There’s no need to spend all of that money on a new laptop when you can put some life back into your old one, for much cheaper. Below you will find plenty of upgrades that you can do yourself, and best of all they are sure to bring that old laptop of yours back from the dead.

Better Performance-

1. Upgrade your laptop to at least 1 gig of RAM. Many computers come with 256mb to 512mb of RAM from the factory, if lately you have found your laptop to be a little sluggish, increasing the amount of RAM to at least 1 gig is sure to speed things up for you. This quick fix can be done for under one hundred dollars and will make a huge difference to your laptops performance.

2. Get yourself a good spyware program. Did you know that the biggest reason people begin to have problems with their pc’s is due to spyware? Many people think it is due to a virus or simply running to many programs, however after running a standard virus removal software they find no difference in performance. A good spyware program can be picked up for around forty dollars and you won’t regret the purchase.

3. A new hard drive can give that old laptop a huge boost in performance. The more rpm your hard drive has the faster it runs, and of course the faster the hard drive runs the better performance your laptop will have. You will instantly notice programs open faster, you can open and save large files quicker etc., but this does come with price. Many times upgrading a hard drive will drain your laptops battery quicker, so when shopping around make sure you compare manufacturers to see which drive will be a better fit for you. You can pick up a new hard drive for between fifty and two hundred dollars depending on manufacturer and drive specifications.

4. Defragment and clean up your disk. This is by far one of the best, and free, methods for increasing the performance of your old laptop. Disk defragmenter is included in all Windows systems after Windows 95, but you can also find third party programs that work just as well or maybe even better.

5. Remove un-needed programs from start-up. You may begin to notice that when you start-up your laptop all kinds of programs start to run or open up. If your laptop is trying to run all of these programs and start-up your system at the same time, its sure to slow it down. Remove all un-needed and un-wanted programs from the start-up system and you will be in action.

6. Upgrade your old office suite to OpenOffice.org. Chances are, if you are running an old system your current office tools are out dated, fortunately you can fix this for free. OpenOffice.org is a free suite of office tools that function, in my opinion, better than Microsoft Office, so this may be an easy and free way to get you back in business again.

Better Appearance-

1. If your laptop is looking a little out dated, you can add a bright new skin for under twenty dollars. Skins are cheap ways to quickly change, personalize and even renew the appearance of that plain old laptop. Simply run a search on Google for “laptop skins”, find one you like, order it and when it arrives peel of the vinyl sticker and attach it to your laptop, thats it you have instantly transformed that old laptop into an attractive piece of technology.

2. Change out your keyboard when those keys start to get a little worn. Keys start to wear out over time, the letters rub off or they start to stick, it can be a real irritant. The good news is that many of the laptops out today make it very easy to swap out that old keyboard, you can usually find a new keyboard on eBay.com for under thirty dollars. This is a quick and cheap way to make that old laptop new again.

Better On the Go-

1. Get yourself a new battery. Laptop batteries, as with any battery begin to wearout and their performance becomes less than desirable. The begin to take longer to fully charge and then they don’t last nearly as long once you get them charged, which can become a real headache. When this starts to happen go out and get yourself a good new battery for around one hundred and twenty dollars and you will be on the right track.

2. Quit lugging that old laptop around like a stone tablet, sometimes all it takes is a new bag to make it better. It may sound a little strange, as a laptop bag certainly won’t add any performance to your old system, but it may make you feel better about carrying it around.

3. Go out and get a new mouse and external keyboard for your laptop. If you find yourself setting up a work station in hotels around the country, you may find some value in these features. Adding a mouse and external keyboard may make you feel a little more like your working from the comfort of your own home.

4. Consider going wireless. Have you ever been on a business trip when you are constantly looking for a good place to plug-in and access the Internet. You are reading this article because you want to love that old laptop again, so step into the present and go wireless, you won’t regret it.

Don’t Give up Hope

Regardless of which methods you decide on, its important to remember that you don’t have to buy a new laptop to stay on the cutting edge of technology. For much less than the price of a new laptop your old one can be running far superior than the shiny new models sitting on the store shelves.