So let me preface this with the fact that I am a total noob, so if you're so kind as to respond please speak in terms at or just below laymans. If any of the questions I pose don't make sense because I dont get the concept, I'm not using the right terms or am making up options and things please bear with me and let me know. Also while I have verrry little knowledge of the inner workings of computers I'm a pro at Google, YouTube, and following directions, so I'm more so asking if this is possible and or worth the effort, more than if you'd suggest me doing it myself. I ramble a bit below so feel free to skip to the questions past all this.
Anywho, I'll be getting a new laptop, and while I won't be using it for anything super powerful or any intense gaming anyway, I do prefer a fast start up and most of the other speed gains I've read up on regarding ssd's over other tyes of drives. I have whatever the equivalent of slow drivers road rage is to slow moving tech. I save a decent amount of photos, and short videos from my phone, but I don't have a need to keep large movie files or what have you. The most I run is a Sims game or two, regular web pages and word documents. That said I was given a list of decently priced laptops from a site boasting a good range of laptops, in regards to performance, but limited in terms of what extra options or models are currently available. As they are all pretty heavily discounted base models, there is no major customization options like going straight to the source. Whichever one I choose will be more or less free to me but I'm still trying to be economical for the buyer which is why I'm purchasing from this vendor. (In case you start to wonder why I don't just buy one the way I'd like it, instead of trying to upgrade after) I'm pretty set on the other specs I need, and it's all pretty much interchangeable for whatever but it's the hard drives that are throwing me off. Many of the options include multiple cores, decent ram, cache ect, with options for 500gb, 1tb, and even 2tb hds, 32gb flash drives, but for some reason the ssd's only come in 16 and 32 gbs, with a stray 64 or 128 only combined with either borderline obsolete processors, or ultra small sizes like 10in screens but I'm looking for something a little larger, and I don't see the point in using a celeron or something for the sake of more gigs when I can just buy a better one separately, in theory anyway as idk wth I'm doing.
Okay on to the questions
1. Would it be better to just go with a laptop with a regular hd, and just replace it with a ssd, or to go with the lower gb ssd, and just replace it with a larger one? Is one easier to do than the other?
2. Would it even make sense to straight up replace a small ssd, with a larger one, as opposed to just getting an additional external ssd or hd and just using the 3.0 USB port or however it's done?
3. In terms of adding extra storage in general would it be better to just get an external hard drive, whatever type it may be, or just replace the internal one? Aside from it being kinda large and just generally in the way is there any significant advantage to getting one over the other? Do I have to always have it plugged in if I decide to go with that?
4. If I were to get one with 1tb of regular hd, and the external ssd, would that still provide significant increases in performance? Would I have to do anything special to have the os run off the external ssd and use the hd for the clunkier items and things that take up too much space? Is it redundant to even have the ssd if the os doesn't run from it? Can it even run from the external one?
5. Would I be better off just trying to get a laptop able to hold two internal drives and just install the ssd in the extra one? I'm not actually sure if that's a thing but it seems like I've read there are laptops that come like that or you can replace the diskdrive? Not sure if that's it but I believe it was that or something similar could be replaced to add another internal hd.
6. If I decide to outright replace the harddrive, whether I get one with a regular 1tb or the low gb ssd, would I be able to replace it right away, or would be necessary to boot the laptop the very first time, clone it to the new one, and then replace it? Most of what I can find about replacing the hd involves cloning the system or whatever, and talks a lot about keeping all your files and stuff, what I'm not actually sure about is if you do this because it won't run correctly otherwise, or if it's specifically to keep your data. Is there anything on a brand new unbooted computer I should be concerned about loosing or not having that wouldn't be there from just freshly installing windows on the new ssd? I've seen a lot about making sure you have the licensing or code number to install it on the new ssd, but I've already read you can pretty look up your code online if it's not stamped to the laptop anywhere, I also wouldn't care about just buying a new one if I had to.
