Upgrade

[Farland1]

Hello,

Kind of new to this, just trying to see if this works. Does anyone know of some easy upgrades I can do to my laptop? Not sure what specs to provide but the product name is selected above. Confident at opening the laptop and doing it myself. Not sure if my model or parts are still supported which is why I'm asking here for now. Easy things in my opinion to improve for some more performance is maybe the WIFI card, RAM, SSD, maybe fans or cooling? Not sure if anything else is easily swapped out. Any help welcome. The current specs I have in this laptop when I bought it from HP are below. Can post other things if anything is needed let me know! Thanks in advance.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.21 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)

Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz

Memory

16.0 GB

Speed: 2667 MHz
Slots used: 2 of 2
Form factor: SODIMM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 21H2
Installed on ‎20/‎12/‎2021
OS build 19044.1566
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4170.0

[banhien]

@Farland1 

The specs of your machine is

            https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c06078886

You can upgrade RAM (more RAM but only get same speed), SSD (add M.2 NVMe SSD), Wifi card but not fan(s).

You may be able to "upgrade" video card (if available) but you have to swap the whole system board out because CPU, GPU and Windows license are one ONE piece of hardware called system board.

Regards.

[PeteC22]

From what I see on your model's specs, it came with a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive - if you have not already done so, moving to a SSD drive will yield a substantial performance gain.  You could either simply replace the hard drive with a 2.5" SATA SSD, however even better would be to install a M.2 NVMe 3x4 drive.  Looking at the maintenance manual it appears that you have a M.2 connector.  For around $100 USD, it is the single best bang for the buck upgrade.

16gb ram is already pretty good.  Unless you do video editing or something requiring a large amount of ram, it's likely that a ram upgrade may not be very noticeable.  

Replacing the system board to one with a higher performance GPU would make a difference if you are a gamer, but that is an expensive upgrade.

While your existing WiFi card is pretty good, that is another area that might be a candidate for upgrade.  I don't know which WiFi cards your system can support, but I have the Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2x2) and Bluetooth® 5 combo, and it performs very well.

[Farland1]

Thanks for this. I was thinking the same thing, RAM, SSD and Wi-Fi card. Any advice on maybe where to look for these three things as in what i need to make sure is the same or compatible with my motherboard and so on. Any good websites or anything that can filter some products down to me? I have an idea about the RAM and SSD but not sure about Wi-Fi cards. Any more info on what to look for or where to go would be appreciated.

[PeteC22]

Ram IMHO is pretty simple - 2 -16gb sticks of DDR4 2666 or DDR4 3200 SODIMM.  I have done just fine with Kingston, Crucial, Hynix, Nanya...they've all performed well.  Best to buy as a pair.  I order ram through Amazon and never had a problem.

WiFi card is the thing I'm least sure of.  No doubt you'd be safe with the Intel AX201 and Bluetooth 5.  Just not sure how much improvement you'll see.  In my case I went form my last laptop sporting a Realtek 1x1 (single antenna) WiFi adapter so for me the AX201 is quite a bit better - not so sure that you'd see as much of a bounce.  On the other hand, you should be able to nab one under $25, and the installation is simple enough.  There are WiFi 6 cards sporting BT 5.2, they may be compatible - I'm not as sure.  Again, as long as you watch who the Seller is (as with any electronics on Amazon), again Amazon is a good source.

NVMe: I have a few on my short list that I feel are particularly good choices for laptops, as they run fairly cool and do not pulll much power while idling (good for battery run-time). Remember you want to stick to a Gen 3 NVMe, While you can run a Gen 4 NVMe, you won't get any better performance due to your PCIE slot being 3.0.

Hynix Gold 31 1TB would be my top choice - haven't owned on personally, but every major reviewer raves that they are fast and run cool. $109 on Amazon

Samsung SSD 980 1TB (not the 980 Pro which is Gen 4) - This is what I updated my Pavilion laptop with and it too is a good performer that runs cool. $99.99 on Amazon

WD Blue SN750 1TB  - Another stable, reasonably cool running Gen 3 NVMe that's fast, $99.99 on Amazon

You may find better price - Gen 3 NVMe drives have been dropping as Gen 4 drives are the new thing.  If you plan on re-using this drive later...that may make the higher price for a Gen 4 drive now.

[Farland1]

Awesome lots of nice info, just to refer to the first reply, that person said you can upgrade the ram but keep the same speed, so does that mean I should stick to 2666 or as you mentioned can my board support or upgrade to 3200? Now i am assuming they meant to just make sure both stick of ram are the same spec either 2666 or 3200?

[Farland1]

Any advice ^^

[PeteC22]

I only mentioned 3200hz SODIMM as it will run as well as 2666hz in your laptop.  It will run at the same speed - 2666, that is determined by your main board, just gives you a wider range to choose from in case you find a better deal on some 3200 DDR4.  So, either 2666 or 3200 will be fine.  Yes, whichever you go for you want 2 of the same SODIMM sticks for best results.  I recommend buying a set of 2 SODIMM together.  

That is the "safe" advice by the way.  I'm running 16gb in my laptop with 1 Nanya 8gb SODIMM and 1 Kingston 8gb SODIMM, both 3200 with the same CL timings and they perform in dual channel mode just fine, but why take chances?   In my case I was only replacing 1 SODIMM but were I replacing both I'd always opt for a matched pair. 

[Farland1]

I see ok great, from what I can see from looking around the 3200 are cheaper then the older stuff anyway. I used the scan on the crucial website which seems to be recommended and goes in line with what you are saying also. The other thing I am looking into is a Wi-Fi card but I cant seem to find much information into what i need to look out for. Do all Wi-Fi cards work in all laptops? Id like to get the latest of course like Wi-Fi 6/6e but again cant seem to find much compatibility info. Seems to me most if not all will tend to work.

[PeteC22]

Yes, because the DDR4 3200 is more current/prevalent now, prices tend to be a bit lower which is why I mentioned it.

Personally, I'm conflicted on the WiFi card.  Unless you are experiencing some issues with the one it comes with (which is by no means a bad card) I'm not sure there's much upside to replacing it.  I do know that I get excellent connectivity with the Intel AX 201 and its going to match up well with your system.