How an SSD Can Give Your Old Laptop New Life

SSDs are fast, efficient, and on the cutting-edge of technology. They're also the perfect choice to use as an upgrade for an older laptop in order to give your aging tech a boost. There aren't typically a lot of upgrades you can perform on a laptop, since so many of the components are integrated or unavailable as individual purchases. Fortunately, installing an SSD is something that is both possible to do yourself and effective at revitalizing aging hardware.

One reason an SSD upgrade for your laptop is such a great choice is that the improvement in loading times it is likely to offer will make your computer feel faster, even though you aren't upgrading any of the core components, like the processor or video card, that actually make your computer more powerful. The efficient read/write speeds of a modern solid-state drive like the Samsung 850 PRO are likely to be far better than what you are used to from your laptop's existing hard drive, especially if your machine is more than a year old.

Shock resistant

Another reason a laptop SSD upgrade makes sense is that SSDs are naturally more resistant to physical shock than traditional hard drives, thanks to their lack of moving mechanical parts. That means that an SSD will be much better at avoiding damage while reading or writing, even if you happen to toss your computer into your backpack while it's still performing a task. If you want to take your computer on the go but also have concerns about data integrity and reliability, popping an SSD into your laptop is a great way to go.

Boost battery life

Every laptop user knows that battery life is a constant concern, and that's another reason why installing an SSD in your machine is a good decision. SSDs use significantly less power than traditional hard drives, and swapping out your old drive for the Samsung 850 PRO, which features the lowest power consumption of any SSD when in full use, can potentially save you from being shackled to an outlet in the future. It's supposed to be a mobile computer, after all -- why would you want to be stuck in one place?

There are even more technical benefits of installing an SSD in your laptop – including reduced heat, noise, and failure rates – but if you want to give it a try yourself, there are a few things you need to do in advance. First, you'll need to determine the proper size for your SSD. While some newer laptops are equipped for the smaller 1.8 inch drives and some Ultrabooks require special extra-thin drives, in all likelihood you'll want a standard 2.5 inch SSD like the 850 PRO.

Once you've made sure that you have the proper drive, you'll want to consult guides on how to copy your system data and perform the actual SSD installation. This video guide from Newegg TV is a great place to start for that.

With your new SSD in place and your old machine feeling young again, you'll be ready to head out to work, school, or play, confident that your machine will be more reliable, efficient, and responsive than ever before.