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Tekniska forum » Hardware »
How can I upgrade a laptop?
Trådens avsändare: sertacin78gm
sertacin78gm
sertacin78gm
USA
Mar 3, 2020

Hello
I have a laptop Asus A42F-VX408R
specs https://mobilespecs.net/laptop/ASUS/Asus_A42F-VX408R.html

What can be done with it to increase productivity?

  thanks for the advice
 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:30
Medlem
Kinesiska till Engelska
+ ...
Buy a new one Mar 3, 2020

Just buy a $400 USD laptop. No point trying to polish turd.
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Nederländerna
Local time: 01:30
Medlem (2006)
Engelska till Afrikaans
+ ...
@Serta Mar 3, 2020

sertacin78gm wrote:
I have a laptop Asus A42F-VX408R
https://mobilespecs.net/laptop/ASUS/Asus_A42F-VX408R.html
What can be done with it to increase productivity?


On the hardware side, buy more RAM (you can have up to 8 GB, according to those specifications). I'm guessing that 2 x 4 GB DDR3 SODIMM will set you back about $40 at most.

You can try to get a faster hard drive (7200 RPM), but you may not notice much of a difference. An SSD drive may also be slightly faster, but probably not worth the cost.

Apart from that, you need to tweak things on the software side. I suggest you register at https://www.sevenforums.com and follow some of the guides to increase performance.

Lincoln Hui wrote:
Just buy a $400 USD laptop. No point trying to polish turd.


Why settle for a $400 laptop when you can get a $4000 laptop?


[Edited at 2020-03-03 09:44 GMT]
 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Tjeckien
Local time: 01:30
Franska till Engelska
+ ...
Possible, but is it worth it? Mar 3, 2020

You can try to get a faster hard drive (7200 RPM), but you may not notice much of a difference. An SSD drive may also be slightly faster.

From my own experience, installing an SSD in an old laptop makes it considerably faster from the user's point of view. While the data transmission rate is more or less the same, SSD blows HDD out of the water when it comes to seeking - that is, when switching between multiple files accessed simultaneously, which happens very often. SSDs are very cheap now anyway. Also, SSDs are totally resistant to shocks and falls - if you drop it on the floor, nothing will happen, whereas an HDD is very likely to die and take all your data with it.

Upgrading memory may help a little bit, but don't expect any significant improvements.

On the other hand, the CPU in this laptop is very old, so it will be more or less OK for word processing, e-mail and the like, but may stutter on CPU-intensive applications (even a web browser may be too slow on some poorly designed sites), so it may not be worth upgrading it after all.

In the bottom line, I would put it this way: it may still be OK for basic use, but for any kind of serious work it's already beyond its useful life.

[Edited at 2020-03-03 10:32 GMT]

Thomas T. Frost
Dan Lucas
Jorge Payan
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spanien
Local time: 01:30
Medlem
Engelska till Franska
The extra mile Mar 3, 2020

I don't think your computer is current enough to be worth upgrading.

But if you've been using it for a while with Windows, reformatting the system partition (making sure that the hidden Windows reinstall files, if any, are on another partition) and reinstalling Windows and all applications from scratch could rejuvenate and speed it up quite nicely to keep using it to the last drop. And it's good for the planet.

There are plenty of resources to show you how to do it (bac... See more
I don't think your computer is current enough to be worth upgrading.

But if you've been using it for a while with Windows, reformatting the system partition (making sure that the hidden Windows reinstall files, if any, are on another partition) and reinstalling Windows and all applications from scratch could rejuvenate and speed it up quite nicely to keep using it to the last drop. And it's good for the planet.

There are plenty of resources to show you how to do it (back up all app settings, docs, etc.).

I also maintain a list of all programs on my computer, with their specifics to think of before performing a clean reinstall, in order to decrease the risk of trouble. Examples: export browser favorites/bookmarks, templates/CAT grids/etc. for TO3000, send back my Trados license, password manager back-up...
Proceed with method to ensure you don't run into unpleasant problems, like lost license codes, drivers or program executables. Plan one or two days to be completely up-to-date and running.

Philippe ▲ Collapse
 
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