Memory and Hard Drive Upgrade for HP 14-cf1061st

[bsanderfer]

I recently bought the HP 14-cf1061st laptop, but I want to perform some upgrades on it.

Inside the machine, there appears to be an empty slot for memory.  Does anyone know if the additional slot works (haven't tried it yet, but I heard on some machines they may not work), or do I need to replace the memory module that is in there.  In this case, the machine has 4GB of RAM.  I guess I'm asking if I can buy another 4GB module and put it on the board or do I need to buy an 8GB one and replace the original one?

As to the hard drive, the computer has an m.2 120GB hard drive.  I have ordered a 500GB m.2 drive that I hope works, but does anyone have any experience with the drives in this computer?

Finally, there's an empty slot for a standard SATA drive, but no drive ribbon to connect to.  Can I add a ribbon and run a standard SATA SSD from this computer?  If so, does anyone know where I can buy the connector I need?

I've been searching the internet since I bought the computer yesterday.  I don't know if the computer is brand new or something, but there is surprisingly little information to be found.  Normally, you can find a lot of information about a laptop, but all my searches reveal are locations where you can buy it, and absolutely no information on upgrades or anything else.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Actually I did at one time have a slightly earlier version of this model series so I can tell you yes, you can use that second memory slot. It uses DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM and the maximum would be 2 x 16 = 32 gigs. I would recommend installing in pairs of the same capacity so add a 4 gb to have 8 gb and that will be your best return on investment. 8 gigs is enough for most users and 4 gb can be too little in some cases. 

I do not know what 500 gb M.2 you ordered but the laptop can accept either the SATA kind or the PCIe/NVME kind and do not be put off by the slot. The connector prongs may not seem to be able to fit in the slot but trust me they will. 

Link to your Service Manual 

Yes it can hold a 2.5 inch SATA SSD or hard drive BUT you need these additional parts not shipped with the laptop:

Hard drive cable L23187-001

Hard drive bracket L24490-001

These are hard to locate and when you do the sellers know that and gouge on price a little:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-for-HP-14S-CF-14S-CF0002tu-14S-CF0003tu-14S-CF0038TX-HDD-CABLE/163...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-HP-14-CF0000-14cf-Hard-Drive-Bracket-HDD-Cover-Caddy-L24490-001-no-cabl...

memory:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PC4-19200-DDR4-2400MHz-Unbuffered-M471A5244CB0-CRC/dp/B071DVWQFC/ref=...

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[bsanderfer]

Thanks for the info! I will let you know if the m.2 hard drive works as expected.

[bsanderfer]

Just in case anyone else has this computer, you can replace the m.2 SSD 120GB hard drive with another just fine.  The hard drive I ordered was the Western Digital Blue 3D Nand Sata M.2 2280 500GB  drive.  Put it in last night and the computer had no issue finding it (I was worried; because a previous laptop I had would only accept up to a 256GB drive).  Installed Windows 10 and all the drivers and had it up and running with all my installed programs in about two hours.

I will also report back when I do a memory upgrade.

[bsanderfer]

Just wanted to report that the memory listed above works as expected.  The laptop has now been upgraded to 8GB of RAM.  Hopefully, this thread will help others who might want to upgrade this machine in the future.