Buying basic laptop then replacing hardware

[gcd1094]

I was just wondering if anyone does this... I heard it's cheaper to buy a cheap basic laptop, and then swap out hard drive, ram, etc. Anyone have any helpful input or pointers? Thanks in advance!

[Revolutionary101]

Yes I did that when I bought my laptop for college. I went online and ordered it custom built, but I only asked for the manufacturer to upgrade the parts I couldn't myself (CPU, GPU, Screen, Optical Drive etc.)

Then I was able to save some money by upgrading the HDD and RAM myself.

[murderslastcrow]

It depends on the laptop. Most laptops, unless they're ultra-compact, will allow you to easily swap out hard drives, and usually they have a button or specific opening for this.

Many laptops have compartment you can easily unscrew on the bottom to replace RAM, although sometimes this leads to the wireless card, instead.

So basically, hard drives are simple to replace, but depending on the style of RAM your laptop takes (they tend to be the same type across laptops from the past five years or so) and whether the case allows easy access, the risk and price may vary.

But, typically, upgrading RAM is dead simple. If it's a good processor and all you need is an extra kick, this is a good idea. However, if you're trying to get a cruddy machine and make it a miracle machine, you might end up spending the same amount of money as if you'd simply bought the nicer computer, which likely has more than a single CPU.

But yeah, depending on what you use your computer for, this would be cheaper, and if you play your cards right, you can get a computer that lasts just as long as the new ones.