What was your best notebook upgrade?

Simple question, what was the best overall upgrade to your current notebook or any notebook you have owned in general? There is no right or wrong answer to this. I just want to get an idea of what products have significantly improved the look/feel/operation of your notebook over the years.

I will go first. The best upgrade to my T60 ThinkPad was when I transitioned between Windows XP and Vista. the user experience had such a drastic change that it felt like the system was finally propelled into the modern age. The shift from Vista to Win 7 was similar, but nowhere near as dramatic. At the time of the upgrade I already had a fast processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive so nothing slowed down and overall my computer felt much snappier.

I suppose another best upgrade for me was also software wayyy back in the day. I still remember the time I upgraded my ancient Toshiba Satellite from Win 3.1 to Windows 95. now talk about a huge leap into the future that was!

 

best upgrades in order for most of my uses in the last few years.

1 - win XP to win 7
2 - Upgrade RAM to 3GB and Above
3 - SSD Drives
4 - minor software changes such as going to NOD32 and other smaller TSR apps

ahh yes another of my favorite upgrades

as well as going from an 80286-12Mhz to a spectacular 80386DX-33
or a 9600bps modem to a 14.4 USR
or even GASP adding a 1X CD-ROM drive !!!!!

 

Switching to solid state drives. The first and only upgrade(s) where I actually noticed a difference in performance. That and the fact that you can now, with a bit of tweaking, finally, finally have a perfectly silent notebook makes me really happy

The move to 7 was also pretty good. A year ago I thought I'd still mostly be using XP now.

 

I still remember when my dad brought home his 56k modem from work and let me swap out my 28.8k. Boy that thing was smoking fast!

 

I really liked upgrading XP back in the day to XP x64. Hahahahaha

But actual stuff people would care about.
1. Various RAM upgrades. I dropped another GB of RAM into my Ferrari to give 2 total. My Thinkpad went from 1GB to 3GB. Turns out I like running lots of things at once
2. The Intel 160GB might take the cake though. SSD... power, sound, vibration, heat, time...
3. Getting the UltraBay caddy and dropping in a half TB hard drive. I did this months before the SSD. Just nice to have all that spacefor backups and stuff not needed immediately.
4. My Ferrari was greatly helped by a decent cooling pad and a new Logitech mouse.

I agree with Kevin O'Brien about Internet speed. We still had 56K when I left for college. When I came back on break though we had DSL. Both cases were "Whoah..." in my best Keanu Reeves impersonation.

 

on no kidding, our local ISP and my main BBS at the time installed V.92 support and I got a nice new USR sportster ISA card to try ( and had to keep )

 

I love reading through threads and seeing everyone say "4GB is more then enough" in most cases your 100% right. I just love the advancement of technology where by a year or two ago. You would have seen someone say "2GB is more then enough".

Technology is funny. 6 years ago my AMD 2500+, 1GB, GeForce TI4200 was king.

 

Yup , at one point in time I thought my Trash-80 with a whopping ram upgrade to 64Kb was going to be all I need.

now I have a frigging desktop here with 96GB !!!!!
that thing better last me a little longer than 3 years

 

1. Vista to 7
2. SSD
3. Wireless G to N

 

Vista to Win 7
SSD - Best by far for improving the overall computing experience
Ram Upgrades

 

cpu from t5670 to t9400
and also ssd intel....

 

Upgrading old Inspiron 9100 from 512mb of ram to eventually 2GB, and buying my ssd.

 

The uprade from my old pc to my super lappy was quite something =P but the better software upgrade was definately going from Xp to 7, hardware wise, it has to be my SSD =D

 

T5550 to X9000 for me. Huge increase in frames for most games but I can't really tell the difference for normal use.

My next upgrade will be a SSD.

 

1. XP to W7
2. RAM upgrades
3. SSD, is last only BC I haven't experienced it yet

 

XP to Vista. My first experience from Vista to 7 sucked, to this day, my laptop still works better with Vista.

 

1.) Going from dial-up to High Speed Cable. Life changer.
2.) Installing my first SSD
3.) Going from a 17" to a 24" LCD

Those were all giant leaps for me, everything else seems to be incremental improvements.

 

The biggest change for me was when I used to game on one of three Dell desktops, each had either a Celeron or Pentium (highest clocked one being a 2.53 GHz single core Celeron), along with integrated graphics. Then I bought my (I don't have it anymore though) Dell XPS M1530 with a T5750 and an 8600m GT. I was amazed by what decent framerates looked like.

1. Celeron and integrated gpu to T5750 and 8600m GT.

2. Logitech wireless laser mouse of some sort to my current G9x.

3. Getting bigger hard drives, since feeling limited is stressful.

4. Going from Vista to XP on my Dell XPS M1530 (yes, that's really the order I went in; couldn't stand Vista).

I'll get a SSD when prices drop and I can get a 256GB+ for ~$200. Or if I get impatient.

 

For a "standard" upgrade, moving from a stock Seagate 320GB @ 7200rpm HDD to an Intel G2 160GB gave me the best results. Win7 was a good upgrade, too, but Vista never gave me problems.

