Upgrading CPU & RAM on Inspiron 1545. Is it worth it?

Chinnay

Honorable
Sep 13, 2013
1
0
10,510
Hello guys. So I own an inspiron 1545 that's almost 4 years old. I don't want to buy a new laptop until about 4 years from now so I'm looking into upgrading it. Will an upgrade to 8gb of ram from 4 and to the T9600 from the Pentium dual core one be a worthwhile investment to extend the power & life of my laptop? (The ram would cost me 175 on amazon and the processor 30 on eBay)
Thanks.

Edit: Ok, thanks for the input so far but I must clarify some things. I don't have 4gb, I have 3gb of ram. Also, my pc can run 8gb of ram (it has been done) as long as it has 64 bit os, which it does. Normally I have chrome launched with many tabs (30+ lol), rainmeter running, gimp and word open. Idk what type of usage that constitutes as. Whenever I saw my activity, the ram was what ran low (it was used up) while my processor was ok. From the feedback and additional research I've done, I'm considering instead 4gb of ram, a 256 ssd, and the processor (only because it's so cheap). What do yall think?
 

CelicaGT

Honorable
Jul 22, 2013
89
0
10,610
SSD, the largest speed increase you will see on a lappy that age. Those Dells were known for their slow as **** hard drives. I'm about to try this on my wife's machine, about the same age/config as yours. Minus 2 gigs of ram say.
 

mixedbag480

Honorable
Dec 19, 2013
1
0
10,510
I own a Dell Inspiron 1545 that had a T4200@2.0GHz.I used a thumb drive with to use READYBOOST,disabled some of the backround programs windows has running that are not needed.How often do you use Windows search?It's a Memory PIG,so I turned it off.My laptop was faster,and after reading about CPU Upgrading on this model I did some research.I purchased the T9600 and installed it.Without changing the FAN I put it thru a stress test twice.It maxed out at 2.925GHz during the test and the temp. never went over 160 degrees.The Max on the chip is 220 degrees as was the T4200.I upgraded the Bios to A14 and turned on Virtualization technology which the T4200 doesn't have,but the T9600 does.I believe it's called SSE2 in Intel terms.So you can upgrade this laptop to a fast processor.I have dual boot on the hard drive-win7HPremium,and win 8.1.Works great no problem with drivers at all.
 

Natasha Saxby

Estimable
Dec 11, 2014
1
0
4,510
100%
i bought this laptop 2nd hand and it had the standard cpu, battery and ram, upgraded ram to 4gb (apparently the max but crucial says 8gb, i trust dell)

i got the 8700 as the extra £6-£8 for the 8800 isn't worth it!
upgraded to a 9 cell battery and now its amazing!
starts up nice and fast runs smoothly and lasts for a good hour and a half on battery before i even start to think about putting it on charge.

total cost was around £30 to upgrade it.
the standard cpu is single core!

 

SteveCo

Estimable
Jan 2, 2015
2
0
4,510


I disagree. I upgraded my dell inspiron 1545 to 8gb ram 1TB hard drive and the T9550 processor. I was able to see a marked improvement in downloads and multitasking.
Dont always believe Dell. They are in the business of selling computers.
For $150 I have a computer I couldnt buy for $600
 

Mitch Reeves

Estimable
Feb 10, 2015
1
0
4,510
 

Jay Eff Pee

Estimable
Mar 12, 2015
1
0
4,510
 

girogalllas

Honorable
May 12, 2013
5
0
10,520


Couldn't agree more. I have a crappy T4200 and will upgrade to T9550
 

Al Bl

Estimable
Mar 20, 2015
1
0
4,510
Hi, looking to upgrade to 8gb ram for the 1545 with the stock T6600@2.2ghz, 64bit os. Haven't done this before. What should I look for when buying it? Any specifications that will be compatible (or more like any I should steer clear of)?

Cheers :)
 

hutson23

Estimable
Apr 2, 2015
4
0
4,510
Just did a Dell Inspiron 1445.
Went with the P8880 /2.66 had t4300 /2.10 ,
120gb sdd , but only upgraded the Ram to 4gb from 3gb.
Also added 2 usb 3.0 ports with the expansion card.
ALL in all... this upgrade was very simple and cheap
and very good for performance in all areas.
I should get another couple years out of it.
 

