Should I Or Can I Upgrade My Laptop?

Brucex64 · 09 Nov 2021

I have an older model laptop that I bought used. It originally had windows 7 but the person I bought it from upgraded to Windows 10 (version 21H1) and I think a new hard drive. It is a Dell Inspiron N5110 model. It has no problems with hardware like the keys or screen or power and it works, but its terribly slow. I'm thinking it may be due to the motherboard/processor being older.

Here are my current specs on it: CPU is Intel Core i3 2310M, board is a Dell 034W60, ram is 6gb of dual channel DDR3 665mhz, Intel/Dell HD graphics 3000, 456gb Seagate HD.

Since this is a Dell brand machine not a custom build is it possible or even feasible to upgrade and make it faster? And how difficult would it be? I've built several PCs but never did a laptop.

steve108 · 09 Nov 2021

You should consider upgrading the HDD to a faster SSD. You can use Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to a SSD. Windows 10 performance is laggy with a HDD boot drive.

Doing should solve the slowness problem. You can find videos on YouTube on how to replace the drive for your model number

dalchina · 09 Nov 2021

It's from around 2012. I'm all in favour of continuing to use older functional kit on environmental grounds (If all the ipads made last year were stacked on top of one another that would be the equivalent of several Empire State buildings, I read somewhere).

However DDR3 665Mhz is slow.

There are many reasons why performance may be slow- not necessarily solely due to hardware.

Try booting it from a live boot disk and see how responsive it is then.

Note that the main difference you would see normally by replacing the drive is a much reduced boot time.

I bought this now 7-8 year-old laptop 2nd hand- ex-business Lenovo t440s. Decent screen, SSD, 9s to boot to lock screen... Win 10 Pro. Big battery, small built-in one, fingerprint reader- even takes a SIM, not that I'm interested.

How much? $200.

Weigh up what you might get with a good 2nd hand choice vs the limited options you have with that one.
Consider how much upgrading would cost.

SIW2 · 09 Nov 2021

An ssd wont be wasted. It can always be moved to another machine, or your new machine when you get one in a couple of years.

Brucex64 · 09 Nov 2021

The hard drive model that is in there is a Seagate ST9500325AS 5400rpm.

SIW2 · 09 Nov 2021

An upgrade to ssd wont be a waste. Upgrading ram will probably only be for that machine, but is also probably cheap.

Trashed Dell Inspiron N5110 - Full Restoration and Upgrades - YouTube

steve108 · 09 Nov 2021

Brucex64 said:

The hard drive model that is in there is a Seagate ST9500325AS 5400rpm.

Upgrade to a SSD and you will have a usable laptop with significantly less lag.

SIW2 · 09 Nov 2021

2x8GB PC3-10600s DDR3 1333Mhz is supported. You already have 6gb of that speed 667x2=1333 effective DDR means double the rate
Dell Inspiron N5110 16GB RAM Upgrade - YouTube

Brucex64 · 09 Nov 2021

Oh! On this model you have to remove the motherboard because the drive is on the bottom so that's basically a complete teardown! From the videos I've seen it looks intimidating to do but I only paid $250 for the laptop. I'd have to do it myself otherwise it would cost more than I paid.

steve108 · 09 Nov 2021

Brucex64 said:

Oh! On this model you have to remove the motherboard because the drive is on the bottom so that's basically a complete teardown! From the videos I've seen it looks intimidating to do but I only paid $250 for the laptop. I'd have to do it myself otherwise it would cost more than I paid.

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