Hi guys,
So I recently purchased a new laptop, thinking I'll upgrade it over time as I usually do with my equipment. Apparently this isn't the best idea when it comes to (some?) laptops if you don't do your research. The laptop was on offer for $600 instead of the usual $700-$750 so I couldn't pass it up.
The problem with this particular laptop is: it's incredibly slow, thanks to both the standard hard drive and the meager 4 GB RAM... which is a shame, because it sports a Core i5-6200U which should be snappy enough.
If it ends up I can only upgrade the drive (it seems accessible, although wedged in where no normal screwdriver has gone before) then so be it, it will still make for a great speed boost.
The problem here lies in the fact I already purchased the RAM and don't want to return it until I know 100% sure I can't upgrade the laptop myself, or at all - in case the memory is soldered on.
For those who know what the laptop's innards look like, when the shell is opened up you will see 2 cables in the middle like suicidal booby traps if you opened up the enclosure too much by force. The black flat cable seems vital and stuck in place, whereas the white/grey cable seems detachable. My thought is that there is a chance of memory banks being present on the underside of the motherboard... or they're soldered on, in which case my adventure ends.
Obviously I could've purchased a laptop with more memory and/or an SSD already mounted in place. The idea was to hold out 6-12 months until the larger sized SSDs come down in price, and opt to upgrade the memory first. Also my experiences with laptops is they have a bottom latch or easily removable bottom shell that exposes the drive, RAM and Wi-Fi module. Lesson learned here.
The questions:
- Does this particular laptop have memory slots for DDR3L 1.35V modules or is the existing memory soldered into place? Am I overlooking something? If upgradeable, how do I remove the ribbons, particularly the black ribbon, without damaging it?
- Does the back part of the laptop bottom shell come off? If it doesn't, unscrewing the motherboard will be a hassle with the tools I currently have.
- Has anyone tried to replace the drive in this laptop and how did you go about it with removal of screws? I noticed at least 1 screw on the side that can't be twisted unless you use some kind of 90° twist transfer screw tool (don't know the name of it)
- Unrelated to the topic: what would be the best cloning tool to actually make the clone of the original drive work? I've heard some horror stories about the UEFI/BIOS not seeing the clone because of drive identifiers and whatnot.
Thanks!