Do you think it is worth spending $60 about to upgrade old laptops with SSD drives instead of Hard Drives ?

ng4ever

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I know it is all up to me but what would you do ? They can't update to Windows 11 stuck on Windows 10 Pro.

They are still decent machines but if you need specs I will provide.
 
you always need to look at the price and upgrade good deal used Laptop around are, but yes in general HDD to SSD is an excellent upgrade performance/price wise, that and adding ram if you have 4-8gig and missing some are non-brainer in my opinion.

I would not worry about Windows 11, by the time it is an issue the cheap used Laptop you would buy now would not be that great either. I would not assume it will be impossible to install WIndows 11 on them either.
 
you always need to look at the price and upgrade good deal used Laptop around are, but yes in general HDD to SSD is an excellent upgrade performance/price wise, that and adding ram if you have 4-8gig and missing some are non-brainer in my opinion.

I would not worry about Windows 11, by the time it is an issue the cheap used Laptop you would buy now would not be that great either. I would not assume it will be impossible to install WIndows 11 on them either.

Thank you.
 
Depends... Do they have enough Ram? Cores? Clock speed? If the answer is yes, then likely a new SSD would be a worthy upgrade. But a new SSD won't magically make programs run better, unless they are io intensive.
 
Depends... Do they have enough Ram? Cores? Clock speed? If the answer is yes, then likely a new SSD would be a worthy upgrade. But a new SSD won't magically make programs run better, unless they are io intensive.

8 GB of ram, i5 3320m processor
 
Replace hard drive with SSD? That's a "hell yes" from me. I first replaced a spinner with an SSD in I think late 2016, and I couldn't get rid of the rest of our spinners fast enough.

Hyperbole aside, the above is assuming that you aren't direly limited in some other way, like trying to run Win 11 in 2 or 4 GB of RAM.
 
If you have decent older machines that work well and are in good shape, I always think it is worth upgrading them to SSD's and maybe boosting the RAM up a bit.

For 60 - 90 bucks you can make them work like new again, and not need to spend $800-$2500 on a new machine.

It's a no-brainer to me
 
I recently put some ram, newer WiFi card, and an SSD into the this older Asus laptop. i7 4000 series. Feels like a new machine.
this is an oddball one, 4GB of ram is soldered on the board and only 1 so-dimm slot.
IMG_1897.JPEG
 
Yes, but as stated you can go cheaper (256GB) then buy an external 2.5" enclosure (make sure USB3 if laptop has it) and you have the best of both worlds. An imaging back-up drive and mass media storage, while your laptop actually is usable.
 
I refuse to work on laptops with HDDs in them. They get upgraded first. Then I'll work on them. A 250GB SSD is so cheap now. I even have several 120GBs sitting around that will work fine for the little old lady that just uses it for her local singing group emails.

No one has refused or complained so far.
 
I refuse to work on laptops with HDDs in them. They get upgraded first. Then I'll work on them. A 250GB SSD is so cheap now. I even have several 120GBs sitting around that will work fine for the little old lady that just uses it for her local singing group emails.

No one has refused or complained so far.
Yep, when slickdeals fairly often shows 512gb ssds available for $40 and 1tb ones for 70 to 80ish, it's beyond awful for someone to be using an hdd in this day and age.

Signed, first ssd in I think 2006 (a 64gb slc that ran $700 I got on a hot deal for about $490... Later sold it for a profit just before jumping on an Intel x25 80gb :p).
 
The thing is, most users don't require any fancy CPU. For your typical Web/Email/MS Office type of user, almost any non-extreme power saving CPU made in the last decade+ will do the trick.

They usually jsut feel slow because of the hard drive and in some cases insufficient amounts of RAM.

The combination of SATA SSD + maxing out the RAM has been an absolute miracle transformation on every machine I have done it on over the years, except one.

That one exception was a Dell Inspiron with some sort of pre-Ryzen super low power chromebook type of chip in it. I can't remember the model name, but that thing - while it may have been OK when it was new, was an absolute dog years later. It was a dual core, no HT, only clocked at like 1.2ghz or something, and only had single channel RAM. Even after maxing the RAM to 16GB and giving it a Samsung 870 EVO it was still slow. I was really surprised, because on every other machine I've ever tried this on it has been a smashing success, but this one? no.

So I would argue unless you are dealing with chromebook type CPU's (you know, small core, atom cores, or their AMD equivalents) do it. It is worth it.

I have two old Dell Latitudes in my house I still use as my at home dailies, for when I need to be portable.

1654978525519.png


They are a 2012 era Dell Latitude E6430s and a 2013 era Dell Latitude E6540.

The 6430s is still great. Still snappy despite its old Ivy Bridge era 2C/4T i5-3320m. The keyboard is one of the best I've used on a laptop. Only drawback is the low res 1366x768 monitor which makes it difficult to use some modern content.

The 6540 is similarly great. It's a bit snappier with its Haswell era 4C/8T i7-4810MQ. It can even do some light older gaming using its Radeon HD 8790M. It also solves the resolution issue of the 6430s by having a 1080p screen. The keyboard isn't quite as good as in the 6430s, but still much better than that Apple chiclet/island crap.

Both of them - once they got the SATA SSD and RAM upgrade treatment feel just as snappy as brand new machines.

I think this is in part because newer machines are all thin and sleek, what we used to call Ultrabooks, so while the CPU Arch has improved tremendously since then, the modern ones have had a smaller and smaller power envelope whereas these old ones are still allowed to have 35w TDP's, so while it means they need larger batteries than newer models, it also means they are still as, or almost as fast as many mainstream modern models.
 
