The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    New to upgrades. any help ?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by deceptron, Sep 7, 2011.

  1. deceptron

    deceptron Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    162
    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    16
    hi there,

    Finally i am ready to upgrade my spec a lil bit. But need some help around here. I'm planning to upgrade my memory to 8GB which is currently 4GB

    which brand you prefer the most solid ? A link to that product is much appreciated as well.

    Secondary upgrade would ebe my HDD. I'm planning to go for 60GB SSD
    i hope that will give me some fast boot up time and faster process when working on and playing games.

    Which SSD is best, long life and solid...

    In future.. might upgrade GPU ( not for now though )


    Any suggestions for these 2 upgrades which i mentioned above ?



    Thanks in advance.

    Cheers!
     
  2. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Laptop dram memory has become a commodity, with 8GB (2x4GB) 1333Mhz 204-pin SODIMM DDR3 kits selling for at or below $50. Any of the major brands -- Crucial, Kingston, GSkill, Patriot, Corsair, etc. -- will serve you well. Check here for example: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Memory, Laptop Memory, 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM.

    128GB is currently considered the sweet spot for primary/OS SSD's. This is such a rapidly changing area that it is difficult to make any definitive declarations regarding speed, durability or value because every time a new refresh is released, it scrambles the relative performance. The traditional leaders include Crucial/Micron and Intel, with OCZ Vertex 3 tending to hold the speed crown, but suffering from quality and reliability problems. But newer entrants like Kingston, Mushkin, Patriot, Corsair and even Samsung (not new, but rejuvenated) confuse the choices, and it may all change again next week.
     
  3. Mexic00ls

    Mexic00ls Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    563
    Messages:
    857
    Likes Received:
    23
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Ram i have always liked g.skill pretty solid products brand for me. ive owned a couple of bad kingston sticks so i tend to stay away from them. My best upgrade has been the ssd, which i purchased from the market place here for $145 and it was in excellent condition, boots up in a couple of seconds. The hhd literally took about 2 mins to have autocad civil 3d up and running, on the ssd it only takes about 15 to 20 seconds. As for the size i would suggest a 120 gig, and remember a sata 2 which are abit cheaper now, sata 3 r overkill for an m15x.
     
  4. saadleo

    saadleo Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    42
    Messages:
    162
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Well yeah, U made a fine choice. I would suggest Samsung or Kingston as the ram brand.. My experience have been fine with them

    As far as the SSD is concerned, Go for a little more expense and get a 120 Gb Intel SSD and you'll have 2 fine upgrades.