Upgrade my notebook (install an SSD, more RAM and a graphics card)

[jmsarrabayrouse]

I purchased my HP ENVY x360 - 15m-bp012dx Notebook in the US on november 2017. I am travelling back to the US on next november. I would like to upgrade my notebook (install an SSD, more RAM and a graphics card) during my stay in Miami (Hollywood/Hallandale zone). Is it possible to upgrade my Notebook? Where? Should I fix an appointment?

Thanks!

[banhien]

@jmsarrabayrouse 

The specs of your machine is

          https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c05567138

1. STORAGE: It has  1 TB 7200 rpm SATA. You can

1.  Replace 1TB HDD with 1TB or 2TB 2.5" HDD, using Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860/870 EVO series or similar products
2.  Add M.2 SATA SSD to your machine using Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 EVO series or similar products
3.  Do both a and b.

2. RAM: It has 12 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 4 GB, 1 x 8 GB) - both slots are occupied - You can upgrade to 16GB (max) by  Replacing 4GB with same 8GB of existing RAM

3. VIDEO CARD: No you can't. You have to replace system board with a new system board (if applicable)  with a video card. If available, that would be expensive because you have to pay for new CPU, new GPU, new Windows license  .. because all of them are on one piece of hardware called System board (again if available).

You have to contact local authorized dealers in your country.  I don't know where they are.

Regards.

[pccobbler]

I cannot tell from the specs that Banhien listed whether the laptop has a slot for M.2 SSDs or not, though it probably does.

M.2 (a/k/a NVMe) SSDs are much faster than SATA SSDs (the hard drive you currently have is a 2.5" SATA). First you need to remove the bottom cover to see if there is an M.2 SSD slot (M.2 SSDs are not much bigger than a stick of gum). If so, you'd buy an M.2 SSD. I believe that Samsung SSDs are the best, but Crucial and SK Hynix are also good. Samsung makes a number of M.2 SSDs, but you should choose the 970 EVO Plus (the 980 Pro would be a waste of money because your processor cannot take advantage of its support for PCIe 4.0).

You will need to either clone the current hard drive to the new SSD or reinstall Windows on the new SSD. I favor the latter, but either approach will take some time and configuring. Neither is trivial.

In case it's not obvious, you would either remove the current hard drive or wipe it clean and put it back for use as a storage drive, because you cannot have Windows on two drives.

By the way, the safest approach would be to remove the hard drive and save it as is until you are completely finished, because then you could return to using it if you screw-up.

[banhien]

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@pccobbler wrote:

I understand PCs pretty well, but I cannot tell from the specs that Banhien listed whether the laptop has a slot for M2 SSDs or not, though it probably does

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@pccobbler 

Did I say you can ADD M.2 SATA SSD to it ? I know NVMe is faster but I also said M.2 SATA SSD

Hope this makes sense

Regards.

Regards.

[jmsarrabayrouse]

Thanks for all the useful info. I'm not a technician but U understand perfectly rhe process, as an amateur techie. I'll try the SSD installation approach with the reinstalation of the OS, preserving the HDD for storage. I don't think I really need more RAM for the use I'm giving the computer, even less a new GPU.

Thanks!

[jmsarrabayrouse]

Thanks for the useful info!!!

[pccobbler]

@Banhien

You did indeed say M.2 SATA, but the specs you referenced do not mention M.2 at all, so it's unclear whether the laptop supports M.2 in any form. I would assume that most laptops today support M.2 NVMe, but since the OP's processor was launched in 2016, NVMe support is unclear. The webpage is not yours, so I wasn't insulting you.