Help: Upgrading laptop :)

B

bsatellite

New Member
Hey,

This is my first post so I want to start off on saying how awesome, smooth, sleek, clean and user-friendly this forum is!

I recently gave my desktop up for a laptop, the specs will be posted below. The desktop played the games pretty good, smooth as butter and well now that I have the laptop I'm noticing that the games aren't running smooth at all and I payed a lot of money for the damn thing, it's supposed to be real good for gaming according to the clerk (Yeah, they lied). I'm happy with the laptop though because I recently got into computer gaming! There are just a few customization's I'd like to make to it and at Age 14 I am, I'm currently getting heavy into the technology world :)

Here are my specs:

Toshiba Satellite A215-S4728 Notebook Computer

Windows Vista: Home Premium
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55 1.80 GHz
ATI RADEON X1200
2GB DDR2 RAM
160GB Hard-Drive

Here's what I want to put into it:

2GB DDR2 RAM UPGRADE & I want to have 500GB of storage (Hard-Drive). I also want to convert the keys on my keyboard from silver to black :)

Here's my question,

Would I really notice a difference in my gaming and over-all performance of the computer adding another 2GB DDR2 RAM?

How do I increase my hard-drive space from 160GB to 500GB?

Anyway of getting the keys black without spray panting them?

Here are the games I currently play:

18 Wheels Of Steel: Haulin
18 Wheels Of Steel: American Long Haul
Euro Truck Simulator
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: IV (When it comes out for PC)

I asked the guys in at future shop about upgrading my graphics card, they told me that it was a really good card to go and spend money and convert to Nvidia and upgrade, also that I'd be wasting a lot more money because they'd have to put in a new motherboard.

My computer is a recent model, the specs listed above are stock :)

All you're help is greatly appreciated!
 
I know 500GB laptop hard drives are not on the market as of yet, the best you can get is a 320GB HDD. You will see an upgrade in speed from 2GB to 4GB of RAM. The video card on a laptop is not upgradeable, the future shop answer is extremely funny :P
 
GTA IV ain't going to run on that laptop well if at all. That game's requirements are actually obsurdly high for what it looks like really. I reckon even this PC would struggle.

Sorry.
 
Hmm,

Yes I guess you are right that the 500GB HDD's are currently not available, I should've done better research. Yeah, I was quite pissed off that I couldn't purchase a new graphics card for this beast without the motherboard.

2GB-4GB DDR2 RAM UPGRADE: Would that enhance gaming performance?

Also,

How would I go about quieting down this beast? She makes some loud sounds that were never made for the first few months I've had it!

If I wanted to go about building a custom PC, how would I do this & Is it cheap? I'm thinking maybe a custom desktop PC with Vista Ultimate :)

Just remember,

I'm 14 and need the cheapest most efficient way possible to do this :eek:
 
2GB of ram is plenty to run the latest games.

Upgrading it to 4GB is not going to help you much because of the video adapter in the laptop.

You could put 100GB ram in it and it wouldn't improve games much if you have an average video adapter.

Laptops are not a good choice for gaming machines, because they are more expensive for what you get in terms of spec.

I have a gaming laptop myself, but at the time I needed the mobility for work. I have a high end video card in it: Geforce Go 7900 GS 512MB, the rest of the laptop is high spec ($2500 worth). Even with that, I still can't run Battlefield 2 smoothly on all high video settings.

Point is, need a gaming machine, get a desktop. You can upgrade it very easily unlike laptops. The parts are cheaper and you will get better performance for your money.

Don't bother with the laptop, sell it and start again with a desktop. All this about upgrading the video card, spraying keys, new hdd? It's like you have bought a Ford Fiesta and trying to make a Rolls Royce out of it.
 
the182guy said:
2GB of ram is plenty to run the latest games.

Upgrading it to 4GB is not going to help you much because of the video adapter in the laptop.

You could put 100GB ram in it and it wouldn't improve games much if you have an average video adapter.

Laptops are not a good choice for gaming machines, because they are more expensive for what you get in terms of spec.

I have a gaming laptop myself, but at the time I needed the mobility for work. I have a high end video card in it: Geforce Go 7900 GS 512MB, the rest of the laptop is high spec ($2500 worth). Even with that, I still can't run Battlefield 2 smoothly on all high video settings.

Point is, need a gaming machine, get a desktop. You can upgrade it very easily unlike laptops. The parts are cheaper and you will get better performance for your money.

Don't bother with the laptop, sell it and start again with a desktop. All this about upgrading the video card, spraying keys, new hdd? It's like you have bought a Ford Fiesta and trying to make a Rolls Royce out of it.
Click to expand...

So if i wanted to play a game in star bucks i would bring a suit case?
 
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