If you have had your laptop for some time, you may desire to upgrade certain features to boost your laptop performance and increase its longevity.
One of the features you may want to upgrade is the RAM. While it is possible to upgrade your laptop RAM to a higher capacity RAM like 16GB or 32GB, there are certain considerations your should make.
The first thing you should consider is if your laptop can support a laptop upgrade. Is there an extra RAM slot or will you replace the current RAM? You should also consider what type of RAM is compatible with your laptop to support the upgrade.
RAM is not the only laptop feature you can upgrade. You can also decide to upgrade your hard disk from HDD to SSD, graphics card, or change the keyboard to an RGB keyboard.
Can You Upgrade RAM?
It is possible to upgrade your laptop RAM to a higher capacity RAM. Most laptops comes with an extra RAM slot where you can slide and lock in the new RAM. If your laptop has a single slot, you can choose to replace the current RAM with the new RAM.
Upgrading your laptop RAM is a simple process, and you can DIY if you have a few essential tools like a screw. You can also let a laptop technician do the upgrade for you at a small cost.
How To Tell Your Laptop Needs RAM Upgrade
While you can voluntarily upgrade your RAM for better performance, a laptop in need of a RAM upgrade can show certain symptoms.
If your laptop is taking longer to perform tasks that it would normally process in seconds, it is a sign that it needs a RAM upgrade. Sometimes the screen will freeze, and other times the laptop will crash.
If you want to handle multiple tasks using your laptop, and the current RAM is struggling to handle all these tasks, it may necessitate a RAM upgrade. For instance, if your laptop has 8GB RAM and you want to edit videos using Premiere Pro or render 3D model, you may need to to upgrade to 16GB RAM or 32GB RAM.
Advantages Of RAM Upgrade
Less Laptop Start-Up Time
The start up time for your laptop depends on the RAM. If the RAM is insufficient, your laptop might start taking longer to boot. A RAM upgrade can boost the boot time; your laptop will load in seconds instead of minutes.
Multitasking
With a RAM upgrade, you can run multiple processes concurrently without the laptop heating up. Your can open multiple tabs in your browser, render files, edit photos, and even use Microsoft Office apps like Excel and Word without lagging.
Fast Internet Browsing
An upgrade in RAM delivers faster speed for internet browsing. Unless your internet is slow, an upgrade in RAM can speed up download speeds and eliminates lagging when browsing.
Better Gaming Experience
Gaming laptops need at least 16GB of RAM. Gaming is a demanding laptop task and a low capacity RAM cannot handle it. If you have been using 4GB RAM for gaming, upgrading to 16GB will deliver significant improvements in gaming.
Data Transfer Speed
RAM upgrade helps the laptop with data transfer. When you have a higher capacity RAM, you can transfer files between laptops and cloud storage fast.
How Much RAM Is Enough For Gaming?
The most reliable RAM for gaming is anything above 8GB. If you need high speeds for gaming, 16GB is the best RAM. It delivers fast speeds for all games. With 16GB, you can game and perform other tasks with your laptop.
Is 32GB RAM Too Much?
32GB RAM is expensive but it is futuristic. It is the RAM you get to secure your laptop for future inventions. If your laptop performs basic tasks, then 32GB might be an overkill. 32GB RAM may be convenient if you use your laptop for gaming, editing, rendering.
32GB is not too much if you want to ensure that your laptop is ready for more apps, games, and software in the future. It is, however, not worth paying the cost if you only need to perform standard tasks with your laptop.
How Often Can You Upgrade RAM?
The number of times you upgrade RAM is as often as you desire and when there is a need for an upgrade. If you notice that your laptop needs a RAM upgrade to handle more tasks or to perform more reliably, you can do an upgrade at any time as long as it can handle the upgrade.
Is It Risky To Upgrade RAM?
Upgrading your RAM is a simple process, and it does not pose a risk to you or your laptop. You only need a few simple tools to do the upgrade. If you are not sure how to go about, find a technician near your town to help you with the upgrade.
When upgrading your RAM, you can also decide to upgrade other laptop features like the hard disk or keyboard. You can install a bigger HDD or SSD hard disk to increase the storage space for your files.
Conclusion
It is possible to upgrade your laptop RAM, and it can help you boost your laptop performance. Sometimes, the nature of the laptop tasks you perform will often demand a RAM upgrade. Upgrading your laptop RAM can help you multitask and run resource-hungry apps seamlessly.
RAM upgrade for gaming laptops requires you to keep up with the best RAM since games keep changing and become more demanding with time. RAM upgrade can be done several times without the fear of laptop hardware damage. While you upgrade RAM, it is good to upgrade other laptop features to make it balance the features.