Upgrade laptop or replace?

J_B

I have an Asus X555L
Intel Core i7-4510U Processor @ 2.00 Ghz, 8 GB RAM
1 TB HDD


The battery is about shot


Do I replace the battery and the HDD with an SDD, or just get a new machine?


A quick google suggests it needs a little precise work to do the replacement work, which I'm not comfortable with really, but know a decent local shop that can do so.


What to do??

Dandytf

OP

Only my user experience not i.t. Qualified.
If you have a local store who can add ssd and battery -what's the cost as I would grab that chance rather than brand new -i7 -nice fast processor.
Ssd' could be lightning load times.
Also check e-bay if you haven't found a battery.

EveryWhere

Had a look at a video. You'll be able to do this by yourself;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1lFe0swBQg

Only re-attaching the keyboard ribbon cable may be a bit fiddly. You'll see the detaching at around 3:30

Of course you won't be touching the optical drive caddy, as you are simply swapping the HDD and not fitting an extra drive in the optical drive space.
The video is only to indicate how to open the device.

Battery: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-ASUS-X555L-X555LA-X555LD-X555LN-X555MA-Laptop-C21N1347-7-5V-Battery-/121716483945 £46

Generic batter around £25

Samsung EVO 860 250GB around £55.

So around £100 for top quality components.

I suggest top quality, simply because I'm sure you cannot be bothered opening the thing up again to change components.
But actually, by the looks of it, it isn't beyond your capability to fit the components yourself
The specification has a lot of life in it. The SSD will bring out the best of the device.

J_B

Dandytf wrote: »

If you have a local store who can add ssd and battery -what's the cost.

I will ask, because ...

EveryWhere wrote: »

Had a look at a video. You'll be able to do this by yourself;
Only re-attaching the keyboard ribbon cable may be a bit fiddly.

me and 'fiddly' aren't really compatible - I used to be a livestock farmer you know, not a mechanic or brain surgeon.

EveryWhere wrote: »

Battery: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-ASUS-X555L-X555LA-X555LD-X555LN-X555MA-Laptop-C21N1347-7-5V-Battery-/121716483945 £46

Generic batter around £25

Samsung EVO 860 250GB around £55.

So around £100 for top quality components.

Sounds good - genuine or generic battery?
Think I would prefer a 500 SSD - where from?
Is 8 GB RAM enough?

EveryWhere wrote: »

I suggest top quality, simply because I'm sure you cannot be bothered opening the thing up again to change components.

Are you suggesting I'm lazy? ;)

EveryWhere

J_B wrote: »

I will ask, because ...

me and 'fiddly' aren't really compatible - I used to be a livestock farmer you know, not a mechanic or brain surgeon.




Sounds good - genuine or generic battery?
Think I would prefer a 500 SSD - where from?
Is 8 GB RAM enough?





Are you suggesting I'm lazy? ;)

Shame, as you just missed the Samsung EVO 500 GB for £67 on Amazon France. Though you may still be able to buy it there for £75.
That would be my choice

I don't think it will be that fiddly. I think it's relatively straightforward.
I mean fiddly in the way of not just ripping things out. I think you will have the whole thing done in fifteen to twenty minutes. The put the old drive in a caddy and clean install the operating system to the SSD.
The video makes it look more complicated, as they are fitting an SSD in the place of the optical drive.

It's obviously a genuine battery for £46, as they state that they took the batteries out of new ASUS devices.

8 GB in conjunction with a solid state drive is more than enough, unless you have some specialist usage in mind.

motorguy

J_B wrote: »

I will ask, because ...

me and 'fiddly' aren't really compatible - I used to be a livestock farmer you know, not a mechanic or brain surgeon.




Sounds good - genuine or generic battery?
Think I would prefer a 500 SSD - where from?
Is 8 GB RAM enough?





Are you suggesting I'm lazy? ;)

I'd echo the above post, other than to say if you cant get a Samsung EVO drive at the deal price suggested, i'd go for something like a SANDISK 480GB drive. Can be got for £66 on Amazon UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-PLUS-Sata-Inch-Internal/dp/B01F9G46Q8/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1538297336&sr=1-4&keywords=500gb+ssd

Battery - i'd run with a generic battery from a well rated supplier. £25 sounds plenty.

