyone,

I have an Acer Aspire 5741-5193 that's about 5~6 years old.
It has
i3-350M processor
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
802.11 g/b/n

Should I purchase a Crucial MX200 500GB and another 4GB RAM to upgrade the laptop?
Or should I just purchase a brand new laptop?

What's the better option?

If it's in good condition i would go for it, but also look at getting the best i7 of the series second hand.
Here is the list of compatible processors. If you can get your hands on a quad core i7(the first six)...
http/ark.intel.com/products/43183/Intel-BD82HM55-PCH#@compatibility

It's worth noting that you should get a cheap ssd, as that chipset is SATA2 and will therefore limit the transfers. Basically any ssd will do, but still, it will make a HUGE difference.

 

[chen123]

Hi everyone,

I have an Acer Aspire 5741-5193 that's about 5~6 years old.
It has
i3-350M processor
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
802.11 g/b/n

Should I purchase a Crucial MX200 500GB and another 4GB RAM to upgrade the laptop?
Or should I just purchase a brand new laptop?

What's the better option?

If it's in good condition i would go for it, but also look at getting the best i7 of the series second hand.
Here is the list of compatible processors. If you can get your hands on a quad core i7(the first six)...
http/ark.intel.com/products/43183/Intel-BD82HM55-PCH#@compatibility

It's worth noting that you should get a cheap ssd, as that chipset is SATA2 and will therefore limit the transfers. Basically any ssd will do, but still, it will make a HUGE difference.

You can change the cpu of a laptop?!

 

[basroil]

You can change the cpu of a laptop?!

He's just confused and is recommending you do something that only professionals really should. You can upgrade CPUs in some cases, but it's never worth it. With the same money spent on a 920XM (used) you can usually put that towards getting a laptop with better specs, especially in the low end where every penny improves the specs a huge amount

 

[Hlsgsz]

You can change the cpu of a laptop?!

He's just confused and is recommending you do something that only professionals really should. You can upgrade CPUs in some cases, but it's never worth it. With the same money spent on a 920XM (used) you can usually put that towards getting a laptop with better specs, especially in the low end where every penny improves the specs a huge amount

I have upgraded several laptops myself. Granted, there is always the risk that the motherboard bios will not support the cpu, bu ti find that it's a risk worth taking. Depending on your needs, one might not go for a 920XM that costs a pretty penny, but for whatever one can find cheap. Opening up a laptop is not rocket science.

 

[basroil]

Opening up a laptop is not rocket science.

Guess you've never tried a Surface Pro 3/4

While it's not impossible to replace the CPU, it does require quite a bit more knowledge than building a desktop, and the performance returns are far smaller than you would think. The first gen i3/i5/i7 are now very old tech, especially in the laptop realm where even a $500 machine will be better in every single way, including longer battery life. There's no reason to spend more money on this old machine, nothing is going to make it faster, nothing will make it play youtube videos better, nothing will make it play games better. (at least not compared to even a low end i3 model from this generation)

 

[Hlsgsz]

Opening up a laptop is not rocket science.

Guess you've never tried a Surface Pro 3/4

While it's not impossible to replace the CPU, it does require quite a bit more knowledge than building a desktop, and the performance returns are far smaller than you would think. The first gen i3/i5/i7 are now very old tech, especially in the laptop realm where even a $500 machine will be better in every single way, including longer battery life. There's no reason to spend more money on this old machine, nothing is going to make it faster, nothing will make it play youtube videos better, nothing will make it play games better. (at least not compared to even a low end i3 model from this generation)

Good one with the surface )
Yeah, i guess you're right. I didn't take the iGPU into account. I guess it also depends on use. Last i upgraded a toshiba from p6100(one seriously s**ty cpu) to an i5-520m(payed $25 for that) and added another 4 gigs of ram($18). Still cant play 1080p youtube videos properly with acceleration turned on, but now it does run VMs flawlessly, witch is what my friend actually needed for work.

As a sidenote, i have a really hard time recommending a new laptop these days until manufacturers start putting m.2 slots on value oriented machines. I guess they're not doing it so as to not cannibalize their high end/gamind stuff, but it's anoying as hell. Enough with the HDDs in the optical bay already!