SSD and RAM upgrades for old Sony VAIO laptops...

Question for anybody with some time for a discussion:

Does it make sense to run a new SSD and more RAM on a tried-and-true Centrino Duo Core? Memory and processor speeds on new laptops in my price range are comparable... so I don't see the logic in buying a brand new machine when I can quickly and easily make my current machine more powerful than something contemporary.

Let me know - I really appreciate the read and any and all opinions...

 

A 'tried and true Centrino Duo Core' is ancient, what specific model are we talking about and what current models are you comparing it too?

For upgrades, the best (and usually the only) bang for the buck is; max out the RAM (I assume at least 4GB here), clean install O/S (Windows 8.1 highly recommended - especially for older devices) and of course; an SSD with at least 30% capacity left as 'unformatted'.


Let's see what the actual spec's are of your Core Duo and we can go from there.

 

Centrino Duo would not be more powerful than anything but Atoms in today's market, so throw that notion out of the window that you can just upgrade an SSD and it'll be faster than a new machine in terms of raw processing power. If it's a 945 chipset Core 2 Duo, you are already handicapped at ~3 GB of RAM. 965 chipset gets you up to 8 GB DDR2 which costs $$$. If you want a cheap upgrade to last you until you buy a new laptop, then buy all means get the upgrade, but an SSD won't help an ancient platform run the latest Photoshop much faster.