upgrading ram. HD, etc...

if i were to purchase a laptop but i find the site i buy it from has overpriced ram or HD (Or another part) how difficult would it be to install it yourself?

include things like compatability, difficulty (is it as easy as putting something back in the cupboard, or do you need to unscrew the whole thing...), and any other parts that you can buy separate (that would be overpriced and i would install myself)

 

I personally don't find it all that difficult. Most hard drives and memory are standard as long as you get the right type. If you swap the hard drive, you will have to re-install windows.

 

ram is usually very simple

hard drive is usually very simple

cpu is a little more difficult.

 

Ram and Hard Disks are usually pretty eqasy to upgrade. Most laptops have small removable access panels on the bottom for these two, as well as the wireless card (if it has one) and sometimes the cpu as well.

To gain access to these panels you will need a very small cross-headed screwdriver (known as philips head) and will just have to undo a few screws. Depending on the type of hard drive you might well have to swap over a little plastic piece on the IDE or SATA interface from the old to the new drive, then it's just a case of swapping the drives over.

As for the ram, you should have two ram slots. Simply move the pins on your ram into the pin slot at an angle from above and then push the chip down until it clicks into place.

Both are easy and intuitive to upgrade. As has been said, upgrading the CPU is a lot more time consuming, difficult and risky and is rarely really worth it unless one has good experience doing such things.

 

The easiest way is to consult your user manual for your laptop or go on to your manafacturer's support site and punch in your laptop model number. Upgrading RAM is usually a simple matter of unscrewing two or three screws on a panel on the bottom of your laptop, pushing a pin down to get the RAM sticks vertical and then gently pulling them out. In terms of software, Windows should automatically detect the RAM with no drivers or anything required.

The same applies with the Hard Drive, but you need to install windows and go through the minor hassle of copying all your files over and installing drivers.

Graphics Cards CANNOT be upgraded, and CPU upgradability is also very limited.

 

Yeah i was thinking of buying a computer with everything except the easy to install parts because i figure that it would end up a bit cheaper.

What components do barebones usually come with that are already installed? and what parts would i need to buy separate?

What about other parts like sound cards and stuff?

Is there a thread that helps people on this subject? because if there isnt one of you admins should make one up

 

Well barebones come with a case, cooling heatsink and fan system, a Motherboard, and an LCD.

But you can set some with an integrated GPU and also a CPU

 

ya i agreee with everyone here, most simple and yet probley really effective is the ram and the hardrive, now if you get serious, The cpu, adjust the cooling (adding heatsinks, drilling holes like i did ect..) possibly a Motherboard swap which i plan on doing hopefully soon.. stuff like that