[ale] feasibility of motherboard & HD replacement in portable, rather than computer replacement ?

Sean C. McCord scmlist at cycoresys.com
Wed Feb 11 14:56:31 EST 2009


On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 02:20:04PM -0500, Courtney Thomas wrote:
> Brian,
> 
> Dell's website manual for the C810 says that 2 sticks of 256mb is the max. I 
> don't have any 512mb
> sticks on hand to try 'em but could it be that the machine can actually see 
> the 512mb contrary to Dell's
> manual information  ?

If it is a printed (or even PDF) manual, then it may well simply be
telling you the largest size available at that time.  Also, there may be
BIOS updates available to allow use of larger RAM modules.

If you're only looking at upgrading the speed, then others are quite
correct:  RAM and HDD are likely the dominant speed limiters you are
encountering with every day use (specifically excluding gaming).  A
quick Google does show adverts for 512MB modules for the Latitude C810,
but I would definitely check before buying.

For the HDD, almost any newer drive will outperform whatever came with
it.  If price is not an obstacle, go for a high-end SLC-based SSD (like
the Intel X-25E if you have SATA).  If not, balance between speed and
power consumption with the RPM rates based on your preferences.

> 
> Thank you,
> Courtney
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Brian Pitts" <brian at polibyte.com>
> To: <ale at ale.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [ale] feasibility of motherboard & HD replacement in portable, 
> rather than computer replacement ?
> 
> 
> > Courtney Thomas wrote:
> >> I have an older Dell Latitude C810 that is fine for it's use except that 
> >> the
> >> HD is slow and no more RAM may be added, which is now 512mb.
> >>
> >> The only reason I need, I think, a new motherboard is so I can add more 
> >> RAM.
> >>
> >
> > Can you put two 512mb sticks of RAM in your laptop? It should take
> > standard laptop PC-133 SDRAM.

--
Sean C. McCord
scmlist at cycoresys.com


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