How much can I upgrade a Dell Latitude E6500 Lap Top

[Astralv]

Hey, guys

I have a Dell Latitude E6500 Lap Top. In 2008 I paid $1800 for it. It has Core 2 Duo T9800 processor at 2.93 Ghz clock. Even now 2.93Ghz processors are more expansive- back then I had to pay a lot of money extra because everything was 1.3 Ghz. It also has one of the first releases of Samsung 120 Gb SSDs. Back then Dell was charging $600 for 60Gb and I had to add another $600 to have it 120 Gb. I know it was rip off. Do not judge. it was before I started building computers.
http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/latitude-e6500/pd

The lap top was intended for the live performances of a band, but the band did not work out and lap top was almost never used. So now, 2015, I have almost new lap top that still has Vista OS on it. I bought at a time of Windows 7 release and was given free upgrade option to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I have it on a disk.

So it looks and feels almost like new except it got some issues after my friend used it without antivirus for couple of weeks.

I want to make it work for a band shows again but I need a lot of hard drive space as I use samplers such as NI Kontakt with hundreds of Gbs of samples.

How hard is it to change a SSD? I never opened the lap top.

Is there any way to upgrade a memory? Currently it has 4 Gb of memory (64 bit OS). I would like to fit more as I need to hold audio samples in the memory.

Is there anything else I can upgrade? Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Add 4GB RAM
2. Replace the drive. Size is iffy. 120GB is rather small if it is the only drive.
3. Install a new OS. Windows 7 x64

In 2008, a 60GB SSD was quite expensive. 120GB even more so.
Today, a 250GB SSD is ~$100. 500GB for $190.
And new SSD's are far, far more reliable.

Changing the drive is trivial. Probably one or two screws on the bottom to access it.

 

[Astralv]

Hey there, thank you for your reply.

I am on my account at Dell, and I am looking at the list of parts... It does not say what Motherboard it has, but it must be Dell native...

I was given Windows 7 Pro- well- I had to go through the loops to get it from Microsoft for free as upgrade to my Vista. My concern is that if I change the SSD, it will mass everything else up. There are drivers on my account, but they just random, not specific to my model. If I even find a CD that came with the lap top, it will have drivers for Vista 64 bit, not for Windows 7. There so many components in this thing, such as lit keyboard, FireWire card, Intel Centrino technology (supposedly some enhancement for processor), network adopter, wireless, battery management... I have built 3 fully functional desktops in the last couple of years. But lap top, especially brand name, is all different story. It has small stuff in it- I am afraid it will stop working. I dont know what they were thinking when they said, "Just upgrade to Windows 7 when you ready".

I had a desktop from Dell with Vista Business, I upgraded it to Windows 7 (same reason- they set me up with Microsoft). Back then I knew nothing about some drivers. So I just installed it, and computer was... it works. But eventually I gave up on it.

It says- it has DDR 2 memory, 8 Gb max, 800 Mhz, 2 slots. Does it means- any lap top memory DDR2 800 Mhz would work?

Will installing new hard drive and Windows 7 ruin the entire thing? I can not use it for music but it works (kind of- it has issues). But I am afraid it will stop booting or lose the WiFi or keyboard or that port on the back for the stand or the FireWire or USB or who knows what else may become dysfunctional. What you think? Thanks.

 

[Astralv]

What kind of SSD would I need? I would like to have something about 500 Gb, but what connection? Is it SATA, mSATA or something else?

Also when ready to install- do I need to drain the batteries completely out to avoid being electrocuted or not? Thank you.

 

[sirstinky]

The connection is SATA. All SSD's have SATA connection. As far as an SSD, it depends on how much you want to spend. The Samsung Evo line (840 Pro, 850) are good. Crucial's M100 and M4's are pretty good too. Pretty much all SSD's from reputable brands are good- Samsung, Crucial, SanDisk, etc. Plan on spending anywhere from $200 to $250 for a good one.

For the battery, just remove it and unplug the laptop before beginning. That's pretty much it.

 

[Astralv]

Thank you for your reply. I keep reading that mSATA is good for lap tops but it is newer connection- likely not available on 2008 motherboard...

Unplug the batteries? How do I do that? I was looking for a picture of back of this lap top. It has screws. Is it where the batteries are? Thanks.