RAM - 8GB is loads.

Get a fresh install of Win10 on it too.

If you're not confident, buy the components and get a local IT person to fit them. Theres probably an hours work - two tops - in doing it and you should get someone for £20 an hour no problem.

EveryWhere

motorguy wrote: »

I'd echo the above post, other than to say if you cant get a Samsung EVO drive at the deal price suggested, i'd go for something like a SANDISK 480GB drive. Can be got for £66 on Amazon UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-PLUS-Sata-Inch-Internal/dp/B01F9G46Q8/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1538297336&sr=1-4&keywords=500gb+ssd

Battery - i'd run with a generic battery from a well rated supplier. £25 sounds plenty.

RAM - 8GB is loads.

Get a fresh install of Win10 on it too.

If you're not confident, buy the components and get a local IT person to fit them. Theres probably an hours work - two tops - in doing it and you should get someone for £20 an hour no problem.

I wouldn't substitute a Sandisk Plus for the Samsung EVO 860. Happily, around 75 pounds is the current price on Amazon France, so they hopefully won't need to make that choice.

If any repairer takes more than 30 minutes for the fitting, they are stretching it out.
Though an hour is still reasonable. Can't see them being reasonable

motorguy

EveryWhere wrote: »

I wouldn't substitute a Sandisk Plus for the Samsung EVO 860. Happily, around 75 pounds is the current price on Amazon France, so they hopefully won't need to make that choice.

If any repairer takes more than 30 minutes for the fitting, they are stretching it out.
Though an hour is still reasonable. Can't see them being reasonable

I think you really need to re-read my post

Firstly i said "if you cant get a Samsung EVO drive at the deal price suggested". Its worth the £9 extra, but the O/P may not want to use Amazon France or may not have an Amazon account or that offer may not be on , so i was merely giving him options as the £88 Amazon UK price could make it unpalatable. He doesnt "need" a Samsung EVO 860, and there are cheaper options available, especially compared to the Amazon UK price for the EVO.

Secondly, my 1-2 hours quote was in the context of what i was proposing which was installing the SSD, the battery and a fresh install of Windows. I'd imagine most places will charge 1-2 hours for that.

HTH.

EveryWhere

motorguy wrote: »

I think you really need to re-read my post

Firstly i said "if you cant get a Samsung EVO drive at the deal price suggested". Its worth the £9 extra, but the O/P may not want to use Amazon France or may not have an Amazon account or that offer may not be on , so i was merely giving him options as the £88 Amazon UK price could make it unpalatable. He doesnt "need" a Samsung EVO 860, and there are cheaper options available, especially compared to the Amazon UK price for the EVO.

Secondly, my 1-2 hours quote was in the context of what i was proposing which was installing the SSD, the battery and a fresh install of Windows. I'd imagine most places will charge 1-2 hours for that.

HTH.

Perhaps you misunderstand. The offer price was 67 pounds. The normal price is 75.
Regardless of that fact, I would not choose Sandisk Plus in any case.

Fresh install the OP can do himself. I wouldn't let anyone run an install for me.
How would they know which settings to choose? It's the personalising that takes the time. That's the part that you need to do for yourself.
The part of the install before personalising takes perhaps ten minutes.

So no, the fitting of the battery and SSD would take a competent technician no more than 30 minutes. Windows 10 install to SSD less than thirty minutes.
But I would also run an install myself. It's easy and then you have control over what is enabled from the beginning.
If you allow someone else to do the install, you'll have to go in anyway in order to change it to the way that you want it.

motorguy

EveryWhere wrote: »

Perhaps you misunderstand. The offer price was 67 pounds. The normal price is 75.
Regardless of that fact, I would not choose Sandisk Plus in any case.

The normal price is £75 in Amazon France. Not everyone will want to or feel comfortable doing that.

3 out of the 4 of my machines thats have SSD are running Sandisk and have been a delight to use. The fourth is running a Samsung M.2 from memory, and no issues at all either. Theres a further 594 reviews averaging 4.6 / 5 that would suggest its a recommended option.

