a new laptop purchase is recommended if you want to stay on top of program specs requirements, there are ways to extend your old laptop’s life span just a bit more. They’ll be akin to putting laptop parts on life-support, yes; but at least they’ll give you enough time to really save up for your next big laptop purchase.
1. 5 Ways to Give New
Life to Your Old
Laptop
Source:
http://techbodhi.edublogs.org/2012/10/12/5-ways-to-
give-new-life-to-your-old-laptop/
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2. A new laptop purchase is recommended if you want to stay on top of program specs
requirements, there are ways to extend your old laptop’s life span just a bit more.
They’ll be akin to putting laptop parts on life-support, yes; but at least they’ll give
you enough time to really save up for your next big laptop purchase.
3. 1 Clean Your Laptop
Sometimes, a laptop slows down to a
snail’s pace not because its laptop
components are outdated, but because
they aren’t getting enough ventilation.
You can fix this by cleaning your
laptop’s vents.
If you have the gumption for it, you may even want to open up your laptop and
clean it from the inside. This is something more complicated than an average
user may be able to handle, of course; but with enough know-how – and
provided your laptop’s warranty has already expired – it’s something worth
trying.
4. 2 Reinstall or Change Your Operating System
The longer your laptop’s OS handles the
day-to-day processes required for the
computer to run, the more it gets bogged
down with accumulated bits of data.
You may want to try reinstalling your OS
to get things running fresh again.
Alternatively, you may opt to install
other, less resource-demanding OSes like
Ubuntu and OS X.
Needless to say, make sure to have all your important files backed up before
attempting an OS re/installation.
5. 3 Install More RAM
If the laptop parts your computer came
installed with were sufficiently powerful
to begin with, you may squeeze more
juice out of them yet. How? By installing
more RAM that could reduce the
workload of your CPU and GPU,
allowing you to push their performance
levels even further.
Furthermore, installing more RAM is relatively easy (most current laptops come
with removable panels allowing you access to your computer’s RAM slots) and
cheap (between $60 to $80).
6. 4 Buy a New Wireless Adapter
If web browsing is all you do anyway
and you’re just having problems with
your laptop’s connection speed, don’t
replace your computer just yet. All you
need is a new wireless adapter.
A relatively old laptop uses Wi-Fi with a
frequency of 802.11g (and if your laptop
is really old, it’s probably 802.11a or
802.11b). The current standard is Wi-Fi
802.11n; and if you’ve got $20 to spare,
you can buy yourself a USB wireless
adapter with just that frequency.
If your current router can’t handle 802.11n, though, you may need to buy a new
one, setting you back $50 more. That said, the updated router is still something you
can use for a long time.
7. 5 Install a Solid State Drive
Finally, you can choose to install a solid
state drive. While lacking the storage
space capacity of hard drives, SSDs
make up for it with their blazingly fast
data retrieval speeds. Not only does this
mean that you can get the files you need
faster, but system startups will be quicker
as well.
SSDs can be rather expensive, with a decent 128 GB model costing upwards of
$150. Still, being the wave of the future, these laptop components are as good
investments as any.