laptop upgraded to 10 is very slow now. install SSD?

I feel sure that the portable is just not current enough on hardware and marginal on RAM. So I plan to replace the existing HD with a SSD.

Thelaptop is a Dell E5510. I am so far unfamiliar with W10 and do not know how to determine what the processor is, size of the HDD, and how much RAM it has. Is there software in W10 that will profile the hardware?

In any case, I expect that the procedure will be the same. This is what I would do in the absence of a better plan:

update w10
back up my files
clone the existing HDD to a SSD using a USB>SATA cable (suggestions for free or low cost software welcomed)
replace the existing HDD with the SSD
boot up

Is this a good plan? Happy to hear a better one.

A clean install would be better, if you don't mind re-installing your programs/applications:
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

In between steps 6 and 7 of the above tutorial you would remove the HDD and install the SSD and do the clean install to the SSD. You could then connect the HDD to the SATA to USB adapter/cable to retrieve files from it.

If you do want to clone, Macrium Reflect Free and MiniTool Partition Wizard are both good free programs to accomplish that.
Macrium Reflect Free

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

OOOOOPS...disney vaca? I saw that! LOL!

Might want to check the Bios to be sure the new SSD will be using AHCI and not IDE if the system is an older one. Don't change the setting until you have cloned or backed up the old drive though or it wont boot, See HERE

In addition, here is another Free cloning software that comes with many SSD drives

Am now in another city and so cannot look at the BIOS options. Where in BIOS am I likely to find this setting? I recognize that it is a mass storage issue, but don't know without searching where the option is located.

(If I understand it, if now set to IDE [which is expect is likely], I need to change to AHCI [after backup and cloning]?)

On the AHCI, that is a change that should be done (IMHO) before you format the SSD for best results.. Cloning first would be a waste in that case. As "Ztruker" mentioned above Googling it would be your best bet. If you are not familiar with your system's bios and what can happen there if the setting are changed in different ways, I would definitely do some reading before changing anything. This thread makes me thing you COULD do it but every situation can be different.

PS: All the "spec" data you mentioned you could not find is in the command 'msinfo32' run from almost any version of Windows command-line. Tells you everything you want and many things you probably don't want to know.

Thanks for all the great guidance. Have been googling, reading, etc. and found couple of good UTube videos in point.

Was thinking of a summary type profiler, but msinfo32 mentioned by questorfla does indeed provide bountiful info (much of it Greek to me). Could not locate anything showing what the total RAM can be, or the number of memory slots, but it is probably in there somewhere. Also found Belarc Advisor, which is good summary GUI type.

Good Man ZT :). The online manual from Mfr is always best. Sounds like he could end up with a heckuva decent laptop. 32 GB of Ram Would make an excellent portable "desktop" IMHO!