As an old military-themed 80s cartoon used to say, "Knowing is half the battle." Here are things to know to help you decide whether laptop spare parts or a new laptop purchase is the more practical choice.

1. Parts Replacement or New Laptop:
The 3 Questions to Think About

2. THE THREE PERTINENT
QUESTIONS

3. 1. Will upgrading solve the problem?
• Diagnose the problem first. If your laptop is
merely operating slower than usual, chances
are it’s only in need of defragging, or even
simply clearing out more space in your hard
drive so that the computer has more headroom
to process data.

4. • If the laptop’s performance problems are only noticeable
with newer programs, then outdated hardware is the
culprit. Of course, the assumption is that you really need
to run those new programs.
• If such is the case, you have to first make sure that the
laptop part you need swapped out is easily accessible;
most current laptops have handy removable panels for
just that purpose.

5. 2.Do you know how to perform this
upgrade?
• Removable panels are mostly for RAMs and
hard drives, though. While there are laptops
that allow access to GPU slots, these are
usually the high-end models.
• Removable panels are mostly for RAMs and
hard drives, though. While there are laptops
that allow access to GPU slots, these are
usually the high-end models.

6. • CPUs and GPUs are the laptop components carrying
very delicate processing chips. Replacing them often
means having to open up the laptop’s chassis to reveal
its innards. This in turn means that a user has to have
the proper technical knowledge first before going through
with it. Arguably then, laptop manufacturers had the right
idea in restricting the access to these two parts
• If you don’t have the right tools (both literal and
figurative) for replacing CPUs GPUs, it would be more
prudent to just sell your old laptop instead and add the
money to your “new laptop fund.”

7. 3. Is the upgrade worth it, or will you
save more with a total replacement?
• Finally, if you do want to go through with parts
replacement, you have to know if doing so will
save you more money.
• New batteries can go for $20-50, optical drives
and additional RAM start at around $50, and
hard drives can set you back by $75 at least.
All can be relatively pricey, but it’s still better
than blowing $500 and above on a new
machine, wouldn’t you say?

8. • ORIGINAL POST:
• http://laptopkeys01.weebly.com/6/post/2012/09/parts-replacement-
or-new-laptop-the-3-questions-to-think-about.html
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