How to upgrade hard drive and RAM on new computer?

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farmerjohn1324

Member
Lenovo Ideapad 330.

I should get a SSD. What kind are best?

And how do I check how much more RAM will fit? Can I do this without opening the computer?
 
F

farmerjohn1324

Member
johnb35 said:
What is the full model number? Ideapad 330 is just a series. There should be more numbers after it.

Or you can follow the directions here and you'll find out how much ram it can take.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht118222
Click to expand...

I can support 32 GB. I currently have 4. Is laptop RAM always DIMM RAM?

Without opening the computer, can I find out what is the configuration of RAM slots?

This is the motherboard....
Manufacturer = Lenovo
SMBIOS Version = 3.0
Product = 81DE
Serial Number = PF194VLS
BIOS Version = 8TCN43WW

And how do I determine what is the correct SSD drive to buy to replace this hard drive? The hard drive is 931.51GB, ST1000LM035-1RK172.
 
A

aldan

Active Member
i would bet that it will at least support 8gb.unless you wanna unleash the gamer in you,that is all your gonna need.any 2.5 inch ssd will do well for your purposes.
 
P

_Pete_

Active Member
Did you use the Crucial scanner? that has always worked for me and I have used it for years. The scanner will tell you exactly what is in your computer now and whether you will have to ditch what you have to fit in more RAM. It will also tell you what sort of RAM you need and what sort of SSD. Crucial is a bit more expensive but at least you know what you need. According to your link you need sodimm so, personally, I wouldn't go for anything else.
 
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farmerjohn1324

Member
Just watched a video on YouTube. I circled where the RAM is supposed to go. Looks like 4GB of ddr4.

Why is nothing there presently? Is the current 4gb located somewhere else?
 
strollin

strollin

Well-Known Member
The drive itself is larger than 2.5" because the 2.5" is in reference to the size of the disks used inside, not the external enclosure. Yes, you replace the HDD with the SSD, you'll want to clone the HDD first so that the SSD will be a copy of the HDD and will boot the same.

In many laptops (as well as the one you have) the RAM that it comes standard with is soldered to the mobo. That empty slot you see is what's available to add additional RAM.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You should have done your homework before making the purchase. Now you are wanting to upgrade this when you could have just bought a better system which already had what you wanted. You bought a cheap machine. Take it back. Its not worth spending more money upgrading it. You only have I usable memory slot which will only take up to a 16 gb stick. Very expensive.
 
F

farmerjohn1324

Member
Okay I bought 4 new gb of RAM. But it's the hard drive that is more often the problem.

What is the current write speed of my HDD? What speed should I be looking to upgrade to for my SSD?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
The read andwrite speed of a 5400rpm drive is about 100 megabytes a second. A decent SSD will have read and write speeds of about 550 and 500 megabytes a second, respectively. However, its really not the write speed you need, its the read speed. Look at the Samsung 860 EVO or the Western Digital Blue SSD's.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
You should have just bought a decent laptop from the start.

Yes you'll need something that's USB to SATA.
 
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