I'm trying to get some advice on upgrading my mum's old HP Pavilion 14 laptop from 2017. It has an i7-7500U processor and a GeForce 940MX, but the battery is dying, and it can't officially run Windows 11. I want to make the most out of it, possibly trying out Linux and even installing Windows 11 in an unsupported way. Currently, it has 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 2133MHz, and there's an empty slot for adding another stick. Should I look for faster RAM, and is it okay to mix different brands when buying secondhand? Additionally, the laptop has a 256GB M.2 SSD that's reading/writing at around 500MBps. How can I see if a faster SSD would be compatible?
5 Answers
Mixing RAM from different brands is generally not recommended due to potential compatibility issues. If you stick to the same speed and type, you'll have more stable performance. As for the SSD, make sure to identify if it's SATA; that impacts speed upgrades since many are limited to certain specs.
Check under your laptop for the model name, then Google that with 'specs' to find detailed upgrade information. This will also help you understand the maximum RAM and SSD speed you can get.
Check the laptop's manual or the HP website to find out the supported RAM specs. Typically, you want to match the current RAM speed to avoid issues. If a faster RAM stick is not too much more expensive, you can get it, but remember it will run at the speed of the slowest stick if they differ.
Yeah, finding documentation online is key. You can search for your model and look for upgrade specs. It'll give you the maximum supported RAM speed and any size limitations.
Your CPU should handle Windows 11, especially since it's from the 7th gen. As for the SSD replacement, it's true that replacing it might not make a massive difference due to potential bottlenecks from the CPU and chipset. But if you want speed, definitely do the research first!
Just a heads-up: for upgrades, verify the M.2 interface type on your laptop and whether it's PCIe 2.0 or 3.0. This determines the potential speed you'll actually achieve after the upgrade.
Exactly! Look up your model's SSD specifications. If you're aiming for a faster one, make sure it's PCIe compatible since those will perform much better.