What Should I upgrade

I am a proud owner of a Toshiba L35-S2171. This is a bare bones computer. I know I might need updrades in the near future so I'm looking for recomendations.

Specs:
Processor Type * : Celeron® M
Processor Number * : 420
Processor Speed * : 1.60GHz
Operating System * : Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory Size * : 512MB
Display Size * : 15.4"
Display Type * : WidescreeHard Drive Speed :
5400rpm
Optical Drive * :
CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Wireless LAN * :
Atheros® Wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
Bluetooth * :
No Bluetooth (No Antenna)
Input Devices :
Windows Key Function, 84 key US keyboard, Application Launch Button, Internet Launch button, TouchPad pointing device
Security :
Password Security, Security Cable Lock Slot, Hot Key Security
Modem :
V.92 Modem
LAN :
10/100
Audio :
Standard stereo speakers, Microphone jack (mono), Headphone jack (stereo)
AC Adapter :
65W (19V 3.42A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input
Battery Type :
Li-Ion (4-cell, 2000mAh)
Battery Life * :
Up to 1.5 hours
PC Card Slots :
1-Type II PC Card Slot
PC Express Slot :
No PC Express Slot
USB Slots :
2-USB (2.0)
Software * :
Microsoft® Office OneNote®, WildTangent Game Console, TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, InterVideo® WinDVD® 5, Microsoft Works
n XGA
Display Resolution * : 1280x800
Graphics Chipset * : Radeon® Xpress 200M
Graphics Memory * : 64MB-128MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Hard Drive Size * : 80GB
Give your opinions please on what I need to update.

 

I would upgrade your ram to 1GB at least. Everything thing else is a little too hard to upgrade without major work except for the harddrive.
Tim

 

I agree. 1 GB of RAM might be a nice, easy upgrade.

 

Okay thanks.

 

Ram and hard drive are only the really worthwhile upgrades for the money. They are usually cheap enough and give enough performance to matter. Anything else should probably be saved for your next one, as other components tend to get pricey.

 

ram is best you can upgrade. later on if you want you want upgrade your cpu for better performance and battery saver but that is if you can afford it. but your battery still won't do much better with core duo.

hard drive seems to be enough unless you want more space. money spent just for a 7200 rpm is not worth it.

dvd rw if you want to burn dvd as these starting to come cheap nowadays compare to what was sold before.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3&Subcategory=5&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

 

May I ask what you plan on using it for? While a little more RAM will be a cheap and easy upgrade, it is not needed if all you use it for is web browsing and listening to music. Hard drive size seems just right for you laptop, any upgrading you do here would not be worth it in the price to performance-increase category. You'd be much better off getting a 250GB external HDD + case (USB or Firewire) for ~$100.

 

true, your specs is already decent, it just depends on what you need to use laptop for.

 

Well I guess I would be using this machine for light gaming with apps for school. I watch movies sparingly and don't listen to that much music so are these allthe upadate I'll need.

 

If you open the movie player and play a movie, a separate mp3 player (winamp maybe) and play a song, Internet Explorer, and Windows Explorer, do you notice "lag" or slowdown when you open another program or move your mouse around?

This is a very rough gauge of your current setup, but if you don't have any problems then you do not need to upgrade your RAM. If you plan on upgrading to Vista then you do need to upgrade your RAM. If you are running out of HDD space, then go with the external HDD solution. A processor upgrade would not make sense, as your upgrade path for the socket 479 platform (Pentium M) would not allow you to go to a Core Duo processor.

All in all, your current setup seems to be more than adequate for your needs.