need some decent advice on my laptop?

Question

I have this basic Compaq Presario c300 and I was wondering how can I improve the overall speed. It is currently equiped with 512mb ram as intended by manufacturer. If I remove the 512 and put a good brand 2gig in there instead, will it change much. Would I also be able to change the CPU from a 1.7gig to something faster?

Answer 1

Upgrading a CPU in the laptop is much more difficult than upgrading RAM, and in your case it would have little, if any, tangible benefit.

You could definitely use some more RAM, and at least 1 GB is good. 2GB is overkill unless you play games, keep a ton of programs open, or edit video.

I recommend the Crucial System Scanner (safe) at http://www.crucial.com/

If you buy your memory using the scanner, and it doesn't work for any reason, they'll give you your money back. I recommend you buy 1 1GB sticks or 2 1GB sticks. This will give you expansion (if you buy 1) or make your PC more ready for the future (if you buy 2).

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Before you start to spend money, you need to know what the issue is.

Is your pc slow for everything, or just when you're using the internet? If it's just the internet, adding memory probably won't help much... you need to find a faster ISP.

If your pc is always slow, look at your hard disk availability. If you have less than 20% free space on your hard disk, you could be running into a problem there. You may want to dump some stuff you don't need, save it off to a CD/DVD, etc.

If you have enough disk space, defrag your hard drive and see if that helps. You can find the program to do this in your Control Panel.

After you've taken all these actions, you might want to run some software to analyze your pc and make suggestions. Go to cnet.com, they have an analyzer. If it indicates upgrading your memory, do it. The jump from 0.5gb to 2gb should provide lots of improvement in your pc's speed.

From my experience, most people have more of a problem with memory than processing speed, especially if the computer is less than 2 years old (made for XP). Upgrading your processor will likely only get you a 20% or so bump in speed... and you won't see any of it if you're still memory-constrained. I would recommend doing the memory upgrade first, and see what impact that has.

Answer 3

Yes, by upgrading your RAM memory your system can speed up, but I don't think changing your processor would be convenient (because you need to change the complete motherboard) it results expensive almost like buying a brand new one. If you want to be sure how many memory slots does your lap has, while in your desktop view press F1 (or function+F1), look for your system specs then look for maximum capacity and for the type of RAM your lap uses.

Hope it helps

Answer 4

2GB of RAM would make your laptop extremely fast compared to the minor 512 in it now. Laptops are a bit harder to upgrade CPU's for because most of the time the CPU chips are soldered to the motherboard. I would defrag the HD and upgrade the RAM. 2GB is a fairly good amount for most people right now.

Answer 5

Increasing RAM will not improve it much as you already have a decent amount. Getting a better CPU would be a good idea although tricky for a laptop.

Seek easier improvements such as sorting your registry and removing old programs and files you dont use.

Answer 6

Just adding more ram will probably speed things up dramatically. Not sure about the ability to add the faster cpu.

Answer 7

1.7 is suffecient but why take out the 512? i dont think that laptop will support one 2 gig stick try 2 1 gig sticks. or just add an extra 512.