Solid State Drives
Old computers were fitted with hard drives. Modern ones have Solid State Drives (SSDs.) Most new laptops and desktop PCs are now shipped with the faster NVMe type of SSD. These cannot be fitted to old computers as they need a special slot.
A different type of SSD uses the same connectors (SATA) as hard drives and therefore pretty much any older PC /laptop can be upgraded with one of these.
Memory (or RAM) upgrade
A typical entry level pc or laptop is now supplied with 8GB of RAM. This is enough for most uses, but for a server, workstation or gaming pc, you should be looking to increase this.
Motherboard upgrade
For an older desktop PC, you dont need a new case, mouse, DVD player or keyboard, Usually you don’t need a new power supply. There is no need to spend £450 on a new budget PC, as the motherboard, processor and RAM can be upgraded for much less.
Other ways of upgrading a slow computer
There are many causes of computers being slow, and as many fixes. Contact us to find out more.
Computer Cleanup
Over time, computers build up a lot of junk, some are programmes that are never used, and many programmes leave remnants behind. Getting a cleanup will often give a good speed improvement. Every few years, it is adviseable to reinstall Windows. If you have had a PC for 5 or more years and never had a reinstall, consider booking one of these. This is easy with Windows 10 or 11 as you can do a reset, preferably a clean reset, while retaining documents, photos and other personal / company information.
Other causes of slowness are a bad drive or other hardware failure, missing drivers, conflicting programmes, viruses or anti-virus programmes that hog system resources.
For advice on upgrading a slow computer or improving performance, give me (Adam) a call on 01646 602248