How to Trick Out Your Laptop: A Parts Guide

First you have to know the basics. Let us start with the terms: Motherboard, CPU, Hard drive, RAM, Disc Drive, Mouse, Network Card, Battery, and LCD Screen. These terms are defined below.

• Motherboard - This is where all the components are mounted.
• CPU - Central processing unit: the key component of a computer system.
• Hard Drive - Computer hardware that holds and spins a magnetic or optical disk and reads and writes information on it.
• RAM - Computer memory available to the user for creating, loading, or running programs and for the temporary storage and manipulation of data.
• Disc Drive - usually CD-RW/DVD-RW, this reads/writes CDs and DVDs.
• Mouse - Controls your pointer on the screen.
• Network Card - Allows you to connect to the internet through WiFi.
• Battery- Makes your laptop portable.
• LCD Screen - The basic screen for DELL laptops. This is where you see what you're doing.

We'll start with your motherboard. I'm just going to give you the best optimized motherboard. Asus P/I-P55T2P4 is recognized as the best motherboard at the moment. This item is priced at $217.99.

Next is your CPU. The AMD Mobile Sempron is what I use and is the best I have used. This item is priced at $109.99.
I am using a 60 GiB Toshiba HDD right now. I will be upgrading to a 120 GiB HDD though. The best I would have to say is Toshiba 120 GiB. This item is priced at $ 99.99.

It really doesn't matter what brand of RAM. All that matters is how much you have. My suggestion would be 2 GiB. I will also be upgrading to 2 GiB from 512 MiB.

Same goes for the Disc Drive. What matters is what you want your disc drive to do. The best choice would probably be to get a CD-RW/DVD-RW disc drive.

Logitech Wireless Optical Mouse would be the best choice for portability as well as style.

Alright now for the Network Card, I think you should just use the network card your laptop came with so you don't mess anything up by accident. You could however buy a plug and play network card.

Battery all depends on how long you want it to last with out being plugged in. The best Battery has to be Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV1658US Long-Life Li-Ion Battery. This item is priced at $ 139.00.

The LCD screen is just which ever comes with your laptop when you bought it.

How to switch out your new parts

Your Motherboard and CPU really should now be tampered with so please leave them factory defaults.

Okay your HDD is located on the right side if your laptop. There are two small Philips head screws.

1. Remove these and just pull your HDD out.

2. Replace with new HDD by pushing it into until you can see the screw holes.

3. Replace screws and you're done.

Okay your RAM is kind of tricky. It is located in different places on different machines. On my machine, Dell Inspiron 1501, the RAM is located on the exact opposite side of the keyboard. The tricky part of changing your RAM is that you first need to find out your module. Ex. 256 MiB, 512 MiB, 1GiB (really 1,024 MiB). To do this you can see what your machines max RAM is and see how many card slots are in your machine. Ex. I have a max of 2 GiB RAM and have two slots. I can place 1 GiB modules in my machine.

1. Flip your Laptop over.

2. If your RAM is where mine is then it will be right in the middle.

3. There are two medium Philips screws on the right side. Takes these out.

4. Take out your RAM and replace with new RAM.

5. Replace screws and you're done.

Okay your Disc Drive is usually located on the left side of your machine. Changing this isn't as tricky as changing your RAM. There are two Philips screws securing your disc drive in place.

1. Remove these screws and pull out your disc drive.

2. Slide in your new drive.

3. Replace screws, install any drivers, and your done.

Okay your mouse is the little sensor pad but you may want to use a USB mouse. I use a Logitech Wireless Optical Mouse. This mouse works really well. No real drivers to install. Just plug and play.

Okay your network card should just be left alone unless you want to install a plug and play network card. This is usually located on the right side of your machine right under your HDD. Just push the button twice and pull out the placeholder and slide in your new card.

Okay your battery is at the bottom of the back of your machine. Just replace this with your new battery and enjoy your new portability.

Okay we all know where our screens are so just enjoy this How-to Guide. Cheers.