Laptop upgrade advice (RAM and Hard Drive)

Innara

Broken In
I've an old HP laptop from 2010 (HP Pavillion DV6 3049TX) that I wish to upgrade. I can't afford a new one right now as I'm saving up for a full fledged gaming PC, but I need a laptop for my work anyway so I figured I can replace some hardware like RAM or HDD for lower cost at least.

This is what I'll use the laptop for (point 2 not a priority and can live without that):
1. Multitasking - Mostly apps I have running at work like browser with multiple tabs, microsoft office suites, adobe captivate, music player etc. I used to run all this without a hitch before, but now it's really slowed down due to age.
2. Occasional gaming till I get a gaming PC or when I'm on the go. Nothing high end of course, just play on lower settings of games from the laptop's era or some older MMOs.

Currently the laptop has 4GB (2x2GB) RAM with a total capacity of 8GB, so I want to upgrade that. Also as I understand, SSD are a huge boost to speed but I really don't think I can afford to get one as the price to GB ratio is so poor. So my questions are:

1. What RAM will be compatible with my laptop model if I want to upgrade to 8GB (2x4GB)? Please give proper name of RAM model as I don't know much about hardware so I need specifics.
2. Is SSD really a very huge boost for what I will use the laptop for? Or is it possible to make do with current HDD and only a RAM upgrade?

At most I'll want the laptop to last a year or a year and a half most for my purposes. Will the RAM upgrade be enough to pull through till then? I still use this laptop daily, I just want it a little faster. :) Thanks.
 
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seamon

Superhuman Spambot
I've an old HP laptop from 2010 (HP Pavillion DV6 3049TX) that I wish to upgrade. I can't afford a new one right now as I'm saving up for a full fledged gaming PC, but I need a laptop or my work anyway so I figured I can replace some hardware like RAM or HDD for lower cost at least.

This is what I'll use the laptop for (point 2 not a priority and can live without that):
1. Multitasking - Mostly apps I have running at work like browser with multiple tabs, microsoft office suites, adobe captivate, music player etc. I used to run all this without a hitch before, but now it's really slowed down due to age.
2. Occasional gaming till I get a gaming PC or when I'm on the go. Nothing high end of course, just play on lower settings of games from the laptop's era or some older MMOs.

Currently the laptop has 4GB (2x2GB) RAM with a total capacity of 8GB, so I want to upgrade that. Also as I understand SSD are a huge boost to speed, but I really don't think I can afford to get one as the price to GB ratio is so poor. So my questions are:

1. What RAM will be compatible with my laptop model if I want to upgrade to 8GB (2x4GB)? Please give proper name of RAM model as I don't know much about hardware so I need specifics.
2. Is SSD really a very huge boost for what I will use the laptop for? Or is it possible to make do with current HDD and only a RAM upgrade?

At most I'll want the laptop to last a year or a year and a half most for my purposes. Will the RAM upgrade be enough to pull through till then? I still use this laptop daily, I just want it a little faster. :) Thanks.

If the laptop is running fine then why do you wanna upgrade? Save the money for additions to your gaming PC. Imo 4 GB is enough for most things. 8 GB is somewhat extra and nothing uses this much ever. COD Ghosts is probably the highest RAM user ~2GB but I am guessing you have no intention of playing this game.

By looking at the programs you are using I can tell you this.......a SSD upgrade will help you more than a RAM upgrade. The computer won't lag when you are on a SSD. Upgrade to a SSD if you can otherwise no point in going for the RAM upgrade. Save for your gaming PC.

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If you really want to do a RAM upgrade then I suggest you go to your nearest HP store.
 

ithehappy

Human Spambot
I agree with the above opinion. Unless you multi task heavily there's no point of having 8 GB RAM. 4 GB is quite enough. Mine is 2 GB, lol.
But an SSD will be something great, and definitely worth upgrading to. Yes cost to GB ratio is still high, but hey back in 2003 we bought 40 GB hard drives for 4k right? So if you have the budget I will highly recommend a 128 GB or 256 GB SSD if that fits your budget. After using an SSD every darn person will hate a standard 7200 RPM hard drive, and I suppose your's are 5400 RPM.
 

