I’ve just had to go through a full install of Windows 7 on my refurbished laptop in the process of upgrading it, and either I’ve become more competent, or it’s a lot easier than it ever was previously (with earlier versions of Windows and other laptops). After years of swearing by desktops and the ease of replacing components as a means of upgrading and squeezing that extra period of life out of the machines, I opted for a refurbished laptop earlier this year. I’ve actually bought exactly the same model as the laptop I use at work, a Lenovo X201, as I’ve been so impressed with its robustness and balance of size, speed and performance. But I knew, from some casual research online that it was also relatively easy to upgrade.
Increase memory from 4gb to 8gb
The Lenovo X201 can take up to 8gb in memory, but only has two slots available. The off-the-shelf recommended options for extra memory for this model was coming in at around £70 – £80 from many suppliers, but a little digging around found some Crucial memory on Amazon for under £32 per module (at the time of writing). Upgrading to 8gb isn’t for everyone though, so it’s important to know whether you’ll actually benefit from it or not. A quick test is when you’re using your PC with your typical array of programs open, start Task Manager and check out the Performance tab and see what level of your memory you’re actually using. For most cases, you’ll probably not go over 4gb – but if like me, you’re editing photos and videos and tend to prefer to have an unusually large numbers of concurrent windows open, then it’s invaluable. A further word of caution is that in order for Windows to take advantage of any memory over 4gb, you need to be running the 64 bit version. Anyway, these are the memory modules I ordered:
Swap the HDD for an SDD
I agonised over this purchase and carried out a silly amount of research, trying to decide whether the HDD was sufficient, or if the newer SSHD’s might be preferable. For those that don’t know, an SSHD takes a relatively large hard drive – which, at the moment maxes out at 2gb in 2.5inch drives that are suitable for my laptop, but this is coupled with a portion of flash memory. In the model I was considering (the Samsung 1TB SSHD model listed below), there is 8gb of flash memory. This memory is not directly accessible by you, the user, but is instead used intelligently by the drive as it learns your typical behaviour and starts storing the most frequently accessed software and data in the flash part of the drive. It can apparently take 3 or more times of booting the PC with the new SSHD in it to understand that your operating system is one of those items you access frequently, and when it does, you can expect much faster boot times. But then I read plenty of conflicting reports that said this speed uplift wasn’t guaranteed in all cases and other aspects of system performance in general use, particularly if it’s not a frequently accessed piece of software is unaffected. Pretty much every review I looked at said that if you could afford to make the full leap to an SSD, then you should definitely do it.
So that’s what I did. I was watching the price level on Amazon for a Crucial M500 (240gb SSD – as listed below) and when it dipped below £85, I took the plunge and ordered it. I read various approaches to how to install and migrate to an SSD, but since my laptop was relatively new, I decided I didn’t need to migrate anything and simply took out my old hard drive and installed my SSD, installing a fresh version of Windows 7 64 bit. Whether it was the speed of the SSD, the earlier memory upgrades, or just simply the stock performance of the laptop, the installation seemed to take no time at all. From start to finish, and this includes installing all the laptop’s drivers from a memory stick – it probably took about 45 minutes. And so far, the performance has been very satisfying. Boot up times, from off to desktop are now around the 10 second mark – which is certainly in line with my pre-purchase expectations – and applications, particularly the newer Office applications, open in 1-2 seconds. It’s exactly the sort of uplift I was looking for and so far I’m extremely pleased with how it’s working.
Using a NAS
One of the reasons I felt able to opt for the smaller 240gb SSD instead of the 1tb SSHD, apart from the speed benefits, is that late last year I set up my first home NAS (Network Attached Storage). With minimal research, but plenty of advice from friends who had set up their own NAS systems, I opted for a Synology DS213j (as listed below), which comes as an empty 2-bay NAS ready to accept whichever drives you want to put in it. I choose two 3tb WD Red drives which are specifically designed for use in NAS systems and have opted to have them set up in a RAID configuration that is called “Synology Hybrid RAID” which in my case simply means instead of having 6tb of total storage (for each of the two 3tb drives), I only have 3tb of space, as one drive is automatically copied to the other in an endless backup system. I wanted to have this security around my data, so I can have long term, safe storage of my photos and documents and didn’t entirely want to trust it to online cloud options.
But having the NAS, means I don’t necessarily need to have masses of local storage in my laptop, as I can access these materials remotely, either from within my LAN or by using web access or even iOS apps. Synology provide a range of iOS apps for accessing photos, music and videos stored on your NAS, as well as being able to use it as a remote file server or cloud storage facility. Setup isn’t the easiest I’ve encountered, but that’s probably more to do with my knowledge limitations around networking and how that works with firewalls, but the interface and apps are first class. It’s not for everyone, but for me, it was a good addition to my setup.
God Mode
And then there are some simple ‘soft’ changes I can make to my machine. One of the easiest tweaks to implement that I’m most impressed with (it doesn’t take much), is the ‘hidden’ God Mode in Windows 7. For someone like me that likes to tweak their machines and takes a sad pleasure in doing so… then this is a handy tool. All you need to do to take advantage is create a new folder on your desktop (or elsewhere on your machine), but when it comes to naming it, simply put this string of text:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
That’s it, the folder is now your God Mode folder and provides simple access to every control panel function that is available on your PC.
Further improvements
That’s it for this post, there will be some further improvements I will no doubt make to my laptop, although in terms of hardware upgrades, I’ve done pretty much everything I can so far. The only thing left to do is to upgrade the battery to the larger capacity 9 cell version, which as I know from using it on my work laptop can give around 6 to 7 hours battery life. This will probably be even longer on my personal laptop, as the SSD I’ve installed doesn’t have any moving parts and therefore has a lower power draw, so should impact on battery life less. It’s on the list of things to do, that’s for sure. There are a range of batteries available online, but the cheapest I’ve found is around £38 + delivery (at the time of writing). Maybe I’ll just order one now and get it done with!
In short, I bought my laptop off ebay for £240 and it came in perfect condition, with a docking unit too. This laptop originally retailed for in excess of £1,500 and with a few quick, relatively cheap upgrades, I’ve probably spent around £380 (excluding the NAS!) and have a compact laptop that will almost certainly outperform all but the latest, ultrabooks and high performance laptops that are out there.
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