Is an upgrade worth it?

[Shinkiro160]

I have a 9 year old laptop, the beats edition pavilion. Model number 15-p390nr with amd a10 7300 processor. 8bg ram 1tb hdd.

I used it for a few years for school but its been sitting for about 5 or so years with no use. I recently got it up and running to the most recent updates and it still works pretty well but its pretty slow with startup/shutdown, opening apps, and running low quality games. I want to upgrade to an ssd and need to know if its worth it for being so old, if it will improve performance at all. I like the laptop and would like to get whatever use i can from it.  if its worth it, where do i find what i need thats compatible, how much storage can this specific model handle if i find a compatible series of ssd's, and how do i go about installing it without destroying my laptop? This model seems to be fairly elusive to the google, any help is massively appreciated.  

[Jupitero · Accepted solution]

Hello.

Short answer: upgrading to an SSD will speed up the overall computer use experience manyfold. There will be no gains in CPU/graphics related stuff, so games will not be faster, they will just launch faster as does Windows and all the applications. All file operations are also much faster.

Your computer has space for a 2.5" drive which the current HDD occupies. According to the Maintenance and Service Guide, there also is a M.2 slot for an SSD drive. The guide mentions both "M.2 SATA" and "mSATA" - two different things, mSATA being older. They can be differentiated easily - mSATA is secured with 2 screws in the corners, M.2 with just one screw. I highly recommend verifying the slot before buying anything! mSATA drives are always of the same physical size but M.2 drives are available in different lengths - 42/60/80mm so check that as well.

The guide has instructions on replacing the 2.5" and M.2 drive, you have to decide whether you're able to do yourself.

M.2 SATA SSD and 2.5" SATA SSD both show up as SATA drives and work identically, so it is down to availability and price on which to choose. If you go for M.2, you can keep the HDD as a secondary drive for backups, videos and cold data.

Most new M.2 drives are NVMe (PCIe) drives which will not work with your old laptop. You need a SATA model. The drive can be from any manufacturer and there is no (logical) size limit. Same with the 2.5" SATA drive, can be as big as you find, 8TB models exist. Practically every computer shop still sells these but those older mSATA drives are a bit harder to find.

Now, whether you still should upgrade the drive is open for discussion:

- Your computer is not eligible for Windows 11, but it may be tricked to install it anyway. Windows 10 will be unsupported a year from now.

- Instead of a new SSD, consider spending the money on a new computer. Even the cheapest CPU with its integrated graphics these days are faster than what you have now. The battery life on a new unit will be better too.