For an unorthodox upgrade, doing case and cooling mods helped me net great gaming performance on the notoriously hot G51vx.

 

all of my upgrades are fun ... (See sig)

but the most fun part is the hunting and the how to get the cheapest best upgrade
And $30 total upgrade from T5270 to T9300 is something I can be proud of

 

1. dial up to dsl to cable. but dial up to dsl was most dramatic
2. SSD

 

1. from 56K Modem to broadband which is 6Mb/s...
2. from windows vista to windows 7.

 

There have been quite a few over the years

Windows 3 was pretty impressive as was windows 95, XP and Win7 All have been stellar steps in the right direction OS wise (IMO)

Going from a 1.6gHz single core CPU to a 3.0gHz X9000 dual core was an amazing leap

SSD's have taken the main bottle neck of computing and made it bareable

High Speed internet has revolutionized our planet

All of these are very real and very important upgrades. The most important one though i would say is the high speed internet. Nothing has done more for computer users "ever" than that. It single handedly makes our digital lives possible. All the high speed CPU's / GPU's / SSD's / etc would be nothing with out the internet being capable of what it is today.

 

SSD upgrade and adding a second hard drive.

 

I'm with Kamin on most points, especially his high-speed Internet. Far and away the best "upgrade" to happen to computers. Otherwise, not in any particular order:

* - Going to multi-core chips from single-core. Worlds of difference, allows me to run virtual machines and heavy processes while still keeping the system usable
* - Getting 4GB or more RAM. See above.
* - SSD. One of the biggest performance boosts I've seen in recent memory, and mine is even a hand-me-down from Kamin
* - Clean install of Windows will do worlds of good from almost any factory install. Linux, not nearly as much.

 

There's a theme here and I'm another statistic...

Before it died spectacularly, best upgrade to my 2-year-old HP Pavilion 2699ea was from Vista to 7.

Took the opportunity for an upgrade specification in my new toy - Dell XPS16 - Core i7 CPU, 8Gb RAM, 256Gb SSD, RGBLED screen, Ati HD-5650 graphics card.
Running Win7 with Office 2010 Pro.
Using a couple of Hitachi TravelStar 250Gb HDD's as backup images.
Runs a dream with Assassin's Creed 2.
And then I find out that "Alan Wake" is only being released for the XBox 360...

 

I don't keep a laptop long enough to upgrade it. I've only upgraded my(previous) laptop 1 time. I upgraded from a P7450 to a P8700.

 

Its totally true... but its not that our digital lives would be nonexistant even without the internet at all, they would just be different and computers would be even more existential.
Think more bootlegged blu-ray street dealers. Big files could develop into status symbols... along with very bright blue LEDs maybe?

no but seriously... I wanted to mention that I heard its WWAN thats been making the bees disappear... 4g too. stuff like that.
what if some other animal just started using all of the frequencies we use to listen to the radio & tv (as in our ears, 30hz-20khz, not radio waves) for their data, but all it sounded like to us was horrible static which blocked out everything else?
Anyway.
It seemed relevant to me because so many of you are listing NON hardware upgrades such as the OS and internet. I couldnt think of much in that vein, I undervalue and can't get myself to buy any software because of the principal of it. However some noticeable things were:
-Ubuntu (when I first got a laptop. it was also an upgrade from other peoples slow computers.)
-Ableton Live 7 (upgrade from modplug tracker, huge eye opener there)
-Google Chrome (from firefox)

on the hardware end. I enjoy all of these upgrades a lot more:
-going from my first free laptop to my first high end expensive laptop (IBM thinkpad t23, P3 1.2ghz > Dell precision m4400, p8600, WUXGA, 4gb ram and 7.2k rpm HDD) ...but im not sure if that exactly qualifies as an upgrade
-p8400 > p8700 in a sony Z
the best ones havent quite happened yet:
-m860etu with no parts whatsoever > q9200, fx3700, & mostly WSXGA LED screen
-xps m1730 8700gt SLI > desktop ATI 5750
-hp nc2400 > 2510p or better...

 

Intel SSD in my Vaio

And in fact that's the only real upgrade:
My old laptop got new RAM.... from 512MB to 1GB - and not even similar modules so that doesn't count

 

add 3 more for me too on more thinking.. from p4 processor to core 2 duo.. from 1GB RAM to 4GB and from Intel GMA to NVDIA 9600M GT..

 

That had to make it feel 4 times faster

 

SSD Sandforce2, at least until this dumby did 5 system restores, 4 after the first and loosing write performance. At least trim will eventually get me back................

 

Sony TT

1: Built in WWAN
2: SSD
3: BD drive
3: 5300 and add another antenna in the bezel
4: 8GB ram
5: HDMI

Sony SZ
1: 4GB
2: Upgrade to SSD

Fujitsu P7230
Upgrade to a core 2 duo processor + SSD joint position
WWAN
5300 WIFI
Vista-->W7

 

On my M860ETU. After getting the motherboard swapped with a quadcore supporting one, I installed a QX9300 and GTX 280M. Upgrades that place it amongst the most powerful 15"-16" laptops today.

