HP 15-r018dx Upgrades for Performance

[RM_CPA]

Hello Community - Understanding I have a very old laptop, trying to find ways to increase performance of internet speed and overall speed in MS Office. I am only really using for MS Office and not high volumes of data/large files.

Some Novice Ideas:

- Upgrade the 4GB RAM? (if so, what is compatible/what do I buy?)

- Install a Wifi Adaptor? (if so, what is compatible/what do I buy?)

- Anything else?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Your notebook can support up to 2 x 8 GB of DDR3L-1600 MHz memory.

Timetec 8GB DDR3L / DDR3 1600MHz (DDR3L-1600) PC3L-12800 / PC3-12800(PC3L-12800S) Non-ECC Unbuffered...

You can replace the 750 GB 2.5" mechanical hard drive with a better performing 500 GB or 1 GB 2.5" SATA solid state drive (SSD).

Amazon.com: Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SA510 SATA Internal Solid State Drive SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s,...

Since your notebook has the Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11bgn Wi-Fi adapter there is only one antenna wire, and a better Wi-Fi adapter would require two antenna wires in order to work properly.

Your options for a Wi-Fi card upgrade would be:

Replace the existing card with one that has Bluetooth but is no faster.

This would be the replacement card you would need for that:

Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11bgn 1×1 + BT 4 LE Combo Adapter   HP part # 753077-001

Use a dual band USB Wi-Fi adapter.

I have this one which is both dual band and has Bluetooth, and is pretty small.

Amazon.com: USB WiFi Bluetooth Adapter, 600Mbps Dual Band 2.4/5Ghz Wireless Network External Receive...

Below is the link to the service manual:

c04409502

[RM_CPA]

Thank you!!! I successfully was able add the memory cards, clone and replace to the SSD, and implement the Wifi USB adaptor.

For anyone reading this post, this video helped me navigate the laptop surgery: https://youtu.be/ryYrCMvXBrk?feature=shared

Now that my laptop is humming along and useful again, follow up question.

I have an External screen hooked up via the one HDMI...is there a way to add a 2nd external Screen? (effectively have dual monitors, not including the laptop screen)

Thanks again!!!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome. 

I don't know if it would be possible to run two monitors from one HDMI port.

You may want to start a new discussion on that, but I don't believe that it can be done.

Glad that all of your other upgrades went well.