Question for Dell Laptop owners/Computer techies....

[Lachesis00]

We bought a second laptop, A Dell Inspiron 2650 (I think thats what it was) used from a friend. It's 2ghz, 256 memory, 30 gig hard drive, fax/modem, a disk drive (a: drive --my laptop doesn't have one), network card, 16 meg video card, and a burner.

My question is... how hard would it be to upgrade it to a DVD/CDburner and to upgrade the memory? We really don't mess w/laptops a whole lot. Where would you buy the stuff to upgrade?

We paid $400 for this laptop... I think we got a good deal over all....

 

[Towncrier]

A quick google search shows that a DVD/CD-RW drive is $300. I haven't found out what the maximum memory is in a 2650, but I see that Dell has 256Mb memory modules for sale. The Dell website is so slow right now that I can't find the price.

You might consider an external DVD/CD-RW drive. It might save you some money and you could use it with multiple computers.

 

[JoGloMorKat]

If your existing laptop has a removeable drive, a dvd/cd burner would slip right in to the existing bay if they were the same size. You would probably still need the software but thats not a hard obstacle and many drives come with software.

The memory on many laptops is not easily accessible. It depends on where it is located. Many times you have to remove the keyboard to get to the memory. There are web sites with detail instructions if you want to mess with it yourself. It might be easier and less stressful if you are not used to this kind of work to have the memory installed where you buy it.

One thing to remember when touching the inside of your computer and especially when holding memory - KEEP YOURSELF GROUNDED. The last thing you want to do is give your new memory module a static shock and destroy it while trying to install it. I've seen that happen way too many times.

 

[Lachesis00]

Thanks. No removable drive that I can see (it has a slot but the wireless card goes in there...

My husband works with desktops a lot... just not laptops :/ I don't think it's under warrenty anymore sooooooo....

AWK $300 huh?? Dang.... I wonder what the external would cost.

 

[Towncrier]

The memory is $70 from Dell. And again, I don't know if you can put two memory modules in or not.

 

[katerkat]

We easily added memory to our Dell - the memory was underneath, at the top of the bottom. (Does that make sense? There was a panel on the bottom, we unscrewed it and the memory was right there.) We bought 256 mgs for $30 online somewhere.

Don't know about the DVD stuff!

 

[Lachesis00]

Wow thanks! I will have to look into it more. We picked up a laptop bag for it today (a backpack).

 

[Towncrier]

I checked out Kingston Memory products website to find out the memory configuration of the Inspiron 2650. You may want to check whether or not you already have two memory sticks in place as there are only 2 slots available. It is possible that your laptop has two 128Mb memories in which case an upgrade would involve throwing away at least one of those memory modules in order to make room for a 256Mb memory module.

Here's the link:

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/con...sp?SysID=+11953+&distributor=0&submit1=Search

 

[Lachesis00]

Wow, thank you! I will have Darren check it tonight (just so we know). Plus I might be able to buy memory down south if I know what I am looking for.

 

[katerkat]

Hey, funny thing. This time I'm on the laptop and looking at it - it's an Inspiron 2650. So, if it's anything like mine (and I don't know if it will be!) you will find the memory right in the bottom, and can stick another 256 mbs in. (But that's it, because if more could have fit in, DH would have bought more!) And I checked my statement, we paid $53.96 to "STR8BUY CUBEST" for the memory. It was online, so that includes shipping.

 

[Lachesis00]

Who is Str8buy cubest? Is that a store or someone online?? 512 would be perfect...

Is yours a 2ghz?

Originally posted by katerkat
Hey, funny thing. This time I'm on the laptop and looking at it - it's an Inspiron 2650. So, if it's anything like mine (and I don't know if it will be!) you will find the memory right in the bottom, and can stick another 256 mbs in. (But that's it, because if more could have fit in, DH would have bought more!) And I checked my statement, we paid $53.96 to "STR8BUY CUBEST" for the memory. It was online, so that includes shipping.

 

[katerkat]

It's an online site, I don't know how DH found it, but the service was quick.

I asked our roomie, the computer guru, about the DVD drive, and he said it's very easy to switch it out. He unscrewed the back of it, unscrewed the DVD drive from the inside (tiny screw in the memory panel area), and pulled it out. So that should be an easy change, too!

O, and ours is 1.2 ghz.

 

[DSNY FN]

Your 2650 should be fine for up to 512 meg of ram you will have 2 slots and Dell is notorious for filling both slots with single 128's unless you go highend with them. I used to do repairs on lots of PC's and notebooks that was what I went to school for after University. An external burner will run you around 250 and up that is Canadian mind you. I would suggest getting a firewire card for it rather than USB as the firewire is a constant speed where USB 2.0 fluctuates. Hope that helps. Also make sure you buy good memory Kingston not the value ram from them though or Micron something good it will be a little more money but you will have far fewer compatability problems that way.
Darren