AbhMkh

Ambassador of Buzz
I've an old HP laptop from 2010 (HP Pavillion DV6 3049TX) that I wish to upgrade. I can't afford a new one right now as I'm saving up for a full fledged gaming PC, but I need a laptop for my work anyway so I figured I can replace some hardware like RAM or HDD for lower cost at least.

This is what I'll use the laptop for (point 2 not a priority and can live without that):
1. Multitasking - Mostly apps I have running at work like browser with multiple tabs, microsoft office suites, adobe captivate, music player etc. I used to run all this without a hitch before, but now it's really slowed down due to age.
2. Occasional gaming till I get a gaming PC or when I'm on the go. Nothing high end of course, just play on lower settings of games from the laptop's era or some older MMOs.

Currently the laptop has 4GB (2x2GB) RAM with a total capacity of 8GB, so I want to upgrade that. Also as I understand, SSD are a huge boost to speed but I really don't think I can afford to get one as the price to GB ratio is so poor. So my questions are:

1. What RAM will be compatible with my laptop model if I want to upgrade to 8GB (2x4GB)? Please give proper name of RAM model as I don't know much about hardware so I need specifics.
2. Is SSD really a very huge boost for what I will use the laptop for? Or is it possible to make do with current HDD and only a RAM upgrade?

At most I'll want the laptop to last a year or a year and a half most for my purposes. Will the RAM upgrade be enough to pull through till then? I still use this laptop daily, I just want it a little faster. :) Thanks.

Hey, I had the exact same model.How is it running ?
Mine broke down(literally) a couple of months ago
 
OP
I

Innara

Broken In
The reason I wanted to upgrade RAM was cos my task manager constantly shows very high RAM usage. Like right now, I only have Chrome open (~7 tabs) and it shows as 50% RAM usage. When I run multiple apps, it slows down heavily and uses like 90% until I close down a couple of stuff. I don't know maybe that's not a good indicator and it's something else that is slowing the system down?

Anyway my issue is if I get an SSD for my laptop, I can't likely also get one for my gaming PC esp given I'll probably need a bigger size one for all game installs. Or is SSD not as useful for gaming cos I'm likely to multitask more on a laptop than on a desktop mostly used for gaming or watching videos?

@AbhMkh it is running ok. It heats up a lot and has slowed down significantly. Multitasking isn't as fast as before but I manage for my daily work. I've pretty much given up running any games on it lately cos it's not able to handle it like before so I don't use my laptop for entertainment much anymore like before.
 

seamon

Superhuman Spambot
The reason I wanted to upgrade RAM was cos my task manager constantly shows very high RAM usage. Like right now, I only have Chrome open (~7 tabs) and it shows as 50% RAM usage. When I run multiple apps, it slows down heavily and uses like 90% until I close down a couple of stuff. I don't know maybe that's not a good indicator and it's something else that is slowing the system down?

Anyway my issue is if I get an SSD for my laptop, I can't likely also get one for my gaming PC esp given I'll probably need a bigger size one for all game installs. Or is SSD not as useful for gaming cos I'm likely to multitask more on a laptop than on a desktop mostly used for gaming or watching videos?

@AbhMkh it is running ok. It heats up a lot and has slowed down significantly. Multitasking isn't as fast as before but I manage for my daily work. I've pretty much given up running any games on it lately cos it's not able to handle it like before so I don't use my laptop for entertainment much anymore like before.

Imo a ssd is only good for installing OS. Constantly installing and removing games from ssd could wear it down pretty quick. You won't notice much difference when playing games from ssd or Hdd. Just quicker loading times and no difference during actual gameplay.

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When you get the PC, just remove the ssd and put it in your PC. You can get a 128-256gb now if you want.
 

codename_romeo

Romeo + Lucifer = ME
Hi Innara

I recently upgraded my Sony Vaio CW series from a HDD to a SSD. Prior to that I was plagued by the question "whether to upgrade my hdd or RAM?". I decided to buy a SSD and now I dont feel the need to upgrade my RAM any more. Now my 4 years old laptop boots in less than 10 seconds and shuts down in less than 5 seconds. In addition to the SSD I bought a HDD Caddy from ebay and replaced my DVD drive (was dead anyways) with it. Now I use my old HDD as my secondary hdd and for bulk of storage, while all my applications and the OS runs from the SSD.
 

