Upgrade current laptop or buy different one

[memory]

Looking to upgrade my Moms laptop. All she does is browse the web, checking emails, office programs. She currently has an Acer Aspire One 725-0899 with 2gb DDR3 memory, AMd dual core c60 cpu and running windows 7, looking for a little more speed, pretty sluggish as it is. How much memory can be added to this? And could an SSD drive be added? Would it be worth it to upgrade or look for a different one? As for a budget, cheaper the better but I would say no more than $500.

 

[fralexandr]

The laptop can be upgraded. It has 1 total ddr3 sodimm slot, and is upgradeable. Many users on amazon have reported upgrading to 8gb.
The hard drive is also replaceable. If you were to upgrade it, 4gb ddr3 sodimm would be ~$18, 8gb ~$28.
256gb ssd ~$35, 500gb ssd ~$50.

While it is upgradeable, the cpu is slow and would hold it back for office/web browsing tasks. The c60 is a 2 core 2 thread ~1GHz atom level chip. Even the e350 4 core 1.6 is pretty slow. Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading it unless she likes the netbook form factor.

There are plenty of nice ~15" laptops with i5/ryzen quadcore 8gb ram and 256gb ssd for $500.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13147099-hp-pavilion-13-laptop-intel-core-i5-8265u-13-3-1080p-ips-8gb-ddr4-256gb-ssd-type-c-win-10-429-99-free-shipping-office-depot?attrsrc=Test:HideExpiredSearch:Control&src=SiteSearchV2Algo1

Note: 13" 1080p is pretty small. You might need to increase default font size in windows, the browser, and any programs/apps she uses.

 

[memory]

The laptop can be upgraded. It has 1 total ddr3 sodimm slot, and is upgradeable. Many users on amazon have reported upgrading to 8gb.
The hard drive is also replaceable. If you were to upgrade it, 4gb ddr3 sodimm would be ~$18, 8gb ~$28.
256gb ssd ~$35, 500gb ssd ~$50.

While it is upgradeable, the cpu is slow and would hold it back for office/web browsing tasks. The c60 is a 2 core 2 thread ~1GHz atom level chip. Even the e350 4 core 1.6 is pretty slow. Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading it unless she likes the netbook form factor.

There are plenty of nice ~15" laptops with i5/ryzen quadcore 8gb ram and 256gb ssd for $500.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13147099-hp-pavilion-13-laptop-intel-core-i5-8265u-13-3-1080p-ips-8gb-ddr4-256gb-ssd-type-c-win-10-429-99-free-shipping-office-depot?attrsrc=Test:HideExpiredSearch:Control&src=SiteSearchV2Algo1

Note: 13" 1080p is pretty small. You might need to increase default font size in windows, the browser, and any programs/apps she uses.

Would 8gb of ram be more than plenty for what she is doing with it? Can that laptop ram be upgraded? Be nice to upgrade down the road if needed.

 

[ubern00b]

That cpu will be a big bottleneck with whatever you upgrade the laptop with, no point imo, a pentium dual core would run rings around it nevermind something like an i5 or a quad core mobile ryzen. You won't get the full benefit of an ssd as the cpu will likely start hitting 100% trying to catch up with out then you'll still find it slow and have wasted money on upgrading it

 

[fralexandr]

Would 8gb of ram be more than plenty for what she is doing with it? Can that laptop ram be upgraded? Be nice to upgrade down the road if needed.

8gb is fine for now, and will probably be fine for several years, though when mainstream/mid tier phones start coming out with 8gb+ it will probably be time to upgrade... The ram may or may not be replaceable. Hp reports it's not user replaceable and has 1 slot. From hp's documentation it might require taking apart the laptop to access. Crucial for some reason says it's upgradeable and has 2 slots. Ddr4 16gb sodimm aren't too expensive, though maybe it's soldered to the motherboard and can't be replaced... maybe just skip on the hp then.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13187218-l...home-499-99?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1
14" laptop. ram and ssd are upgradeable, standard config is 2x4gb. The ssd is m.2 and only designed to support 2242, though 2280 will actually fit.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...grade-and-Freesync-compatibility/td-p/4200722

 

[corkyg]

A lot depends on whether she is running Win 7 X86 or 64 bit. If the former, she is limited to 4GB memory. That would still be a good upgrade for what she does.

 

[fralexandr]

A lot depends on whether she is running Win 7 X86 or 64 bit. If the former, she is limited to 4GB memory. That would still be a good upgrade for what she does.