 

For me, on my current laptop:

1. Transitioning from Vista to XP. My laptop instantly went from a frustrating, crash-prone one to a rock-stable, relaxing, very enjoyable one. From one where I'd use a 2003-era Northwood Pentium 4 with GeForce4 MX in preference to it, to one that I hope will last several more years. Like Sirhcz0r, I couldn't stand Vista.

2. Figuring out how to undervolt the processor and enable minimally-clocked SLFM. Better battery life + lower heat = double win. Nevertheless, a distant second.

3. Upgrading the HDD from 160 GB to 320 GB, and using the old one as an external in the process. I've never had to use the external due to a crash, but knowing both that it is there should I need it, and that I have plenty of space, is comforting. The fact that my 320 GB has faster sequential times isn't really noticeable, though, keeping this from ranking higher.

Upgrading the memory from 2 to 3.5 GB proved to be less important than I anticipated; I only have 3 GB of the 3.5 installed today, and rarely use more than 2 GB. Upgrading from Wireless G to Wireless N proved to be worthless, and I've reverted to the Wireless G card as a result, but at least it was also a pretty cheap upgrade. And it might prove useful someday.

Also noteworthy:

* Upgrading the 2003-era Pentium 4 Northwood from 512 MB to 1 GB RAM in 2006. Overall, this would probably take the #2 spot. A much bigger jump than 2GB to 4GB.

The jump from Pentium 4 to Core 2 Duo and GeForce4 MX to 8600M GT was marred by Vista, but today, with XP on both systems, the difference is vast and obvious. But it wouldn't count as an upgrade to an existing system, regardless.

I may yet upgrade my laptop with an SSD or Core 2 Extreme processor. If I had to guess, I'd guess the SSD would be more noticeable in day-to-day activities, but the Core 2 Extreme more noticeable in most of my heavy-use cases. Which I would find the better upgrade on the whole, I have no way of knowing unless I do both (and at different times).

That's a ton of RAM! Time to doom myself by saying, "I could never use that much!" 2GB is more than enough for me in practice today, and 3GB is bountiful.

 

you just doomed yourself, I have kept saying things like that for over 20 years

 

T2060-> T2400-> T5600-> T7200-> T2600
I was bored and had a lot of time on my hands.

 

it did feel faster but the best all time for me is from 56K modem to 6Mb/s broadband.. there's a 100 time difference at least... i still think the best upgrade comming is SSD but i'm keeping it for later

 

On my first laptop (a PIII 600mhz), it was from going from 128mo of RAM (2x64) to 320mo. No comment.

On my second laptop (a Pentium-M 1.8ghz), it was undervolting it. Amazing battery life gain.

On this laptop, it was upgrading from a 160go to a 500go HDD. And while I switched from 7200rpm towards 5400rpm, it doesn't feel any slower, quite the contrary.

 

SSD is the most important thing inside a laptop

 

1.Windows 7
2.Logitech vx nano and anywhere mouse
3.my Qosmio X305 (the quality of the speaker.. )

But imo (which in my wish list):
1.a ssd (at lest try to get a seagate momentus XT)
2.an LED LCD screen with 200mHz...

 

i don't totally agree with that because IMO , nothing is most important for everyone... there isn't one fixed most important upgrade... it depends on ur uses.. for me , its CPU and GPU so SSD won't be that important...

 

I couldn't agree more. Although speed is never a bad thing in computing, there are components of much more important like a good GPU, which is essential to me. An SSD I could do without.

Nor could many other folks, hence, W7. However, employing backward technology for stability is nothing to brag about.

 

The only upgrade I've done on my current laptop is changing out the thermal paste from some crap HP used to some AS5, went from 85c on GPU resting flat on a table to 75c, if that even counts as a upgrade.

I guess there's the Vista to 7 upgrade, but I didn't have any issues on Vista. I even ran Vista on a 2.4 Prescott core with 2GB of RAM and a GeForce 6200 (At 1920x1080 even) without issues when It first came out, aside from random slowdowns due to the Single core.

 

My first upgrade was from Vista Home Premium to W7 HP. Next, I replaced stock HDD (500 GB @5400RPM) with 500x2 @7200. I also replaced stock RAM with 2X4 GB. That particular upgrade increased my Windows Index score a point though I'm still not sure why since the score was limited to my graphics capability?

 

In my experience, most of Vista's problems are solved by using an SSD . I'm stubborn though because Windows 7 doesn't play nice with my laptop

 

I cracked open a 500GB external drive that I found for $34.50 at Staples and put it in my laptop, but the best mod for me was replacing my 15.6" 1366x768 screen with a 15.4" 1680x1050 one with gorilla tape and glue.

 

Definitely going from XP to Windows 7.

I'm looking to upgrade from 5400 rpm HD to SSD in probably a year or 2 depending on what the prices are. Looking forward to that.

 

SSD. My oh my what a difference it has made.

 

Switching fron an Intel5100 wifi card to an Intel 6200 wifi card...Annoying reception problems were behind me in a matter of seconds.