Korean Job Discussion Forums

[earthbound14]

I'm not too computer savy, so anyone know how I would go about upgrading my notebook?

I just want to upgrade the hard drive and the RAM. I don't know what type of RAM or hard dirve my old laptop will handle. Anyone know how I would find out? I've tried looking it up on line but I can't find the answers I'm loooking for.

I've got a 2.5 year old Compaq M2000 and I'd like to put a Seagate 160G (5400.3/8M/SATA2) drive in it and about a Gig of DDR2 RAM.

The old Drive is ATA-5 while the RAM is DDR. Can I upgrade? I assume I can only upgrade to a bigger ATA drive and similar RAM, but I'm not sure.

[Mr. Pink]

Pretty sure you will be unable to put a SATA HD in there. I have a 1.5yr old Compaq...the V2000 and I went out and bought a SATA HD and found out to my dismay it would not work.

Pretty much the only "better" IDE HD you can get is from Compaq themselves...

As for Ram, that is pretty easy. The spec guide for your notebook will tell you what the max ram allowable is and what type you should get. 2GB is the max for my Compaq.

Hope that helps.

[SeoulFinn]

I'm afraid that you can't use DDR2 RAM as your laptop is old. The RAM you can use depends on what kind of a chipset your laptop has, but I'm betting that you'll need DDR333 or DDR400 (PC2700 or PC3200) memory modules. If I were you, I'd get two "el cheappo" 1Gb DDR400 sticks. Just make sure that the sticks are for laptops (so-dimm) and not meant for a desktop.

The memory upgrade is simple enough operation. Go here (PDF MANUAL) and check pages 33, 106-108.

As for HDD, you should be able to use any 2.5" PATA HDD (within the limits of your BIOS, you may have to update your BIOS to the newest verision if you want to use biggest HDDs. Check this first!). Stay away from SATA disks, you can't use them as your computer is too old. The info for this upgrade can be found from the PDF file as well.

Anyway, what I'd like to know is what CPU you have? This laptop comes in Intel and AMD flavor. I read that some people have replaced the Intel Celeron with Intel Pentium-m CPU, while AMD Sempron can be replaced with AMD Turion MT or ML line CPUs.

EDIT: Replacing CPU can be done, but can be a bit hassle at times.

[earthbound14]

I have an AMD Turion CPU. I've thought about getting a faster version.

I'm still a little unsure what the max HDD I can install. One site suggested a 120G while another said a 160G was possible - all ATA drives. Not sure the difference between PATA and ATA. I really don't know why a 160 and 120 would be all that different either.

RAM, My manual suggests 1 G of the pc2700 version DDR 333 or 400. I've heard others use 3200 in the same model. What's the big difference. I also have two RAM slots, If I put a 1 gig RAM in one slot and leave the old one in the other...what will happen? Will it be able to run both?

Anyway, thanks for the tips, I'll keep looking.

[esetters21]

While upgrading might be more a little more cost efficient for you; you might consider selling your laptop and buying something newer with the specs that you are looking for. Good deals can be found here. Good luck either way!

[SeoulFinn]

Oh? If you have an AMD Turion CPU, then you must have the M2000z model. In that case your manual is this one (PDF).

Below are the procesors used in m200z. But since you have Turion, which is good single core CPU, I don't recommend CPU upgrade for you. In the best scenario you'd only gain 400MHz, which isn't that much. But if you had the slowest Sempron, you'd gain more because of the bigger cache etc.

-----
5.17 Processor
Processor Spare Part Number Information
AMD Mobile Turion 64, ML-37 (2.00-GHz)
AMD Mobile Turion 64, ML-34 (1.80-GHz)
AMD Mobile Turion 64, ML-32 (1.80-GHz)
AMD Mobile Turion 64, ML-30 (1.60-GHz)
AMD Mobile Turion 64, ML-28 (1.60-GHz)
Mobile AMD Sempron 3300+ (2.00-GHz)
Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+ (1.80-GHz)
Mobile AMD Sempron 2800+ (1.60-GHz)
----

The difference in the RAM speed shouldn't matter. You have AMD Turion CPU and it uses DDR400. Even though the new PDF list only 256Mb and 512Mb sticks, I'd expect that your laptop can utilize 1Gb sticks (x2).

I happen to have 2x 1Gb Kingston DDR400 so-dimm sticks in the house. If you want to see if your laptop can use all of it, we could meet somewhere in Seoul and experiment. The thing is that I'm not in Korea rigth now, but will come there on 28th. If the sticks work just fine and you wanted to buy them, I'll give you a good price!

Anyway, even though upgrading is fun, I would recommend that you just get a new (duo core 2, 2Gb RAM) laptop.