7. If I replace the original can I just use that as extra space, or should I hold on to it just in case? I've read some people suggest using the original for extra space, and some say it's better to keep it in case you need a backup I think?
So yeah, I probably have some more follow up questions I can think of right at the moment, but if i don't sound like a total lunatic please help me out wherever you can, thanks!!
Anywho, I'll be getting a new laptop, and while I won't be using it for anything super powerful or any intense gaming anyway, I do prefer a fast start up and most of the other speed gains I've read up on regarding ssd's over other tyes of drives. I have whatever the equivalent of slow drivers road rage is to slow moving tech. I save a decent amount of photos, and short videos from my phone, but I don't have a need to keep large movie files or what have you. The most I run is a Sims game or two, regular web pages and word documents. That said I was given a list of decently priced laptops from a site boasting a good range of laptops, in regards to performance, but limited in terms of what extra options or models are currently available. As they are all pretty heavily discounted base models, there is no major customization options like going straight to the source. Whichever one I choose will be more or less free to me but I'm still trying to be economical for the buyer which is why I'm purchasing from this vendor. (In case you start to wonder why I don't just buy one the way I'd like it, instead of trying to upgrade after) I'm pretty set on the other specs I need, and it's all pretty much interchangeable for whatever but it's the hard drives that are throwing me off. Many of the options include multiple cores, decent ram, cache ect, with options for 500gb, 1tb, and even 2tb hds, 32gb flash drives, but for some reason the ssd's only come in 16 and 32 gbs, with a stray 64 or 128 only combined with either borderline obsolete processors, or ultra small sizes like 10in screens but I'm looking for something a little larger, and I don't see the point in using a celeron or something for the sake of more gigs when I can just buy a better one separately, in theory anyway as idk wth I'm doing.
Okay on to the questions
1. Would it be better to just go with a laptop with a regular hd, and just replace it with a ssd, or to go with the lower gb ssd, and just replace it with a larger one? Is one easier to do than the other?
2. Would it even make sense to straight up replace a small ssd, with a larger one, as opposed to just getting an additional external ssd or hd and just using the 3.0 USB port or however it's done?
3. In terms of adding extra storage in general would it be better to just get an external hard drive, whatever type it may be, or just replace the internal one? Aside from it being kinda large and just generally in the way is there any significant advantage to getting one over the other? Do I have to always have it plugged in if I decide to go with that?
4. If I were to get one with 1tb of regular hd, and the external ssd, would that still provide significant increases in performance? Would I have to do anything special to have the os run off the external ssd and use the hd for the clunkier items and things that take up too much space? Is it redundant to even have the ssd if the os doesn't run from it? Can it even run from the external one?
5. Would I be better off just trying to get a laptop able to hold two internal drives and just install the ssd in the extra one? I'm not actually sure if that's a thing but it seems like I've read there are laptops that come like that or you can replace the diskdrive? Not sure if that's it but I believe it was that or something similar could be replaced to add another internal hd.
6. If I decide to outright replace the harddrive, whether I get one with a regular 1tb or the low gb ssd, would I be able to replace it right away, or would be necessary to boot the laptop the very first time, clone it to the new one, and then replace it? Most of what I can find about replacing the hd involves cloning the system or whatever, and talks a lot about keeping all your files and stuff, what I'm not actually sure about is if you do this because it won't run correctly otherwise, or if it's specifically to keep your data. Is there anything on a brand new unbooted computer I should be concerned about loosing or not having that wouldn't be there from just freshly installing windows on the new ssd? I've seen a lot about making sure you have the licensing or code number to install it on the new ssd, but I've already read you can pretty look up your code online if it's not stamped to the laptop anywhere, I also wouldn't care about just buying a new one if I had to.
7. If I replace the original can I just use that as extra space, or should I hold on to it just in case? I've read some people suggest using the original for extra space, and some say it's better to keep it in case you need a backup I think?
So yeah, I probably have some more follow up questions I can think of right at the moment, but if i don't sound like a total lunatic please help me out wherever you can, thanks!!
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