PC SupportLaptop Upgrade (?)
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PC SupportLaptop Upgrade (?)Posted:

Kara
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I recently purchased a laptop, and I know nothing about Ryzen, so I wasn't aware of how slow the CPU would be. Below are the specs for the laptop, as well as the link to where I bought it from:

Laptop Purchase

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 1TB

I know that some laptops can upgrade those three components, and some cannot. I want to focus on the CPU, and the RAM. I am unsure how to go about this. Also, can you help me identify all the parts in my laptop? Here is a picture of the inside:

https://i.imgur.com/zr7fLKO.jpg
#2. Posted:
AD4M
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CPU would be impossible to change as you would need a motherboard to go with the socket along with the correct IO.

I would focus more on the RAM and purchasing an SSD. Both are easy to source, the SSD is just a SATA device, something like a:

SSD

RAM, I wouldn't be so sure on. What do you do on the laptop? Gaming etc?
#3. Posted:
Adam
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Laptops nowadays are notorious for being disposable so upgrading them is rather hard, that's if you don't end up breaking it as you open it up. I've had plenty of dealings with Lenovo laptops and the plastic on the CD Drive just tends to crack as you open it...

The CPU looks like it's soldered since I can't see a socket for the CPU to drop into so with that, there's no upgrading that. You can take the cooler off to double-check that.

The RAM slots seem to be to the right of the CPU covered by a big metal thingy. Odd design, never see that before. If it's not there, there's a possibility that it's hidden on the other side of the motherboard. If you can find it, it'll defo be upgradable.

I'd look at replacing that HDD immediately which should give you a noticeable difference in speed and the overall feel of the laptop.

I wouldn't worry about the CPU / RAM until you know that's where you're being bottlenecked from. You can always look at Taskmanager in Windows to see what's being maxed out. More likely than not, it'll be that harddrive. Any 2.5" Sata SSD would be an upgrade.
#4. Posted:
Kara
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AD4M wrote CPU would be impossible to change as you would need a motherboard to go with the socket along with the correct IO.

I would focus more on the RAM and purchasing an SSD. Both are easy to source, the SSD is just a SATA device, something like a:

SSD

RAM, I wouldn't be so sure on. What do you do on the laptop? Gaming etc?


On the laptop, I want to be able to design in Photoshop. And, I just use it for surfing the internet, and streaming twitch, netflix, etc. No gaming occurs.
#5. Posted:
Kara
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Adam wrote Laptops nowadays are notorious for being disposable so upgrading them is rather hard, that's if you don't end up breaking it as you open it up. I've had plenty of dealings with Lenovo laptops and the plastic on the CD Drive just tends to crack as you open it...

The CPU looks like it's soldered since I can't see a socket for the CPU to drop into so with that, there's no upgrading that. You can take the cooler off to double-check that.

The RAM slots seem to be to the right of the CPU covered by a big metal thingy. Odd design, never see that before. If it's not there, there's a possibility that it's hidden on the other side of the motherboard. If you can find it, it'll defo be upgradable.

I'd look at replacing that HDD immediately which should give you a noticeable difference in speed and the overall feel of the laptop.

I wouldn't worry about the CPU / RAM until you know that's where you're being bottlenecked from. You can always look at Taskmanager in Windows to see what's being maxed out. More likely than not, it'll be that harddrive. Any 2.5" Sata SSD would be an upgrade.


So, I should replace the 1TB hard drive with a 2.5" Sata SSD of any type? Would you have any suggestions? Preferably more than 100GB

EDIT:

For example, would something like this fit?
SSD
#6. Posted:
AD4M
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Kara wrote
Adam wrote Laptops nowadays are notorious for being disposable so upgrading them is rather hard, that's if you don't end up breaking it as you open it up. I've had plenty of dealings with Lenovo laptops and the plastic on the CD Drive just tends to crack as you open it...

The CPU looks like it's soldered since I can't see a socket for the CPU to drop into so with that, there's no upgrading that. You can take the cooler off to double-check that.

The RAM slots seem to be to the right of the CPU covered by a big metal thingy. Odd design, never see that before. If it's not there, there's a possibility that it's hidden on the other side of the motherboard. If you can find it, it'll defo be upgradable.

I'd look at replacing that HDD immediately which should give you a noticeable difference in speed and the overall feel of the laptop.

I wouldn't worry about the CPU / RAM until you know that's where you're being bottlenecked from. You can always look at Taskmanager in Windows to see what's being maxed out. More likely than not, it'll be that harddrive. Any 2.5" Sata SSD would be an upgrade.


So, I should replace the 1TB hard drive with a 2.5" Sata SSD of any type? Would you have any suggestions? Preferably more than 100GB

EDIT:

For example, would something like this fit?
SSD
Yes, that would fit. If you're not interested in gaming, if you go to Crucials website, they have a tool you can download and it will report back what SSDs and RAM would fit in your laptop.

Link here:
Note: this is a direct download
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