The acer should have shipped with 64bit installed as per the model number, so no 4gb limitation.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I once owned an Acer Aspire One. I loved that little thing, as slow as it was. And trust me, it WAS SLOW. I had the 4GB RAM model, that came with a 320GB HDD, that I promptly removed and substituted an ample-sized SATA 2.5" SSD.

It was sort-of-bearable with the SSD, at least, I'm a very patient person.

But for most people, that laptop would be considered "dog slow", and should be entirely avoided. I purchased it on clearance from a retail store, and it was basically my "disposable laptop", to take with me places. If it got destroyed or stolen, I wouldn't care, all that much.

I mean, you COULD put more RAM, and an SSD in it, and those things wouldn't cost you a heck of a lot (8GB DDR3L SO-DIMM, 240/256GB SATA SSD, probably talking $50-65 total plus shipping and tax.) But it would be throwing good money after bad, for the most part, as with 64-bit OSes, those C60 1.0Ghz APUs, run basically at HALF-SPEED running 64-bit code. As if they weren't already slow enough!

So, if you can afford it, save up and get a better laptop.

Even a Bay Trail / Cherry Trail / Goldmont / Airmont Atom-based "CloudBookj" (Windows OS version of a Chromebook), like one of the Acer models, can be had sometimes refurb for $100.

I have one of those with I think a Cherry Trail 64-bit capable Atom dual-core CPU, and AC wireless, and I installed Linux Mint 19 64-bit on it, and it functions GREAT! Cost me like $80-90-100 at Newegg, during one of their refurb model sell-offs on those Acer Cloudbooks.

Even new, it probably wasn't more than $120-150.

Edit: Or just get a Pentium N5000-based laptop, preferably with a 1080P screen on it, and deal with it. Bonus if it has a "REAL" SSD, and not a cheap-o eMMC module soldered to the board. (Either an actual M.2 SSD, or a traditional 500GB SATA 2.5" HDD, which is actually a GOOD THING, in that form-factor, because it means that it can be removed and upgraded with a standard 2.5" SATA SSD.)

 

[memory]

Ty all for the help so far. Think I will look at getting a different laptop. On the bigger screen laptops, does that mean the keyboard keys get bigger as well? Right now, don't see a need for a 2nd hard drive but want to leave that option open in case want to add one later on.

 

[ubern00b]

You didn't specify the screen size of the current one but I guess if you go from a 13" to a 15" the keys, assuming it has the same layout will be a little bit larger, albeit nothing noticeable as when you add the extra 2" width over a row of say 12+ keys, then you're talking about 1/6" of an inch extra width if that, you can get a really decent non-gaming laptop for $500 btw with a decent CPU, 8GB RAM and maybe 256GB SSD, should be a night and day improvement

 

[memory]

You didn't specify the screen size of the current one but I guess if you go from a 13" to a 15" the keys, assuming it has the same layout will be a little bit larger, albeit nothing noticeable as when you add the extra 2" width over a row of say 12+ keys, then you're talking about 1/6" of an inch extra width if that, you can get a really decent non-gaming laptop for $500 btw with a decent CPU, 8GB RAM and maybe 256GB SSD, should be a night and day improvement

Current one is 11.6"

Laptops come with Windows preinstalled, right? If so, will it come with a key to activate it if it gets reinstalled? Or is a key not needed unless certain hardware like the motherboard is changed?

 

[fralexandr]

Current one is 11.6"

Laptops come with Windows preinstalled, right? If so, will it come with a key to activate it if it gets reinstalled? Or is a key not needed unless certain hardware like the motherboard is changed?

Yeah, the keys are stored in a secure portion of the motherboard bios.

 

[memory]

Found some laptops at Sams Club online around $500 like this one: https://www.samsclub.com/p/hewlett-...webcam-audio/prod22302470?xid=plp_product_1_1

Now this does not have an SSD and it has 16gb optane ram+8gb of DDR4 ram and looks like ram is not expandable, says memory slot not accessible . Does optane ram make any difference for just doing basic tasks? From what I have seen, this does not have usb type-c connection. Now that is not absolutely necessary but would be nice to have in case that situation came up.

I know Amazon prime day is coming up, I think the 14th. Do they normally have sales on laptop during that time?

When it comes to laptops, what does refurbished mean?

