Before You Begin
1. Do some research.
Find out the amount of RAM in your notebook (watch your display at start-up or right-click My Computer, select Properties, and look on the General tab) and the size of your hard drive (open My Computer, right-click the drive's icon, and select Properties). Check the Web site of your notebook's maker to see whether it has upgrades available. Then visit the Web sites of companies that specialize in upgrades (third-party vendors are likely to be cheaper).
2. Prepare to upgrade.
It's an excellent idea (though not essential) to confirm that your notebook's BIOS is up-to-date. Visit the support section of your notebook vendor's Web site. To ensure that your old hard drive is trouble-free (you'll need to copy data from it later), run both ScanDisk (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk) and Disk Defragmenter ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter). Finally, completely back up your hard drive. If you don't have a tape backup for your notebook, back up your data files onto floppy disks.
Save on Printing Costs
The Best of PC World
Deal Breakers
Special Offers for PC World Users
-
Dell Windows 7 Deals
Win7 Weekend Sale at dell.com!
Laptops starting at $499 after Instant Savings
Focus on Personal Productivitysponsored by Microsoft
- Personal Finance 2.0 These free and fee-based Web services not only aggregate data from your online bank accounts, they give you tools for managing your money.
- High-Tech Travel Tips Plenty of stories provide advice for elite mobile professionals. But what about you, the unproductive traveler?
People who read this also read:
Hard Drives
My Passport Essential 500GB Portable Hard Drive - BlackPrice: $99.95
My Book Essential Edition External 1TB Hard DrivePrice: $109.99
Caviar Black 1TB Hard DrivePrice: $94.99
My Passport Essential Portable 320GB Hard Drive - BlackPrice: $79.99
WD Elements External 1.5TB 3.5" Hard DrivePrice: $119.99
X25-M Gen2 160GB 2.5" Solid State DrivePrice: $545.00
- Acer Laptop Center Forget the Mouse...check out the next generation multi-gesture touch screen technology from Acer.
- Dell Shopping Center Check out great deals from Dell!
Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage






