Laptop and replacement parts and SSD upgrade

S S

Southern

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9 Aug 2015
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Have a 6 yrs old Dell Laptop Inspiron 3542 Intel core i5 4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz

Battery life has slowly degraded esp past 6 months due to more WFH. I will be buying a second laptop (new) soon, but wondering if it is worth adding a SSD to make it quicker (can buy and been quoted £60 by local computer shop to install it); and if I should buy a new charger and battery?

The charger and battery combined seems to be around £70

Potentially spending £150 to get another 12-18 months minimum use

Has anyone done any of this? Does it seem reasonable ?
 
SSDs are better than mechanical ones - I don't know how putting one in an old laptop helps. You can get external drives, of course.

Whether you can easily change the battery, your shop is a good place to ask. Not all are designed to have batteries replaced easily and at 6 years old, it might not be easy to get one. Newer laptops have internal batteries which are harder to swap.

You only need a battery and a charger if you can't leave the machine plugged in to the mains (my old Dell had the battery die, so I took it out, and it kept working straight from the power socket).

Mostly though, it comes down to your computer shop's advice on practical work like you suggest, and whether you still need the old laptop at all when you have a new one.
 
MillionMilesAway said:
SSDs are better than mechanical ones - I don't know how putting one in an old laptop helps. You can get external drives, of course.

Whether you can easily change the battery, your shop is a good place to ask. Not all are designed to have batteries replaced easily and at 6 years old, it might not be easy to get one. Newer laptops have internal batteries which are harder to swap.

You only need a battery and a charger if you can't leave the machine plugged in to the mains (my old Dell had the battery die, so I took it out, and it kept working straight from the power socket).

Mostly though, it comes down to your computer shop's advice on practical work like you suggest, and whether you still need the old laptop at all when you have a new one.
Click to expand...

thanks
 
Dunno, *if you buy a new laptop and like most leave it plugged in ffs take the battery out whilst it is running off mains.



*i hope this is not a thing now.
 
Southern said:
Have a 6 yrs old Dell Laptop Inspiron 3542 Intel core i5 4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz

Battery life has slowly degraded esp past 6 months due to more WFH. I will be buying a second laptop (new) soon, but wondering if it is worth adding a SSD to make it quicker (can buy and been quoted £60 by local computer shop to install it); and if I should buy a new charger and battery?

The charger and battery combined seems to be around £70

Potentially spending £150 to get another 12-18 months minimum use

Has anyone done any of this? Does it seem reasonable ?
Click to expand...
If you have kids or a partner it might be worth doing as a second laptop to have around for homework / netflix. Did this with mine and it was a godsend when both brats were 'doing' their school work at home from March to June. Mostly pissing about on youtube.
 
60 quid to install it? Just take the bottom off and swap the hdd with the ssd. The connectors and dimensions are the same for a 2.5inch hdd (what is in it currently) as ssd. Yes it will help speed your lappy up significantly.
 
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