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-i5-8265...se-bin:2057441011&rnid=2057412011&s=pc&sr=1-2
After reading some of the questions, confused about the ram on this one. One answer says it has 4gb onboard ram and 1 slot for ram, another answer says it has 2 slots and upgradeable to 32gb. I do like it has an NVMe SSD although how big of a difference would that make in this case over an M.2 SSD?

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoBoo...e-bin:2057441011&rnid=2057412011&s=pc&sr=1-23

https://www.ebay.com/p/Lenovo-IdeaP...2417255?iid=173881633812&rt=nc#ProductDetails

 

[memory]

When buying a laptop online, has anyone experienced issues with the laptop being damaged from the shipping process?

 

[fralexandr]

all of the laptops i've purchased online (~6?) have been fine. They're usually packed pretty well.

 

[corkyg]

I have bought all ine on line - maybe 7 or 8, and never a problem. I always buy from the OEM.

 

[Muadib]

I just got a laptop from Amazon, and there were no issues. Before that I've ordered Dells, Lenovos, and all were in perfect shape.

 

[memory]

Out of the 3 I posted and the leveno that fralex posted, any one better than the other?

 

[fralexandr]

I would go with whatever size works best. Performance will be pretty similar, though the acer's i5 is a slightly faster cpu, while the ryzens have faster gpus (only suitable for light gaming though).

If she works with numbers a lot, ie spreadsheets/excel for tracking expenses or accounting, etc. the laptops you posted have numpads built in. FYI Numpads/10-keys are typically found on some 15.6" and larger laptops.

 

[memory]

I would go with whatever size works best. Performance will be pretty similar, though the acer's i5 is a slightly faster cpu, while the ryzens have faster gpus (only suitable for light gaming though).

If she works with numbers a lot, ie spreadsheets/excel for tracking expenses or accounting, etc. the laptops you posted have numpads built in. FYI Numpads/10-keys are typically found on some 15.6" and larger laptops.

The only concern I have about the acer is from what I understand, it only has 1 ram slot and 20gb is the max, 4gb is soldered onto the board. As for performance goes, would it be better to have 2 slots and use 2x8gb sticks or 1 stick of 16gb if I was to upgrade in the future? Or does that not really make much of a difference in this case?

Don't think having a faster gpu is a priority, no gaming of any type will be done on this laptop. Would imagine having a faster cpu would be more important in this case.

As for the keypad, she not really concerned about that, if it has it great, if it doesn't, not a big deal.

 

[memory]

Now I am assuming with whatever laptop I get, leaning towards the acer aspire 5, that the windows that comes with it will have all kinds of crap loaded on it, correct? So could I just download windows 10 with the media creation tool and reinstall it using the same key? How do I find the key that it uses on the original one?

 

[fralexandr]

you don't need to enter any key. It will automatically find it from the bios.

 

[memory]

So I bought and received the Acer aspire 5. During first time setup, it asks me to sign in to microsoft or create a microsoft account. Wasn't planning on doing that but there was no skip option or any other options for that part. Why is there no way of skipping that? Also, when it asks you to create a pin or password, there was no way to skip that either. Again why?

 

[mindless1]

Now I am assuming with whatever laptop I get, leaning towards the acer aspire 5, that the windows that comes with it will have all kinds of crap loaded on it, correct? So could I just download windows 10 with the media creation tool and reinstall it using the same key? How do I find the key that it uses on the original one?

You don't really need to do that, can simply uninstall any of the OEM bloat or trialware you don't want, and optimize windows to disable some of its components you don't need while you're at it.

If it didn't come with factory restore discs (most don't these days AFAIK), I'd make a partition image backup first, in case you want to sell it someday, or if you'll keep it forever, wait and make the partition backup after you've optimized it.

 

[memory]

You don't really need to do that, can simply uninstall any of the OEM bloat or trialware you don't want, and optimize windows to disable some of its components you don't need while you're at it.

If it didn't come with factory restore discs (most don't these days AFAIK), I'd make a partition image backup first, in case you want to sell it someday, or if you'll keep it forever, wait and make the partition backup after you've optimized it.

I will do that for now. Really not that much extra stuff on there from what I have seen.

Question about Microsoft office. This laptop has office 365 preinstalled and is a trail version for 30 days and I don't plan on buying it. I have an older version of office 2010 or 2013 with the product key. Do I need to remove office 365 before installing my version or can I just enter the product key for the one I have into office 365?