The thing is, most users don't require any fancy CPU. For your typical Web/Email/MS Office type of user, almost any non-extreme power saving CPU made in the last decade+ will do the trick.

They usually jsut feel slow because of the hard drive and in some cases insufficient amounts of RAM.

The combination of SATA SSD + maxing out the RAM has been an absolute miracle transformation on every machine I have done it on over the years, except one.

That one exception was a Dell Inspiron with some sort of pre-Ryzen super low power chromebook type of chip in it. I can't remember the model name, but that thing - while it may have been OK when it was new, was an absolute dog years later. It was a dual core, no HT, only clocked at like 1.2ghz or something, and only had single channel RAM. Even after maxing the RAM to 16GB and giving it a Samsung 870 EVO it was still slow. I was really surprised, because on every other machine I've ever tried this on it has been a smashing success, but this one? no.

So I would argue unless you are dealing with chromebook type CPU's (you know, small core, atom cores, or their AMD equivalents) do it. It is worth it.

I have two old Dell Latitudes in my house I still use as my at home dailies, for when I need to be portable.

View attachment 482183

They are a 2012 era Dell Latitude E6430s and a 2013 era Dell Latitude E6540.

The 6430s is still great. Still snappy despite its old Ivy Bridge era 2C/4T i5-3320m. The keyboard is one of the best I've used on a laptop. Only drawback is the low res 1366x768 monitor which makes it difficult to use some modern content.

The 6540 is similarly great. It's a bit snappier with its Haswell era 4C/8T i7-4810MQ. It can even do some light older gaming using its Radeon HD 8790M. It also solves the resolution issue of the 6430s by having a 1080p screen. The keyboard isn't quite as good as in the 6430s, but still much better than that Apple chiclet/island crap.

Both of them - once they got the SATA SSD and RAM upgrade treatment feel just as snappy as brand new machines.

I think this is in part because newer machines are all thin and sleek, what we used to call Ultrabooks, so while the CPU Arch has improved tremendously since then, the modern ones have had a smaller and smaller power envelope whereas these old ones are still allowed to have 35w TDP's, so while it means they need larger batteries than newer models, it also means they are still as, or almost as fast as many mainstream modern models.
I was using this older Dell E6510 for a number of years if I needed to go mobile. I recently sold it to a friend who bought it to give to a co-worker for her to use in college.
Even though it was older, it is still pretty snappy with 8GB of Ram and a 500GB Samsung SSD. It also has a 1080p IPS screen.
IMG_2006.JPG
 
I was using this older Dell E6510 for a number of years if I needed to go mobile. I recently sold it to a friend who bought it to give to a co-worker for her to use in college.
Even though it was older, it is still pretty snappy with 8GB of Ram and a 500GB Samsung SSD. It also has a 1080p IPS screen.
View attachment 482284

One cool thing about Dell laptops (at least those that use the modular slot for slim optical drives) is that they sell an adapter that pops into the optical drive slot, where you can install a second 2.5" drive. I ahve done this with both of my Latitudes.
 
One cool thing about Dell laptops (at least those that use the modular slot for slim optical drives) is that they sell an adapter that pops into the optical drive slot, where you can install a second 2.5" drive. I ahve done this with both of my Latitudes.
thats a good option for more storage, i did it with an old dell c2d unit when ssds were still pricey. put a 60gb in for os and the oem hdd into an adapter.
 
I've been running a refurb HP haswell i5 since 2017 for daily web surfing use. It came with a 120gb ssd, I just added a 500gb one a couple of years later.
 
I was using a Dell E6410 till my Framework turned up a few months ago. Upped the CPU, the ram and the wi-fi chip. Slapped in a 60GB SSD I had laying around back in the day. I only really used it for remote use setting up routers and WAPs so nothing amazing was needed. But man it was a chuckable machine. The original battery still gave me nearly an hour of use.
 
Thanks everyone I did it!

Bought two 250 GB drives from Amazon for 2 different laptops. It helped speed them up a lot! Thanks again.

I agree going at least 250GB to 256GB is required because anything less is too little.


Even installed Windows 11 Pro on them with Rufus disabling the two checks so I could install Windows 11 Pro.
 
Thanks everyone I did it!

Bought two 250 GB drives from Amazon for 2 different laptops. It helped speed them up a lot! Thanks again.

I agree going at least 250GB to 256GB is required because anything less is too little.


Even installed Windows 11 Pro on them with Rufus disabling the two checks so I could install Windows 11 Pro.
Nice :D. Glad to hear!
 
Even installed Windows 11 Pro on them with Rufus disabling the two checks so I could install Windows 11 Pro.

Are there any downsides to doing this? Any lost functionality due to (presumably) missing TPM or anything like that?

Also, do you have a link the guide you used?

I'm not convinced I am interested in running Win11 yet myself, but I presume a time will come when I don't have a choice, so I might as well be prepared.
 
Nice!

I often go with the inland 3 pack for $85 when upgrading old win7 machines. It makes it useable. If I'm never going to see the pc again, I don't upgrade anything.

I have so many old SATA SSD's (mostly Samsung 850 Pro's) kicking around that I just use what I have. They are usually pulled from my server. They have been beaten on, but the remaining write endurance is usually WAY more than what I need for a laptop.

My Latitude E6540 has two 512GB Samsung 850 Pro's in it that used to be ZFS L2ARC (read cache) devices in my server.
 
Yes, but as stated you can go cheaper (256GB) then buy an external 2.5" enclosure (make sure USB3 if laptop has it) and you have the best of both worlds. An imaging back-up drive and mass media storage, while your laptop actually is usable.

I wish.

One of the laptops USB ports do not work at all :(
 
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