CyberKID

In search for Tech Gyan!
@Innara, I suggest that you should do a complete format and reinstallation of the system if you could afford doing it, before going for any hardware purchases.
Upgrades like system RAM and SSD might help, but, might not help as much as you are hoping. Since all of our systems are prone to get bloated over time because of frequent usage, installs and uninstalls, which makes our system slow. Surely, increasing the amount of RAM would help you accommodate more number of applications you could keep open at any given point of time, it really might not work that great in case of a laptop upgrade because you're bound by the system motherboard, and hence the type of ram you can use. As you might be knowing, over time, the system collects useless chunk of data and files and thus becomes slow. Try taking a backup of the data you have on your HDD, and then format and reinstall windows and other applications, to see some performance difference.
In case you go with upgrades, I'll suggest you to check your system's hardware configuration (by thoroughly going through your system's user/service manual). Once done, go in the market with informed choices to buy the hardware. Blindly settling in for hardware which your device manufacturer sells is always not a good option, as most of the times, such hardware comes at a premium price, than similarly specced hardware. You can opt for RAM sticks from reputed manufacturers like Kingston, etc. As far as investing in SSD is concerned, I wouldn't have done that if I were you. The reason being as you stated your's is a 4 year old laptop, and might stay on for just another 2-3 years, but you'll still feel the other hardware creating bottleneck in your system's performance and the overall performance gain you might get as a result of upgrade might get negated.
 

seamon

Superhuman Spambot
@Innara, I suggest that you should do a complete format and reinstallation of the system if you could afford doing it, before going for any hardware purchases.
Upgrades like system RAM and SSD might help, but, might not help as much as you are hoping. Since all of our systems are prone to get bloated over time because of frequent usage, installs and uninstalls, which makes our system slow. Surely, increasing the amount of RAM would help you accommodate more number of applications you could keep open at any given point of time, it really might not work that great in case of a laptop upgrade because you're bound by the system motherboard, and hence the type of ram you can use. As you might be knowing, over time, the system collects useless chunk of data and files and thus becomes slow. Try taking a backup of the data you have on your HDD, and then format and reinstall windows and other applications, to see some performance difference.
In case you go with upgrades, I'll suggest you to check your system's hardware configuration (by thoroughly going through your system's user/service manual). Once done, go in the market with informed choices to buy the hardware. Blindly settling in for hardware which your device manufacturer sells is always not a good option, as most of the times, such hardware comes at a premium price, than similarly specced hardware. You can opt for RAM sticks from reputed manufacturers like Kingston, etc. As far as investing in SSD is concerned, I wouldn't have done that if I were you. The reason being as you stated your's is a 4 year old laptop, and might stay on for just another 2-3 years, but you'll still feel the other hardware creating bottleneck in your system's performance and the overall performance gain you might get as a result of upgrade might get negated.

The best way to speed up an old system is to add a SSD. The other components won't bottleneck it instead SSD will speed up the laptop as a whole.

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Besides SSD can be used later on also with his new PC.
 

CyberKID

In search for Tech Gyan!
The best way to speed up an old system is to add a SSD. The other components won't bottleneck it instead SSD will speed up the laptop as a whole.

- - - Updated - - -

Besides SSD can be used later on also with his new PC.
I wouldn't have said that without knowing the actual system specifications or the current condition of the system.
 

seamon

Superhuman Spambot
I wouldn't have said that without knowing the actual system specifications or the current condition of the system.

He has 4 gb of ram. 2010.....so probably a core 2 duo. Trust me SSDs can speed up almost anything.
 

ithehappy

Human Spambot
Lol, if the system is old, like OP's, then an SSD will make even more impact! Look at the some YouTube videos how much an SSD speeded up a Pentium 4.
 
OP
I

Innara

Broken In
Ok thanks a lot everyone. I'll be first cleaning up my laptop and re-installing windows. Then based on whether that improves performance at all, I'll go in for an SSD upgrade. I think I'll forget about more RAM for now as your arguments against it have convinced me. :)
 
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