I've got a laptop that works fairly well and I bought it about 3 years ago and now it's just not holding up to what I need it to with school and doing research. I'm a college student so the money for a new laptop just isn't there but I need to pick up the speed somehow. I know nothing really about my laptop other than it's a Dell with 30 GB Memory (i'm guessing?) and I think an Intel Celeron Processor 2.6 GHz? I'm sure that number is something of a laugh now but I was just seeing if anyone could suggest what I need to buy to stay within a poor college girls budget to speed me up and give me a little more memory or do i just need to start saving up for a new computer? Any and all help is much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi rudegiirldee, welcome to SAF

30 gB is the hard drive capacity, not the memory. We need the full model of your Dell laptop to see if there is any way to improve it, but don't expect too much, as there are very few things you can do on a laptop to upgrade it with few money...

Chris

How much do you have to spend?

lol ahh okay i know i'm prolly asking for too much.. but i think ii found what i need to put up here.

Dell Inspiron I1150 thats the model.

I've got about $300 bucks to work with. I was just trying to see if I can keep from having to buy a brand new comp like in the $1000 range cause thats what i'll probably do next.. but that's sort of out of the question right now. Thanks for the replies you two!

Well, as lappies go, that's really not too bad a setup. But lets see exactly what you are running. Okay so go here:
START button / Settings / Control Panel / System. The first screen that pops up will be System Properties. Copy down the information that shows there - except for your serial #, don't post that - and post it here. That will tell us what you are running.

IMO if it's a bit old then it's probably short of memory. The good news is that memory is usually upgradable, even on laptops. If the speed really is 2.6GHz that sounds respectable, even 1GHz systems run quite well provided they have enough memory.

I'd up the memory and get a larger hard drive. That's pretty much all you're going to be able to do to it. The processor speed is fine. The only thing you may be lacking is with graphics, and you're not going to be able to upgrade that.

[b]How much Hard drive you need is a very personal thing, depending on what ;you use your pc for.
You can upgrade the HD fairly easily, but not as easily as the memory. TO check to see if you need more HD space, you can check to see how much is currently in use. If you arent using alot right now, you dont need to add. If you do upgrade the HD you have to make sure you have a restore CD to install the OS and drivers.
ADDING memory is quite easy if there is an open slot. Laptops come with two slots. Usually one is open, empty from the factory. Simply take the two screws off the back and expose the existing ram. Next to it should be an open slot, insert new ram stick there, put screws back in and you are done.

If both slots are taken, you have to remove one and install the other. That old ram stick is worth some money, so dont just toss it, same with the HD.

$300 will EASILY cover that. To know what kind of memory, go to Dell's website. I personally, if one slot was open, buy a one gig ram stick, you can find reputable sellers on ebay selling them for around $100, and that should last you a lotta years.

Lastly, you could sell this one and get about $300 for it, and then buy a new one for around $600 OR buy a used one off ebay. There are a lot of really nice laptops on ebay for $600. Just a quick check just showed me a toshiba A75-229 P4 3.2gig 780 RAM 15,4 WIDE XBRITE and 80 GB hard drive. If you pay through pay pal, they give you "insurance" against fraud. You do have a refund period if the Laptop isnt as described.
This one is "buy it now".
Hope this helps.