Laptop system requirements upgrade?

[Eloise67]

I have an HP 15-da0596sa, I have had this laptop for a couple of years (from new). I am heading to university this year and need my laptop to have better internals than currently (it's running on the slow side with a declining battery and currently has 4GB RAM whilst some of the software requires a minimum 8GB with a preference of 16GB, as well as other minimum tech criteria). For one, is the RAM of my laptop able to be upgraded and is it feasible to do as a person who understands fairly little about laptop hardware or should I purchase a new laptop (although this will be on a very tight budget so not going to be a top-quality laptop)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[WAWood]

@Eloise67 

IF your laptop has a cover over the memory sticks that can be easily removed with a few screws, then replacing and upgrading the memory is a simple operation.  But if yours has to be pried open, that is an entirely different situation and I would advise strongly against doing that.  In that case, you would better taking it to a laptop repair facility and have them do the memory upgrade.

In the US, you would be looking at around $100 for 16GB of memory plus the labor fees to do the work -- probably not much over $100 more.  I have no idea what the equivalent rates would be in the UK, but that is still a LOT less than what it would cost for a new laptop with 16GB  of memory.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Eloise67 

Below is the link to the service manual for your notebook.

Chapter 1 has the memory upgrade info.

HP 15 Laptop PC Maintenance and Service Guide

Your notebook supports 2 x 8 GB of memory.

Your notebook also has a M.2 slot that supports bot SATA and NVMe SSD's.

You may want to consider adding a NVMe SSD in the empty M.2 slot and either use the hard drive for storage, or remove it altogether and just use the SSD.

You cannot have an operating system on the 2.5" drive if you use it for storage, or the notebook will always want to boot from the SSD.

If you can live with 500 GB of drive space on the M.2 SSD, this would be a good choice.

Samsung 980 500 GB PCIe 3.0 (up to 3.100 MB/s) NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V8V500B...

Memory:  This would be a compatible 8 GB memory chip for your notebook...

Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | hp - compaq | hp 15 series | HP 15-da0596sa | Crucial.com

Crucial RAM CT8G4SFS824A 8GB DDR4 2400 MHz CL17 Laptop Memory - Crucial (amazon.co.uk)

I would buy the SSD and use the cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with the notebook.  You can make that media now.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility...

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10, 7) | HP® Customer Support

The only thing is, you will need to temporarily disconnect the hard drive, or the tool will reinstall W10 on the 2.5" drive.

You can also use the Microsoft media creation tool to create a bootable W10 installation flash drive and clean install W10 on the SSD.

Buy one memory chip and live with 12 GB and if you like the way things work, remove the 4 GB chip and install another 8 GB chip in its place.

So, for less than 110 quid, you can transform your notebook into a real performer.

I don't think you could buy a decent notebook for that much.

There are also service videos to help you with disassembly, as well as using the service manual.

Replace the Base Enclosure | HP Notebook 15, HP 250 and 255 G7 Notebook PC | HP - YouTube

Replace the Battery | HP Notebook 15, HP 250 and 255 G7 Notebook PC | HP - YouTube

Replace the Memory Module | HP Notebook 15, HP 250 and 255 G7 Notebook PC | HP - YouTube

Replace the Solid State Drive | HP Notebook 15, HP 250 and 255 G7 Notebook PC | HP - YouTube