 

[sirstinky]

Hey there, thank you for your reply.

I am on my account at Dell, and I am looking at the list of parts... It does not say what Motherboard it has, but it must be Dell native...

I was given Windows 7 Pro- well- I had to go through the loops to get it from Microsoft for free as upgrade to my Vista. My concern is that if I change the SSD, it will mass everything else up. There are drivers on my account, but they just random, not specific to my model. If I even find a CD that came with the lap top, it will have drivers for Vista 64 bit, not for Windows 7. There so many components in this thing, such as lit keyboard, FireWire card, Intel Centrino technology (supposedly some enhancement for processor), network adopter, wireless, battery management... I have built 3 fully functional desktops in the last couple of years. But lap top, especially brand name, is all different story. It has small stuff in it- I am afraid it will stop working. I dont know what they were thinking when they said, "Just upgrade to Windows 7 when you ready".

I had a desktop from Dell with Vista Business, I upgraded it to Windows 7 (same reason- they set me up with Microsoft). Back then I knew nothing about some drivers. So I just installed it, and computer was... it works. But eventually I gave up on it.

It says- it has DDR 2 memory, 8 Gb max, 800 Mhz, 2 slots. Does it means- any lap top memory DDR2 800 Mhz would work?

Will installing new hard drive and Windows 7 ruin the entire thing? I can not use it for music but it works (kind of- it has issues). But I am afraid it will stop booting or lose the WiFi or keyboard or that port on the back for the stand or the FireWire or USB or who knows what else may become dysfunctional. What you think? Thanks.

For memory, yes, it's going to be DDR2 PC2-6400 800 MHz. If you have 4 GB now, you need to figure out the number of RAM sticks are in there. If there's 2 sticks (each will be 2 GB) and you want 8 GB, you need to remove them and buy an 8 GB kit (two sticks that are 4 GB each). Installing an SSD won't make it inoperable and neither will upgrading to Win. 7. In fact, some of the later 6500 Lats had Windows 7. Upgrading from Vista Business to 7 is pretty straightforward. To do the SSD swap properly, you need to migrate your data to it before doing the upgrade. It won't change anything at all. All the drivers will be preloaded, and any that aren't you can download from Dell. www.support.dell.com and put in your laptop service tag (found on the bottom of the laptop) for the drivers.

The best way to do an SSD or any hard drive swap, is to clone or image the old disk, and load the image onto the new one and you're done. Otherwise, you're starting from scratch on the SSD with Windows and migrating your user profile manually.

Installing it is easy enough. I think the e6500's had the hard drive under the bottom cover. Some had a removable drive caddy, almost like a cartridge that slid out from the side of the laptop. To get to the hard drive, open the bottom panel (it should be a big one) and look for a silver rectangular thing. It should be held in by two screws. Take out those screws to release the drive cage. The actual hard drive is held in the cage by 4 screws, 2 on each side. Remove them and the drive will come out. You need to remove the adapter (if there's one) from the drive and put it on the new one (it plugs into the back of the drive-match up the plugs-one's narrow, one's wide). Put it back in the way it came out and you're done.

 

[sirstinky]

Thank you for your reply. I keep reading that mSATA is good for lap tops but it is newer connection- likely not available on 2008 motherboard...

Unplug the batteries? How do I do that? I was looking for a picture of back of this lap top. It has screws. Is it where the batteries are? Thanks.

The battery (it's a big one) is installed under the display at the rear of the laptop. There's a locking latch that you slide open, and with the latch held open, you slide the battery straight back. It might take some fiddling, but it only comes out one way.

 

[Astralv]

Thank you for detailed instruction.

I do not wish to clone, I would like to do clean install, this is why no drivers will migrate from the old drive. The reason I dont want to clone is because after my friend used it without antivirus, it stopped being flash-fast as it was and just acting strange some time but no viruses detected with Norton, Webroot and Antimalware bytes. The Windows 7 disk I got from Microsoft as upgrade to Vista is a full version (tried the same upgrade on desktop- it created "Windows Old" folder and did new install).

