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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/

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.

Clean Your Laptop1

Sometimes, a laptop slows down to a snail’s pace not because its laptop components are outdated, but because they aren’t getting enough ventilation.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.

Reinstall or Change Your Operating System2

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.

Install More RAM3

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).

Buy a New Wireless Adapter4

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.

Install a Solid State Drive5

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.

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