Maaru

Estimable
May 2, 2015
1
0
4,510


Steve,
Please tell us how you made the settings such that the system reads full 8GB RAM.
My system is NOT showing all the RAM though I have installed 8GB ram on my dell inspiron 1545 Intel core 2 DuoT6600 @ 2.20GHz with Win 7.0 Ultimate 64-Bit SP1.

Please advise.

Thanks
Maruthi.
 

hutson23

Estimable
Apr 2, 2015
4
0
4,510


 

hutson23

Estimable
Apr 2, 2015
4
0
4,510
You will get a couple more years out of the laptop.
Suggestions=
Go with the T9800 CPU and yes 4 GB of ram should be enough but you can get 8 GB but it's really not worth it. I have priced it everywhere and 8 GB of DDR 2 is going to cost $100.
SSD is definitely worth the money.
You can also replace the DVD drive with a 2nd SSD. I put in 2 128 GB SSD for $110.
Good luck.
 

Rensh

Estimable
May 6, 2015
1
0
4,510
Installed already earlier a 64 Gb SSD which works like a charm. Also did a faster Wifi card and just installed a T9550 (replaced T3000) which works like a charm.

Very responsive laptop now. CPU W7 64bit score went from 4.8 to 6.3 and memory from 5 to 5.8.

Total investment around USD 70-80. Happy :)
 

Harrison Whitmarsh

Estimable
May 1, 2015
34
0
4,590
Hello Cinnay and welcome to Toms!

I have been watching this post and now feel like I have to add my two cents haha.

I sold these PC's for Staples when they were new, and I have worked on PLENTY of them since then. For processor swaps on laptops, I have only ever done a few and definitely do not recommend that process to a beginner. Ram on the otherhand is a super simple process, especially for laptops like this Dell.

If this was my PC: Upgrading the RAM would be an OK idea, but your real issue is your HDD speed. I would put a 120GB SSD in the beast and reload my OS, which would make this thing WAY faster than it was brand new. Skip the CPU, skip the RAM.


- Harrison Whitmarsh
Lincoln Nebraska USA
 

h_rsa

Estimable
May 7, 2015
1
0
4,510
I have this same model and it came with only 2gb RAM stock. I want to upgrade to 4GB... can I just purchase an additional 2gb card and install it in the 2nd card slot (it would obviously be a different brand/manufacturer than the stock)... or do both cards need to be identical in brand - do I need to buy 2 of 2gb cards from the same manufacturer? Thanks in advance!
 

SturgeFX

Honorable
Aug 6, 2013
1
0
10,510
Hi i have a 1545 with a dual core in it, 3gb RAM and 320GB standard HDD @5400 RPM

I want to upgrade it, and am looking for exact parts to buy, if anyone could link me to an ssd that is compatible as well as RAM to upgrade also, that'd be awesome!

I'm looking at SSD and RAM only at the moment, but possibly processor after that. So any advice would be great!
 

brad9934

Estimable
Jul 4, 2015
1
0
4,510
I was just given an Inspirion 1545 which I upgraded from the Intel T4200 to the T9800, and added 1GB of RAM to the system to make 4GB. It has worked well and was a very easy upgrade. I have also swapped the SATA disk for an 128GB SanDisk SSD. The boot time has been cut into seconds, but I have read that there are better out there. I also put Linux Mint on my system (17.1 - Cinnamon). No complaints so far. For boot time I recommend a SSD. It really makes a difference.

Thanks,
Brad
 

drw25

Estimable
Jul 5, 2015
1
0
4,510
My brother offered me his old Inspiron 1545 with 3GB RAM, which I snapped up and upgraded with a second-hand Core 2 Duo P9600 and Sandisk 128GB SSD. Found it quite a challenge to get the SSD in HD caddy to mate with the internal SATA and power connector (symptom was BIOS not detecting the drive) - but this was resolved by adding a couple of sticky foam pads to the upper rear side of the drive. Very impressed with the boot times and performance in Windows 10 preview build 10162 - I wouldn't expect to get any more speed from a brand new budget laptop. 3D graphics performance is the only aspect that really shows the machines age, and the microphone isn't good enough for Cortana.