The 8 Gb DDR2 is $200!!! I may just try to live with 4 for now and see what it does. I am sure it is 2x2 configuration, not a single 4.
Is it safe to touch the batteries? I am sure I will figure out how to get them out but want to make sure it will not scare me to shock. lol. Thanks.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you for detailed instruction.

I do not wish to clone, I would like to do clean install, this is why no drivers will migrate from the old drive. The reason I dont want to clone is because after my friend used it without antivirus, it stopped being flash-fast as it was and just acting strange some time but no viruses detected with Norton, Webroot and Antimalware bytes. The Windows 7 disk I got from Microsoft as upgrade to Vista is a full version (tried the same upgrade on desktop- it created "Windows Old" folder and did new install).

The 8 Gb DDR2 is $200!!! I may just try to live with 4 for now and see what it does. I am sure it is 2x2 configuration, not a single 4.
Is it safe to touch the batteries? I am sure I will figure out how to get them out but want to make sure it will not scare me to shock. lol. Thanks.

If you're currently using that Windows 7 on a different PC, you can't use that same license on the laptop.

Also, this is a 7 year old laptop. You might consider just getting a new one. As you've seen, RAM for that is expensive, and won't have a huge performance impact.

 

[Astralv]

No, the Windows 7 upgrade came for my desktop and lap top- I bought them at the same year, so they are 2 different instances.

As I mentioned before, after spending $1800 on a lap top, I would like to get some use out of it. It has brand new body and parts- been sitting in case for almost 6 years but all together was used may be 2 months.

 

[sirstinky]

Thank you for your reply. I keep reading that mSATA is good for lap tops but it is newer connection- likely not available on 2008 motherboard...

Unplug the batteries? How do I do that? I was looking for a picture of back of this lap top. It has screws. Is it where the batteries are? Thanks.

Msata is a newish technology, and as far as laptops, it's mainly for ultrabooks, tablets, 2 in 1 notebooks, or as a second boot drive in PCs where a 2.5" drive would be too big (like in MacBook Air, and Surface).

For the battery, it lives under the display at the back of the laptop. You can't miss it. It's a rectangular thing that fits flush to the underside. There's a locking latch directly in front that needs to be released to slide out the battery. You need to keep it open with your thumb and push on the front so it slides straight out to the rear. I'll attach a picture if i find one.

 

[Astralv]

Thank you for all detailed replies, you, guys are awesome.

So I spent the entire evening looking for the Windows 7 64 bit upgrade option. It was in a different place than the 32 bit upgrade I used on a desktop, and I found a lot of interesting things. One thing interesting was the 32 bit upgrade I already installed on the old desktop. It had the upgrade manual and upgrade assistant disk. Remember- I said- Dell did not make it easy?... Well- if I read the manual, I would know to use the assistant disk, which I was supposed to insert, it would do something, then prompt me to replace it with the "Upgrade option" disk, install Windows 7 upgrade and then it was supposed to recommend the drivers updates.

I did not do any of this because I did not read, because I "know it all" and I wanted clean install. So (still talking about my old desktop) I formated the hard drive, then installed again Vista Business and then installed upgrade option Window 7, thinking- it will needed preinstalled Vista OS in order to run. To my surprise, after I installed Windows 7, it made this huge folder with "Old Windows" out of the Vista installation. I did not like that. So I went on and formatted the hard drive again and installed Windows 7 anew without installing Vista first. And it worked. So it did not need Vista installed - it was full Windows 7 Business version 32 bit. I am realizing now that I likely did not install any drivers, or may be I did, but that computer never worked that great after update.

The reason I am telling this to you is because I am trying to decide if I get new SSD, if I need to install Vista Business 64 bit first on the new drive, and then "Upgrade Option Windows 7 Business 64 bit". The upgrade came from the same source and also has this "Upgrade Assistant" disk that was recommended for the upgrade procedure. But I am thinking I should use previous experience and NOT install Vista prior to Windows 7 on a new drive, and go straight to Windows 7 installation and ignore the fact that it says "Upgrade Only". What do you think? It worked last time and did not need Vista. Should I skip the Vista and install upgrade?

