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Did you know that you can turn that cheap laptop of yours into a top notch machine that beats out the competition for less than $200? I have recently finished doing some research for an article on the topic of budget priced laptops and was astonished by what I found!

After comparing many of the cheap laptops on the market against some of the more “high end” laptops out there today, I noticed something very interesting, they both share almost all of the same features with a few exceptions. The most crucial of those exceptions being, the amount of memory or RAM included and the operating system that the laptop comes with. Now here’s the great news, both of those, plus some can be upgraded for under $200 and anybody can do it, even if you are not a computer whiz! Let me break down those two exceptions for you below and then I will show you how to fix them.

1. Cheap laptops usually come with less memory. Your laptops memory, otherwise known as RAM, is crucial to how fast the system can process information. A cheap laptop will usually come with either 256mb or 512mb of memory, this is barely enough to even keep the operating system happy, especially if you are running Windows Vista which is known for being a resource hog. The great news is that this is an easy and affordable fix that anyone can do.

2. The operating system. First of all, if your laptop doesn’t have Windows Vista, you may count your blessings. Don’t get me wrong, Vista is a very attractive operating system and its new which creates even more appeal, but Windows XP is much more desirable for heavy users. Now, some of the cheap laptops even come with Windows Vista, usually the Home Basic edition, which is okay we can work with it here. If you wanted something more geared towards business, like Microsoft Office, I will be covering that later on as well, so for now just stick to the laptop you have or can afford and let me take care of the rest.

Speed up that Cheap Laptop with Some New Memory

Any time you are dealing with a sluggish computer, upgrading the memory to at least 1gb, 2gb if possible is a quick fix with big benefits. After upgrading the amount of memory your laptop has you will instantly notice the difference in how fast it responds to your actions and operates overall. 1gb memory sticks can be picked up for around $100, depending on where you shop, you may also check prices online to find even greater deals. If you are unsure about how to install the new memory stick, first consult your laptops user guide and then have a look at this illustrated guide that will show you step by step what you need to do, it is really easy, I promise.

If you are really in a budget crunch, you may visit websites like NewEgg.com, eBay.com, Geeks.com and TigerDirect.com to find the best deals.

Defragment Your Disk for Even More Speed

Defragmenting your disk is a simple and free way to speed up your laptop. You may not notice substantial differences, as you will with the memory boost above, but every little bit helps. If you don’t even know what defragmenting a disk means, LogicalExpressions.com has a very nice analogy that should break it down for you.

While systems vary on how defragmenting is accomplished, I will show you how to do this in Windows XP, since it is the most common. In Windows XP click on Start>>All Programs>>Accessories>>System Tools>>Disk Defragmenter and you are ready to go. Just click on Analyze and when complete, click Defragment. Depending on how long it has been since this was last done, and how many programs and files have been added, this process can take several hours to complete. It is recommended that you shut down all programs or anything running before you begin defragmenting your disk. Also if you are running on a system other than Windows XP, I would suggest you perform a Google search for information on how to do this in your system.

Replace Internet Explorer with Mozilla Firefox

If you are one of the few stragglers still using Internet Explorer its time to make the change to Firefox. Below I have created a short list of reasons why you should be using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

1. Firefox is free. How many more reasons do you need than that to at the very least try it out.

2. Firefox is customizable and open source. Think about it, you can choose from thousands of plug-ins and themes that will make Firefox do what you want and look how you like it.

3. Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer. You are less likely to get those nasty viruses and spyware that slow down and in some cases crash your computer.

Block Unwanted Visitors with a Good Firewall

If you want to keep your laptop running at peak performance you need to block out those unwanted visitors from accessing your computer. Usually a good firewall program will take care of the job, and these days you don’t have to spend a bundle to get one. I use Comodo Firewall and love it, aside from being free it comes highly recommended by Pc Magazine and millions of users, so you can’t go wrong.

Step Into the Business World with a Free Office Suite

Performance isn’t all about speed, sometimes you just need your laptop to perform the way you want it to, or handle the functions you need. As I mentioned above in this article, you are unlikely to find a cheap laptop that comes with a professional edition, or office suite.

If you are in need of a good office suite on a budget, steer clear of Microsoft Office and pay a visit to OpenOffice.org. Open Office is a great suite of office programs, and is completely compatible with Microsoft Office applications such as Excel and Word to name a couple. This suite of tools is completely free for download and works with ease, in fact many Microsoft Office fans have recently been making the move to OpenOffice, so check it out.

Speed up Those Sluggish Start-up Times

If you find that your laptop is taking longer and longer to start-up when you turn it on, there is something free that you can do to remedy the problem. Many programs that you download, or that may even come on the system are set to run on start-up, which drastically slows down the performance. To give you an idea of what is running on start-up take a look at the system tray in the lower right hand corner of your screen, but wait that’s probably not all.

Open up your Start menu and click on run, now type in msconfig and hit enter. When the new window appears click on the Startup tab, here you will find a complete list of all of the programs that start with your computer, no wonder its running slow. Un-check all of the programs that you don’t want running on start-up, but make sure that you know what they are before stopping them, the last thing you need is to stop a program that you need, if you are unsure about any of them then just leave those ones checked.

After you have completed all of the steps above, restart your laptop and take note of how much faster it loaded, nice huh!

Use the Add or Remove Programs Tool to Get Rid of Unwanted Programs That Are Slowing You Down.

If your hard drive is filled with programs you never use, you can bet that your laptops performance is starting to suffer. Many people forget that they have even downloaded many of the programs so they just sit there taking up space and gathering virtual dust.

Put some kick back into your laptops step by removing as much un-used stuff as you can. Open up the Add or Remove Programs tool and go through there looking for programs you forgot or don’t use frequently(it tells you), and uninstall them. Once your done, restart your laptop and see how it runs, I bet its faster!