I was merely - and reiterating again - letting the O/P know there were other cheaper, viable options available if he so chose.

EveryWhere wrote: »

Fresh install the OP can do himself. I wouldn't let anyone run an install for me.

He could yes, and again merely pitching to the O/P that there could be a simple one stop shop option locally to him that would fit the aforementioned parts and hand him back a fully working machine if he so chose.

And you're proficient with laptops and installs, as i am, however the O/P has already told us he isnt.

I recall the last thread where people tried to advise someone who was otherwise reluctant to do so on a Windows install and it didnt end terribly well.

Again. Merely pointing out options. There is no right or wrong answer. Its up to the O/P

EveryWhere wrote: »

How would they know which settings to choose? It's the personalising that takes the time. That's the part that you need to do for yourself.
The part of the install before personalising takes perhaps ten minutes.

So no, the fitting of the battery and SSD would take a competent technician no more than 30 minutes. Windows 10 install to SSD less than thirty minutes.
But I would also run an install myself. It's easy and then you have control over what is enabled from the beginning.
If you allow someone else to do the install, you'll have to go in anyway in order to change it to the way that you want it.

So we're agreed - as i said an hour to two hours tops in terms of labour. 1 hour if the person is being sensible about it, but 2 hours tops.

The O/P isnt at all competent or confident with computers, merely pitching that (a) he doesnt need to pay for a more expensive Samsung drive if he doesnt want to and (b) the whole lot could be done by someone else with no more than 1-2 hours labour if he feels so inclined.

That doesnt make you wrong and thats not what i was trying to suggest (in fact the first line of my post said the same), but likewise it doesnt make my suggestion wrong either.

Your pitch is :-

• Buy only a Samsung SSD
• Get it from a foreign country
• Pull the laptop apart to fit it and the battery yourself, even though you told us you're not comfortable with it
• Install Windows 10 yourself even though you may not know how to

My pitch is :-

• Get a recommended SSD off Amazon UK
• It doesnt have to be a Samsung if the price isnt right. There are other good brands about for less.
• Get the battery off a reputable ebay seller
• If you dont feel comfortable doing it all yourself budget 1-2 hours labour and get someone else to do it for you if you so desire.
• You've already told us you've a decent computer shop who can do this for you

Just giving the O/P options - sorry you seem to find that a problem.

EveryWhere

Motorguy

A horribly long winded post above, so I won't quote it.

It makes no odds that it is Amazon France. It's Amazon.
He can open an Amazon UK account and use it to order from Amazon France. Don't make a drama out of nothing. The price is 75 pounds or thereabouts.

I would not buy the Sandisk Plus as any kind of substitute for the Samsung EVO 860.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/SanDisk-SSD-Plus-480GB-vs-Samsung-860-Evo-500GB/m131770vsm428560
Just, no.

The suggestion of paying them to install Windows 10 is a poor one.
Trying to cover your suggestion as a one stop solution' just won't do.

It's easy to install for yourself.

I don't know of any thread here wherein an install went badly. Perhaps you can link to it. I'd like to see it.

No...we are not agreed. I stated an hour, tops. You stated two. That is not in agreement.

You are also assuming that the OP is not competent. I know different. The OP and I have history, so I know that he has completed a much more complicated task in the past.
So I know that this disassembly is within his capability.

But I agree, if he can find a competent technician to fit the parts for 20 pounds, it would be reasonable.
But somehow I don't see that happening. I'm from London. They wouldn't even look at it for less than 30 pounds + VAT and that was perhaps twenty years ago.

It's a relatively simply job. It's not that the OP is not competent, as he certainly is. It is that he is afraid.

The OP knows how to install an OS, because we have worked together before.
Ordering from Amazon France is the same as ordering from Amazon UK. It might even be coming from the same warehouse.

Sandisk Plus is recommended by you. Samsung EVO Plus is recommended by me.
The price is right. 75 pounds. The OP has no issue with the price.
I've already linked to a suitable battery.

No disagreement with getting a shop to do the fitting at a suitable price (for a no more than one hour job), but install OS by yourself, so that you are sure of it's provenance and can personalise it.