 

[Astralv]

I ordered the SSD and now I am not sure if it was a good idea. Was playing a simple video today and my Norton says, "High CPU usage- IE". Looks like that CPU is not that all powerful. And the video was all pixelated and not able to display smooth movement... Is there such a thing as graphic card for Lap Top? Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

I ordered the SSD and now I am not sure if it was a good idea. Was playing a simple video today and my Norton says, "High CPU usage- IE". Looks like that CPU is not that all powerful. And the video was all pixelated and not able to display smooth movement... Is there such a thing as graphic card for Lap Top? Thank you.

No, you can't really change the graphics system on that thing.

 

[sirstinky]

Thank you for all detailed replies, you, guys are awesome.

So I spent the entire evening looking for the Windows 7 64 bit upgrade option. It was in a different place than the 32 bit upgrade I used on a desktop, and I found a lot of interesting things. One thing interesting was the 32 bit upgrade I already installed on the old desktop. It had the upgrade manual and upgrade assistant disk. Remember- I said- Dell did not make it easy?... Well- if I read the manual, I would know to use the assistant disk, which I was supposed to insert, it would do something, then prompt me to replace it with the "Upgrade option" disk, install Windows 7 upgrade and then it was supposed to recommend the drivers updates.

I did not do any of this because I did not read, because I "know it all" and I wanted clean install. So (still talking about my old desktop) I formated the hard drive, then installed again Vista Business and then installed upgrade option Window 7, thinking- it will needed preinstalled Vista OS in order to run. To my surprise, after I installed Windows 7, it made this huge folder with "Old Windows" out of the Vista installation. I did not like that. So I went on and formatted the hard drive again and installed Windows 7 anew without installing Vista first. And it worked. So it did not need Vista installed - it was full Windows 7 Business version 32 bit. I am realizing now that I likely did not install any drivers, or may be I did, but that computer never worked that great after update.

The reason I am telling this to you is because I am trying to decide if I get new SSD, if I need to install Vista Business 64 bit first on the new drive, and then "Upgrade Option Windows 7 Business 64 bit". The upgrade came from the same source and also has this "Upgrade Assistant" disk that was recommended for the upgrade procedure. But I am thinking I should use previous experience and NOT install Vista prior to Windows 7 on a new drive, and go straight to Windows 7 installation and ignore the fact that it says "Upgrade Only". What do you think? It worked last time and did not need Vista. Should I skip the Vista and install upgrade?

Windows 7 works like this: if it comes pre-loaded on a PC, you can use it only on that PC. You can't switch it to another. It's basically "mated" to that computer at the hardware level (there's some kind of imbedded security deal in the ROM somewhere). You need an OEM boxed copy, or a "system builder" one-time use only copy. Your Dell comes with the Vista Business reinstallation disk, which is meant to repair your OS in the event is gets corrupted. To clarify, "Upgrade" disks work only to upgrade, not as a standalone copy of Windows. If you tried to do a fresh install, it won't work. Also, you can upgrade Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium. It's not exactly a smooth completely seamless deal though, as you might get a folder stuck on your desktop "Old Windows."

 

[sirstinky]

No. You can't swap out GPU's on laptops. They are soldered to the motherboard, and even if you could, they don't make drivers for them. Sorry. The best way to get more graphics performance from a laptop is...buy a better laptop with a discrete GPU.

 

[Astralv]

Thank you for your reply, USAFRet. It uses motherboard graphics, so it won't get any better than what it is...

Sirstinky, thank you for taking your time to read my post. The interesting thing is- I *thought*- it is upgrade and needs Vista preinstalled in order to install Windows 7 with the desktop I was upgrading (same offer). So first time I formatted, installed Vista and then Windows 7 (without using that Upgrade Assistant DVD that came with the kit). I found "Old Windows folder. So I formatted the drive AGAIN and that time did not install Vista, but went straight to Windows 7 and it installed and worked.

Now with my Lap top upgrade- I am thinking- it would do the same thing and install Windows 7 without Vista. But the only difference is that in case of desktop I was installing on the old hard drive. There was C drive and partition D drive (2 Gb)- I am wondering if I did not format that partition and Windows 7 "felt" there used to be Vista on that drive. The Windows 7 disk has its own product key. It says on a disk, "For Use only as an Upgrade to a Qualifying Dell Windows 7 upgrade option". But the same was written on the 32 bit version for the desktop. So I am guessing- it contains full version on this DVD. I hope so.