Laptop upgrading parts

[kujoe2002]

So I have a DELL XPS L501X with the generic specs as:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz Arrandale, 4GB of RAM Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Product Name XPS L501X
Version A07
Serial Number GM1N7P1
PC System Type Mobile
Machine Type AT/AT COMPATIBLE

------------------------------------------------------------------------
NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M

Battery
Sensor Value Min Max
Voltages
Current Voltage 12.85 V 12.85 V 12.85 V
Capacities
Designed Capacity 8400 mWh 8400 mWh 8400 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 8202 mWh 8202 mWh 8202 mWh
Current Capacity 8202 mWh 8202 mWh 8202 mWh


------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOS Top <#TOC>
Property Value
BIOS Vendor Dell Inc.
Serial Number GM1N7P1
BIOS Version A07
BIOS Date 03/29/2011
BIOS Size 2048 KB
BIOS Starting Segment E10Ah
DMI Version 2.6

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU Info
Number of Logical Processors 4
Number of Physical Processors 1

CPU #1 Intel Core i5 Top <#TOC>
Property Value
CPU Name Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz
CPU Code Name Arrandale
Vendor GenuineIntel
Number of Bits 64
Instruction Set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, ET64, XD,
VMX, EST
Platform Name Socket 1156 LGA
Revision K0
Technology 32 nm
Original Clock 2666 MHz
Original System Clock 133 MHz
Original Multiplier 20.1
CPU Clock 2666 MHz
System Clock 133.0 MHz
QPI Link 2394.4 MHz
Number of Cores 2
Core #1
Speed 1330.2 MHz
Multiplier 10.0
Core #2
Speed 1330.2 MHz
Multiplier 10.0
Virtual Technology Supported Yes
Hyper Threading Supported Yes
Hyper Threading Enabled Yes
Cache
L1 Data Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L2 Cache 2 x 256 KBytes
L3 Cache 3072 KBytes


Memory Summary Top <#TOC>
Property Value
Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Memory Slots 2
Error Correction None
DRAM Frequency 532.1 MHz
Memory Timings 7-7-7-20 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)


Manufacturer Nanya Technology
Part Number NT2GC64B88B0NS-CG
Serial Number 428E2613
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR3 (PC3-10700)
Speed 667 MHz (DDR3 1333)
Supported Frequencies 381.0 MHz, 457.1 MHz, 533.3 MHz, 609.5 MHz, 685.7
MHz
Memory Timings 5-5-5-14-19 at 381.0 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 6-6-6-17-23 at 457.1 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 7-7-7-20-27 at 533.3 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 8-8-8-22-30 at 609.5 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 9-9-9-25-34 at 685.7 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Manufacturing Date 2011, Week 4
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manufacturer Nanya Technology
Part Number NT2GC64B88B0NS-CG
Serial Number 7A742614
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR3 (PC3-10700)
Speed 667 MHz (DDR3 1333)
Supported Frequencies 381.0 MHz, 457.1 MHz, 533.3 MHz, 609.5 MHz, 685.7
MHz
Memory Timings 5-5-5-14-19 at 381.0 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 6-6-6-17-23 at 457.1 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 7-7-7-20-27 at 533.3 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 8-8-8-22-30 at 609.5 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 9-9-9-25-34 at 685.7 MHz, at 1.5 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Manufacturing Date 2011, Week 4
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Batteries Top <#TOC>
Property Value
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Device ID ACPI\PNP0C0A\0
Status 0x0180200a Started
Problem 0x00000000 (0)
Service CmBatt
Capabilities 0x00000030
Config Flags 0x00000000
Class Battery
Manufacturer Microsoft
Hardware IDs ACPI\PNP0C0A
Class GUID {72631e54-78a4-11d0-bcf7-00aa00b7b32a}
Enumerator name ACPI
Description Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery

DriverVersion 6.1.7600.16385
MatchingDeviceId composite_battery
DriverDesc Microsoft Composite Battery
Class Battery
ClassDesc Batteries
IconPath %systemroot%\system32\batt.dll,-2
Installer32 batt.dll,BatteryClassInstall
NoInstallClass 1

I'd like to upgrade the RAM, HDD). Is there any difference between this list of RAM. I'm not sure if either of these will make a diff:

Kingston 8GB (2x4GB)
GSKILL 8GB (2x4GB)
Patriot 8GB (2x4GB)
They are all the same price

With the additional RAM, will my power be enough? Lastly, I want to keep my laptop from overheating, any advice on how to tweak the fan?

[Steven P Jobs]

All of those RAM kits will be basically identical in terms of speed. If you have any preference between those brands with regards to service/warranty I'd go for that one, other than that it doesn't matter.

