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Upgrading old Laptops & Desktops

E-waste is a serious problem. But in poorer Countries without a proper e-waste recycling programme, repairing and upgrading old laptops is a serious line of activity that is also Socially beneficial. Microsoft , AMD, NVIDIA , DELL, SONY, HP & other Laptop manufacturers, all pose serious hurdles to the process. The fact of the matter is that for the ordinary user an upgraded laptop can give years of added service.

 

Broadly speaking the upgrades fall into some basic categories:

 

1. Storage Upgrade: Switching from a failing spinning drive to an SSD is a highly desirable upgrade. The SATA SSD is quite easy to install. Laptops that have a DVD ROM drive bay can also be used to put in a storage drive (even the old one being replaced) in place of the DVD ROM DRIVE. 

2. RAM Upgrade: To this day most Laptops come with just a single stick of RAM. Usually there is scope to put in an additional DIMM and run in Dual Channel mode which gives a significant boost in Speed.

3. Battery replacement: Older Battery versions are still available.

4. Keyboard repairs: This is again a very feasible exercise.

5. OS Upgrade:  Thus far upgrades from Windows 7, & Windows 8, to Windows 10 was permitted by Microsoft. Only with Windows 11 has Microsoft denied an upgrade path for older Hardware. But there was always a problem with the drivers for embedded and older Graphics Cards which became incompatible with Windows 10 often crashing systems!  Often, the best way out was to switch to Linux which was free and could actually run well enough on older Laptops.

 

You Tubers have played a major role in educating the lay Public into what was possible. With the Pandemic, many School children have been forced to learn from home. Older Laptops can easily be upgraded to suit their needs. Happy to learn of efforts made in this area. Do share your experiences!

 

 

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1. Really depends on the laptop a lot of newer ones (2015 till now) that came with a hdd or too small ssd are a pain to upgrade.

2. See point one. But a lot of devices don't even allow ram upgrades anymore

3. Again the opening of certain devices and then now the gluing of batteries makes it a pain.

4. I hate glue and rivots with a passion here

5. Fair enough 10 runs on most 😛

 

Yeah I hate how non repairable most are or how hard it has gotten and a lot of people don't wish to take the time, risk or money to do this. I totally get that and it just sucks.

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