Upgrading mah laptop

Swan_Solo

Swan_Solo

Active member
recently i bought a laptop off of NS to use for schoolwork and to run music programs on

i bought an ibm thinkpad a22m with;

384mb RAM

30GB hard drive

897GHz processor

recently the little mouse button has fallen off and the keyboard is coming up in one corner, can this be fixed? also, can i buy a replacement mouse button

if not, i could just buy a new keyboard for it

I plan on upgrading the RAM to 512mb

it only accepts SO DIMM 144-pin pc-100 RAM, and it will only read up to 512mb

is there any way i can get more than 512mb?

i also plan on adding a solid-state hard drive (32GB):
http://www.impactcomputers.com/08k9509.html

i could add a port for a second hard drive:
http://www.impactcomputers.com/08k6067.html

and possibly put a new drive in there and keep my current (or vice versa)

sadly, i only have i usb (not a 2.0) and i was wondering if i could expand and get more usb ports, or even a couple usb 2.0's

any advice, suggestions, or comment?
 
idk, i'll check it out, but it has 2 ports, both can take up to 256mb

i think it has 1 256mb and 1 128mb card in

i'm gonna try to format them to read 512mb each, giving me a gig

i have xp, that can read up to 4 gigs
 
You can't just format it... It takes a maximum and you can't go over that. I'll take a look at the mobo and see if it can accept more than 512.
 
if i were you, i would buy a hard drive from newegg.com. i just bought a 120 gb hard drive for my notebook from there for $70. and it only took 3 days to receive it.
 
First of all about the RAM. Your laptop is only capable of running 512 mb you said, so there isn't anything you can do to run more. Your processor and OS won't be compatible with any more.

You said you were going to replace your hard drive. Replace or add another? Cause you said you want a 32 GB one, that is only 2 more than your old one...if you are just replacing, then it is definitely not worth it.

As for the mouse/keyboard, you might be able to fix it. If not talk to ibm maybe. Other than that, look on newegg for parts if you can, its a great site.
 
it's 32 GB solid state, aka flash hard drive

uber fast

and i have to check with some comp tech peeps, i might be able to have my comp read some HD space as RAM

i could just buy a new keyboard for it, i just need to know if i could replace that stupid button thing
 
regardless, a solid state drive for that cheap will be a good upgrade, and i'm gonna stick to a single hard drive

luckily, i just fixed my keyboard with a pencil, now i just need a mouse button, does anyone know where to get a replacement?

 
is there any limit to how big of a hard drive i can put in as long as it's still a 2.5"?

cause newegg has one that's 320gb
 
and is a processor like ram in that your comp can only read a certain amount?

because i can get another pentium 3 in 1.4ghz
 
upgrading your processor is alot harder. You have to make sure you have a compatible bios and motherboard to make it work. Usually i wouldn't suggest trying it. Chances are it won't be compatible.
 
well i'm just wondering what's making my comp slow

not enough RAM, or too small of a processor?

and i can get a 1ghz processor that i know is compatible, but is it worth the money to upgrade?
 
You won't notice much of a difference in the 150 mhz or whatever it is. What OS is it running? That could be slowing it down alot. The biggest is a combination of low ram and slow processor speed.
 
hahahahaha dude. seriously. it would be way cheaper to just buy a new one than replace everything.
 
well so far ram is 60

the 1.4ghz processor would be 35

the external HD would be 110

and the usb hub is $7

212 is less than 500 for a compaq with similar stats
 
thanks, that's very true, buying things pre-set up is lame

and i'm running xp, because my synth software won't work on vista
 
Laptops are not made to be easily upgradable. Just save up and buy a new one. With the kind of upgrades you're doing it's not going to help much at all. You could also screw something up and then you're SOL.
 
xp could be slowing you down alot, especially with those specs. Personally I would downgrade to windows 2000 professional. It is one of the best OS's ever made, very secure and works well. Also not nearly the memory hog as XP is.
 
im getting one in december, but it will probably be running linux, mac, or vista

so im using this to run xp programs on
 
ok, final say:

bigger hard drive

i can put in 1gb of RAM says Sandra Lite, contrary to the manufacturer

and i can get a processor up to 1.4ghz

thanks for the halp guise
 
Honestly I'd just buy a new one... Upgrading laptops is obnoxious. 128 MB RAM might make your computer a bit faster but it's not going to be an extreme difference... you could get an external HD, but that won't make your computer go faster, just enable it to hold more shit. Processor and all that is too big an overhaul, might as well buy a new computer.

Your best bet and most noticeable performance upgrade won't cost you a dime... reformat your hard drive. The longer you use a computer (ESPECIALLY if you're browsing the internet / installing shit / looking at pr0n) the more shit builds up on it and the slower it will become. Period, there's no way of getting around it. Just take what you need and save it, then delete everything on your HD and start fresh. It'll work wonders. If you need help going about doing this, hit me up in a PM.
 
well i get a new one next year, this one is to use music programs with and edit the movie SCP is making

by next year, vista will be the only thing available on most laptops (probably all). Thats also if i dont get an apple or something running linux

i'll start out with a portable to store all of my music, pics, and movies on, and then decide where i wanna go from there
 
You're not going to want to edit a movie on that laptop... You can also buy a computer without vista and install xp.
 
man its not worth the money to buy that stuff, computer technology is soooooooooooo cheap i was looking at just the average sale stuff in a catalog yesterday and you can get a brand new laptop with about 5 times the power of the one you have for like 350
 
Dude, don't ever get Vista. If you want to speed your computer up that's a surefire way to slow it down. I'd just get a new computer, no matter when you buy it technology is going to make a mockery of it within six months so you might as well just suck it up, get the new laptop now and save yourself the hassle.
 
since everyone is so dead set on me buying a new one, show me a laptop with a gig of RAM,and 160GB hard drive @ 7200rpm for less than $340
 
is that just like a usb port with like 5 ports on it you plug into the one on the comp?

if your trying to get 2.0 and you got a 2.0 hub and your comp is still 1.0, then the 5 or however many on the hub will still be 1.0
 
Aight so on second thought that might be a bit of a stretch haha, I forgot this was a laptop we're talking about. Maybe buying a new one isn't your best call, but upgrading your current one definitely isn't either. I'd go with reformatting and see how fast it is after that.
 
well i have, and it's decent (especially considering it went from 2000 to xp and has crappy stats)

and i wanna upgrade this because not only is it a decent xp platform, but some software on here is only installable on one comp

plus its my parents who are buying me a laptop for college next christmas, i plan on putting some money towards it and getting a macbook

legit? right now i'm going for 786mb of ram ($66), and 160gb hard drive @ 7200rpm ($110)

i'll add a 1.4ghz processor and upgrade to 1gb RAM if need be

i bought this for $100 so i could have something with xp i could use with my synth and as a portable recording platform (it runs cakewalk quite well). it's also convenient to make flyers and put vids on to edit for SCP (it came with photoshop).
 
also, i fixed my keyboard, i have to buy a 6-pack of trackpoint covers to replace my lost one ($10)

and i may buy a less dead battery
 
 
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