With the additional RAM, will my power be enough?

Powerful enough for what? It'll have more RAM than before so if you were running out of RAM with the current configuration then you should be good after the upgrade.

The only other real upgrade you can do is to put in an SSD. That will increase the perceived performance by a lot, but of course the price per GB way more than a normal hard drive - but if you only need 128GB then it's a no-brainer, even for 256GB I'd default to SSD by now with prices being less than $1/GB.

[kujoe2002]

All of those RAM kits will be basically identical in terms of speed. If you have any preference between those brands with regards to service/warranty I'd go for that one, other than that it doesn't matter.


Powerful enough for what? It'll have more RAM than before so if you were running out of RAM with the current configuration then you should be good after the upgrade.

The only other real upgrade you can do is to put in an SSD. That will increase the perceived performance by a lot, but of course the price per GB way more than a normal hard drive - but if you only need 128GB then it's a no-brainer, even for 256GB I'd default to SSD by now with prices being less than $1/GB.

Sorry, I didn't say it right. What I meant was will the power supply be powerful enough. I'm thinking of it like the desktops and whether the powersupply will be powerful enough to juice all the parts. That's the same thing I'm asking here.

[Steven P Jobs]

There's not going to be a noticeable difference in power draw between 4GB and 8GB RAM. Likewise hard drives pretty much all have identical power draw regardless of capacity and RPM. SSDs use quite a bit less power than a spinning HDD. If you want to get really technical there is some difference, but not an amount that matters in real world use.

[kujoe2002]

now what about the heat? will having 8GB of ram fry my dell? I remember old stories about dell laptops catching fire..

[James]

now what about the heat? will having 8GB of ram fry my dell? I remember old stories about dell laptops catching fire..

That was due to batteries failing during charging, or shorting out.

[Steven P Jobs]

If the Laptop's specs say it can handle 8GB RAM, then it can. Don't be misled by the "Gamer RAM" with heatsinks on it, RAM produces basically no heat.

[bugspop1]

Last week I ordered the G.Skill RAM you have listed as a possibility. They had a Promo Code in an E-Mail I received for $5.00 off, so I picked it up for $34.99 shipped. The upgrade was for my Acer Aspire and went flawlessly. I also ordered a this hard drive that had a $20 Promo code making the hard drive $69.99 shipped: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148591. Again, this upgrade too went flawlessly. I used Acronis True Image Home ver. 11.0 and created a Cloned Drive to replace the original Toshibia 320gb 5400rpm hard drive. Both of these upgrades made a huge difference in boot time and opening programs.

Good luck with your upgrade!

[kujoe2002]

Last week I ordered the G.Skill RAM you have listed as a possibility. They had a Promo Code in an E-Mail I received for $5.00 off, so I picked it up for $34.99 shipped. The upgrade was for my Acer Aspire and went flawlessly. I also ordered a this hard drive that had a $20 Promo code making the hard drive $69.99 shipped: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148591. Again, this upgrade too went flawlessly. I used Acronis True Image Home ver. 11.0 and created a Cloned Drive to replace the original Toshibia 320gb 5400rpm hard drive. Both of these upgrades made a huge difference in boot time and opening programs.

Good luck with your upgrade!

I already have a seagate 7200rpm 500GB HDD. This was a custom build and I requested the 7200 as I don't trust anything lower than that for a single drive system. I am upgrading the RAM as I think I already have the best CPU.

[bugspop1]

Yes, the extra RAM can definitely help your laptop out! I was really impressed with the results I got from my upgrade 3gb to 8gb! I've been using G.Skill for quite some time and have had great results (no dead sticks). Started using G. Skill back with my AMD Athlon XP 3000+, just standard DDR. I've used it in all of my desktops since, and Laptops too!

As for the Seagate Hard Drive: Yes the drive I purchased is 7200 RPM, but if you look at it more closely it is a Hybrid Drive. It has 32mb Cache and NCQ Solid State. It's kind of a cross inbetween the old style hard drives and the Newer SSD Drives. Many 7200RPM drives only have 16mb Cache or less. There are quite a few 7200RPM hard drives that have 32-64mb cache but you pay top $$$$ for them. Knowing Dell and their upgrades, they put the cheapest drive they could get for the money (as long as it was 7200RPM)! There is nothing wrong with a Seagate 7200RPM Drive, 7200RPM is 7200RPM and is always a better faster drive than the typical 5400-5900RPM drives many manufacturers put in their laptops! I too always upgrade my Laptop Hard Drives from a 5400RPM to a 7200RPM Hard Drive. I always keep the extra hard drives for backing up and and Extra Hard Space. I have an external hookup for the drives.