If you're not a laptop enthusiast chasing the latest specs, then this article is for you. Instead of pursuing high-end configurations and luxurious materials, just meeting your daily needs is perfectly fine. After all, for most users nowadays, laptops come with more performance than necessary, and many features might go unused until the laptop is ready to retire. So why bother spending on high-end specs and prices for things you won't fully utilize? In fact, many people know that upgrading laptop memory and storage can give your laptop a performance boost. Why not give it a try?
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Strong hands-on ability, directly upgrade memory and solid-state drive
· Laptop memory upgrade, 16GB memory is standard
In addition to CPU performance, laptop memory also plays a crucial role in usage. Many users want to improve smoothness by upgrading memory when their laptops lag. However, laptop memory is not as simple as you might think. Nowadays, most ultrabooks do not support memory upgrades; they come with onboard memory soldered onto the motherboard, requiring a one-time purchase for larger capacity. For most users, a laptop with standard 16GB memory is sufficient.
To find out if your laptop supports memory expansion, you can check the information on the official e-commerce website or in the laptop's product manual. Besides informing you about the built-in memory capacity, it will indicate whether the memory is onboard integrated, if it supports updates and upgrades, the maximum supported capacity, and even provide various upgrade options.
△ Product Manual Memory Introduction
If you are still using an older DDR3 memory laptop, you don't need to worry about onboard memory issues; you can generally upgrade. However, it's important to note that currently DDR3 laptop memory may be more expensive than DDR4 memory, and there are many second-hand DDR3 memories available on e-commerce platforms at prices much cheaper than the original genuine products. In this case, it is recommended to choose a brand-new one. Although memory comes with a lifetime warranty, second-hand products from a long time ago may have damaged gold fingers, which could lead to instability during use.
If you have a laptop with DDR4 or DDR5 memory, you can directly choose a single 16GB memory stick or replace it with a dual-channel kit from the same brand to effectively avoid memory incompatibility leading to system blue screen issues. Most laptops from the past two years come with 16GB memory as standard, so upgrading to 32GB or even higher capacity is a viable option considering the relatively acceptable prices of memory modules nowadays. Moreover, for users who use laptops for gaming or design work, more memory is always better.
When upgrading your laptop's hard drive, pay attention to matching the interface and capacity. Unlike laptop memory, laptop hard drives are not set in stone and can be replaced. Once you confirm which interface and size of hard drive are suitable for your laptop, you can make the purchase. This information is usually detailed in the product manual.
If you have an older laptop, it's highly likely that you can upgrade from a mechanical hard drive to a SATA solid-state drive, doubling the speed after the upgrade. If you don't want to change your laptop, this small investment is definitely worth it. If your laptop has already been updated to an M.2 slot, or even comes with a high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD, from a cost-effective perspective, choosing a larger capacity PCIe 3.0 solid-state drive within the same budget is more value for money. Of course, if you don't want the solid-state drive's performance to be too poor after the upgrade, opting for a PCIe 4.0 SSD is also a good choice. SSD prices have slightly increased recently, but there are still many options for PCIe 4.0 SSDs with a capacity of 2TB or less for under 1000 yuan. It is recommended to choose products with large brand original factory particles, as domestically produced SSDs are equally reliable.
However, the limited space in laptops means you need to consider whether the cooling system can meet the standards when upgrading the hard drive. This is especially crucial for managing the heat generated by PCIe 4.0 or even PCIe 5.0 SSDs. If there is enough space inside the laptop, you can try adding heat sinks and thermal silicone to the SSD to reduce heat buildup during high-capacity SSD operation. Additionally, you can use a laptop cooler to ensure optimal performance of both the laptop and the hard drive by providing sufficient cooling.
Expanding storage with an external solid-state drive is also very convenient.
In 2024, even the most basic laptops come with USB ports offering 5Gbps bandwidth or USB Type-C ports, while the versatile 10Gbps Type-C and many laptops are equipped with Thunderbolt 4/USB4.0 interfaces with 40Gbps bandwidth. If you prefer not to open up your laptop for expansion, simply connect a portable solid-state drive to alleviate any capacity concerns.
From the options on e-commerce platforms, we can see the speed classification of mobile solid-state drives. The 500MB/s threshold is a signal, indicating the speed of products using the SATA transmission channel. If you opt for a Type-C interface mobile solid-state drive, most are based on the USB 3.1 (or USB 3.2 Gen2) standard, offering a bandwidth of 10Gbps. There are also choices that utilize the USB 3.2 Gen2×2 transmission channel for speeds of 20Gbps.
From a cost-effectiveness perspective, if you don't have particularly high speed requirements, a 10Gbps mobile solid-state drive paired with a laptop from the past two years should suffice. A 10Gbps bandwidth Portable Solid State Drive (PSSD) can achieve actual speeds of over 750MB/s for large file continuous writing (laptop SSD → PSSD) and over 800MB/s for large file continuous reading (PSSD → laptop SSD).
Of course, laptops with built-in 20Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2×2 interfaces do exist, but they are rare. Additionally, laptops with 40Gbps USB4 interfaces are already on the market. Why not recommend buying a PSSD with speeds of 20Gbps or even faster? Firstly, USB 3.2 Gen2×2 bandwidth interfaces are truly uncommon, and in most cases, they can only run at 10Gbps, not fully utilizing the actual performance. USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 interfaces are even more particular. If your PSSD cannot handshake successfully with USB4, it will still only run at 10Gbps. Thunderbolt 4 is even stricter because of different protocols; it might not even recognize this PSSD. Furthermore, the price of USB 3.2 Gen2×2 PSSDs is relatively high. If you want to alleviate capacity anxiety with a limited budget, it's not necessary. It's better to directly choose a 10Gbps portable solid-state drive, which is also very efficient for daily data transfer and backup.
A quick reminder: Currently, there are many brands of portable solid-state drives on the market. It is strongly recommended to choose products from well-known brands as they are more reliable in terms of stability, security, and durability. Some may wonder if they can buy PSSDs from PC brands like HP, Lenovo, or Think. These PC brands also offer portable SSDs at affordable prices. Are they a good choice? From the perspective of "can you buy it? Can you use it?" the answer is, of course, yes! In fact, PC manufacturers also offer high-speed products with USB 3.2 Gen2×2 interfaces. However, it's worth noting that most PC brand PSSDs come with warranties of no more than three years, and some even have only a one-year warranty (ThinkPlus brand PSSDs have many varieties, but it's quite peculiar that while the images often show a three-year warranty, the "after-sales guarantee" and "manufacturer service" terms state only one year). When making a purchase, it's essential to weigh these factors.
When it comes to using the card reader on a laptop, expanding storage with memory cards is also possible. If your laptop has a memory card slot, whether it's a MacBook or a Windows system laptop, you can choose the corresponding supported memory card for expansion. However, from the perspectives of speed and price, this may not be the most cost-effective solution. It's advisable to evaluate the necessity before proceeding.
Shopping tip: The current storage market is facing challenges, with subdued actual demand leading to a certain level of inventory for consumer terminals. Therefore, prices of products like solid-state drives, memory, and flash memory cards are generally stable. Users looking to upgrade in the near future can go ahead. For upgrading memory and internal solid-state drives, within a limited budget, opt for larger capacities if supported by the laptop. For external portable solid-state drives, a 1TB 10Gbps product offers good value and practicality. As for memory card expansion, if you have spare ones, you can use them; if buying new, consider the necessity.
Source: Titanium Master
