I don’t mean to hijack a thread, but since it’s a computer thread I thought I’d jump in. Today I am going to install a new SSD and RAM in my older laptop. The physical act of doing it looks relatively simple, but does anybody have any tips or advise? I’m just a little nervous about it.
I changed all my hard drives to SSD by just purchasing SSD’s with the exact same interface as the hard drive. ie: typically SATA
I’ll bite.
Have you ever replaced components in a laptop?
There is value in having the proper tools. A laptop repair kit is under $30, which includes the plastic pry tools and suction cup to assist in disassembly. The challenge for the inexperienced are the screws and getting the back plane off for the memory without breaking anything and/or stripping screws. A laptop which has never been disassembled poses a high risk of stripping screws with cheap bits (ask me how I know). The additional risk is discovering hidden old damage; I’ve disassembled laptops which had no apparent damage and plastic bits fell out after taking screws out of it; Dell is the major culprit here for cheap plastic used in manufacture).
The hard drive is easy, presuming the manufacturer didn’t complicate it. You can purchase a cable to connect via USB to copy the entire hard drive to the new SSD. Once the back is off, you should have easy access to both the memory (usually secured with a standard retention clip) and the hard drive (usually secured with one or several screws).
Search for and watch a couple videos for your brand of laptop for these tasks. Pay attention to how to lay out screws so you reinstall the correct ones in the same locations (very important in many cases).
If you are not 100% confident of performing these tasks and accept the risk of failure, the presumption is that you don’t wish to incur the expense of having a shop do this.
If the latter applies and you’re not 100% confident, there are numerous services in nearly every area which offer such tech assistance either as education (think community center), discount services (community college) or charities (senior support, if that applies). Have to ask: Do you not have a friend with a grandchild adept at such things? It’s worth asking. Pizza is a valuable commodity in this respect.
Best of luck. I know that retail services are not cheap (though I’ve never paid for such; presume the obvious).