Laptop and notebook upgrade
Tips for buying a new notebook DVD drive. E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Sunday, 07 January 2007 09:23

Laptop DVD driveBefore you upgrade or replace the DVD/CD-RW drive in your notebook, make sure that the drive you are buying is compatible with your computer. Some notebooks require an optical drive that works in cable select mode (CSEL). Some notebooks require master/slave (M/S) drives. Typically the drive is set to master or slave through a firmware flash. If the optical drive is not configured properly, it will not be detected by the BIOS or you will get IDE #1 error when you start the laptop. The best way to avoid these kinds of problems is to buy an optical drive designed for your laptop. If you plan to buy a generic drive, make sure to contact the seller and confirm that the drive will work in your computer.

In most cases you would be able to use the same connector board and DVD drive caddy (braces) from your old device. Just remove them from your old drive and install on a new drive.

Also make sure that your current plastic bezel (front panel) will fit a new optical drive. All bezels are different and very often you have to have a specific bezel for a specific drive. Do not hesitate to contact the seller and ask about the drive and the bezel computability.

 
What memory should I use for upgrading my notebook computer? How to choose the right memory type E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Sunday, 07 January 2007 09:20

Laptops are not very upgradable computers and in general you stuck with hardware you got inside your laptop. But still there are some components that you can upgrade to improve the performance of you computer. One of these components is memory (RAM). In short, more memory ? better computer performance.

There are a lot of different memory brands on the market and sometimes it is very easy to get lost. As a computer technician I would recommend to use Crucial Memory ? high quality, not expensive and very reliable computer memory.

Crucial memory offers you very good tools integrated into their website. These tools will help you to find the correct memory type and correct memory size for your computer.

If you have no idea what kind of memory is installed into your laptop you should use the Crucial system scanner. The Crucial Memory takes the guesswork out of upgrading your memory.

The Crucial system scanner will examine you computer and give you an idea what kind of memory you need, what memory size you should use and how many sticks you can install.

More advanced users can use the Crucial Memory Advisor. In this case you will have to select the manufacturer, the product line and the model of your laptop manually.

 
Hard drive upgrade E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Sunday, 07 January 2007 09:11

The following guides describe how to remove the internal hard drive from various notebook computers.

COMPAQ

Universal - Compaq Armada M700 Armada 3500
Armada 1100 Armada 4100 Armada 6500
Armada 1700 Armada 1500 & 5200 Armada 7700 & 7800
Armada 7300 & 7400 Compaq MultiBay E500 & V300
Evo 1000 LTE 5000 M300 & EVO 600C
Presario 1200 Presario 1245 Presario 1600 & 1800
Presario 1900 EVO 1050  
     

DELL

Universal - Dell Inspiron 3700 & 3800 Inspiron 5000
Inspiron 2600 & 2650 Inspiron 3000 Inspiron 7000
Inspiron 4000 Latitude C800 Inspiron 3500
Latitude C600 Latitude CP & CPi X200
Latitude XP & XPi Latitude LM Latitude CPx/CPt
Dell Module Bay Latitude C400 Latitude LT
Latitude D600 /D500 Inspiron 500M / 600M Inspiron 8500 / Latitude D800
Latitude D400 Inspiron 5100 / 5150 / 1100 Inspiron 9200 & 9300
Dell C500 and C510 C800,805,810,C840 Module Bay D Series
Latitude V710 & V740 C600,C610 and C640 Inspiron 6000 & XPS Gen 2
Latitude D610 Latitude D610 9100 Series
Smartstep 100 Series    

Gateway

Solo 2150    
     

Hewlett Packard

Universal - HP/Compaq Omnibook 500-510 Omnibook 2100
Omnibook 6000 Omnibook 7100 Omnibook 4100
Omnibook 6100/6200 Omnibook XE3 Omnibook 900
Omnibook 800 HP Compaq NC4010 HPQ NC6000,NC8000,NW8000
HPQ NX7000 Omnibook XE2 Omnibook XT
Pavilion ZT and XZ    

IBM

Universal - IBM ThinkPad 240 ThinkPad 310
ThinkPad 1400i ThinkPad 365 ThinkPad 380
ThinkPad 355, 360 & 370 ThinkPad 390 ThinkPad 560 & 560x
ThinkPad 380Z & 385XD ThinkPad 600 ThinkPad 750, 760, 765S
ThinkPad 570 ThinkPad 770 ThinkPad I Series
ThinkPad 760E IBM Ultrabay ThinkPad A, R, T, X and G
IBM UltraBay Slim T40    

Micron/MPC

Go Book 2 Transport LT Transport ZX
Transport NX Trek 2 Transport XPE & XKE
Transport ZX    

NEC

2000, 4000 & 6000 5000 Series  

Toshiba

Universal - Toshiba Portege 600/610 Portege 650
Libretto Satellite Pro 400 Satellite 100 & 200
Portege 660 Tecra 520 Tecra 700
Tecra 500 Satellite 1400 & 2400 Satellite 5000
Tecra 750 & 780 Satellite Pro 6000 & 6100 Portege 3010
Portege 2000 Portege 2515 Satellite 2600
Portege 7000 Satellite Pro 400 Satellite 100 & 200
Satellite 300, 305, 315, 320, 325, 330, 335,
2505, 4000, & 4005
Satellite Pro 440 Tecra 8000
Satellite Pro 4200 & 4300 Tecra 8100 Portege 3500 Series
Satellite 1800 Series Satellite A10 and A15 Satellite A40 and A45
Satellite A70 and A75 Satellite R10 & R15 Tecra M1 Series
Tecra S1 Series Portege M200 Series Satellite 1900 Series
Satellite A20 and A25 Satellite A50 and A55 Satellite M30 and M35
Tecra A1 Tecra M4 Slim Select Bay