The normal life for the laptops is two to five years. If can be difficult decision to spend money on the laptops if these are still working well with only few upgrades. You should also consider the factor of portability along with cost comparison of upgrading versus replacing. You can make decision of upgrade or replacing computers by making list of components.
Memory is the component of the computer which the users might want to upgrade. The users can get the access to the memory modules in most of the laptops features. It is low cost and easy way to upgrade your laptops. The cost of the memory upgradation is different depending on type of memory you want to use in your computer. Hard drive is another important component in the laptops and users can replace their existing hard drives with the larger capacity. You must have new drive with same interface as that of previous. You might have to install all the software and copy all the data from previous hard drive to the new one. You can also use external hard drive if there is no removable trya in your laptop. The external hard drive can be connected via USB port. You can have lots of space in 3.5 inches hard drive as compared to the 2.5 inches.
You can buy or upgrade your CD or DVD drive if your system has design. You can also purchase and use the external drives. There might be some issues of size and power with external drive unit. You can use Blu-ray drives but there might be issues with hardware requirements. There should be use of PC card in the laptops whether it has been external storage, networking, and graphics card to expand the capabilities of the laptops. The Type II and ExpressCard are used in the slots of the laptops which can be used for wide expansion in the capabilities of the computer. You can use wireless PC card in case your computer has no wireless networking. The Type II slots can be use for different functions and easily available in the market. The interface of the ExpressCard has potential for users which come in two sizes.
There has been use of the integrated graphic solution in most of the laptops which means that these computers will need to use 3D graphic features. There is problems that these solutions can not be upgraded as these are built in with the motherboard. You can have MXMgraphic slot in some computers but it can be difficult to find the modules fir into your laptops interface. But PCI ExpressCard are being made by many companies which can allow the users to sue the external drive unit for their graphic solutions. It can be difficult to upgrade the CPU of laptops as these have to be replaced. You have to replace the whole CPU if you have problems with the CPU.
Most the of the external devices of the laptops can be upgraded but some devices may not be able to work without external power. If you don’t have enough money to buy and replace new components then you should upgrade your components. You should dispose your laptops completely in case you are replacing your laptops.