By Tati Taylor 22 days ago, Hardware
Amazing upgradeable laptops as investment to increase the longevity of device
Investing in a reasonably priced, upgradable laptop is one of the wisest decisions you can make if you’re on a tight budget and want to ensure the device will remain useful for years to come. This post will help you with your choice, as it goes over 6 models that can be considered the best upgradeable laptop that allows you to change its hard drive and RAM with ease.
Any regular desktop PC allows you to replace various hardware components to prolong its lifespan. Meanwhile, laptops are a manifestation of a completely different design approach, as the manufacturers have to compromise modularity for the sake of achieving superior portability. With all hardware being cramped in such a compact device, it becomes nearly impossible to upgrade a single part. Thankfully, an upgradeable laptop allows you to do exactly that.
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 256GB | Display: 15.6-inch | Weight: 5.51 pound
This Dell product comes with a 9-gen i7-9750H CPU that is perfect for overclocking, which is great news for gamers and content creators. The display has an anti-glare surface, provides terrific brightness, and boasts an Ultra-HD resolution. Additionally, the wide-viewing panel ensures you get to enjoy extremely broad viewing angles. Since it’s an OLED screen, the pixels are self-illuminated, allowing the laptop to produce truly deep blacks and richer contrast. If you want to make a laptop hardware upgrade, you can replace the RAM, storage drive, and wireless card to elevate the performance of the XPS 15 to a new level.
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | Display: 15.6-inch | Weight: 5.29 pound
The Predator Helios is widely considered the best upgradeable laptop thanks to its 9-gen i7-9750H processor and 16GB of RAM that makes it perfectly capable of handling multitasking. The included 512GB SDD offers sufficient space for you to store software, images, videos, movies, and games.
The laptop’s Full-HD IPS screen produces a clean, richly colored image and offers a mere 3ms of response time, which is perfect for high-octane gaming. Moreover, the Predator is fully upgradeable, allowing you to change everything from the CPU to the SDD to satisfy your needs.
CPU: Intel Core i5-10300H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | Display: 17.3-inch | Weight: 6.07 pound
Pavilion Gaming represents a great compromise between cheap upgradeable laptops and a high-end machine. It comes with an i7-10750H processor with a clock speed of 2.6GHz, which can be increased to 5GHz in Turbo mode. Such processing power along with the GTX 1650 graphics card allow this laptop to handle multitasking and gaming with equal levels of success, while the provided 8GB of RAM can be upgraded up to 32GB if you purchase two 16GB strips. The other two features that deserve to be mentioned are Bios recovery protection and the dual fan cooling mechanism that helps keep the temperature of your hardware in check.
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H | GPU: GeForce RTX 2060 | RAM: 32GB | Storage: 1TB | Display: 15.6-inch | Weight: 4.9 pound
Equipped with a 9-gen Intel Core i7-9750H CPU and a GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, the P65 Creator represents one of the most powerful modular gaming laptops out there. This model also provides 8GB of RAM (two 4GB sticks), which can be upgraded to a max of 32GB, and a 1TB SSD that offers both instant data access and plenty of storage space for your images, videos, documents, and games. The P65 has a 15.6” screen with a max resolution of 3840x2160, which lands it comfortably in the 4K territory and allows it to produce a stunning image with broad viewing angles. Another useful feature of this laptop is the fingerprint reader that can be integrated with Windows Hello.
CPU: Intel Core i7-1065G7 | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | Display: 13.3-inch | Weight: 2.84 pound
The Blade Stealth is probably the best upgradeable laptop for users looking for a compact, easily transportable device. This model is supplied with a GTX 1650 Ti GPU that is a terrific gaming option for a reasonable price.
The laptop also has 16GB of RAM and a 4-core 10-gen i7-1065G7 processor, representing a powerful workhorse that can be used for both work and gaming. The keyboard is enhanced with Chroma RGB backlighting and the integrated speakers produce clear and loud sound thanks to the implemented Dolby Atmos technology.
CPU: Intel Core i7-10750H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 512GB | Display: 17.3-inch | Weight: 6.28 pound
The ROG Strix comes with an i7-10750H CPU and offers terrific performance that is further bolstered by the 8GB of VRAM provided by the state-f-the-art GeForce RTX 2070 GPU, which is powerful enough to support even the most demanding video games. This upgradeable gaming laptop also has a 17.3-inch, 144Hz Full-HD screen with a terrific response time of 3ms, which is exactly what you need to enjoy smooth visual feedback. The included 512GB SSD is a welcomed addition that offers a solid amount of space for most needs but may need to be expanded if you like to have as many games installed as possible at the same time.
| IMAGE | NAME | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Dell XPS 15
Our Choice
|
CHECK PRICE → | |
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Acer Predator Helios
Fast
|
CHECK PRICE → | |
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HP Pavilion Gaming
Inexpensive
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CHECK PRICE → |
When choosing the best upgradeable laptop, you should begin with a modest hardware threshold. The idea is to get something moderate now and work your way up to high-end components over time.
Whilst looking at various options, remember that extra-slim and rugged laptops usually aren’t modular. Due to being so small, most such models come with parts that can’t be replaced or even detached. Touchscreen laptops also usually can’t be upgraded, with some of them allowing you to replace the RAM or the drives but never both at once. Other aspects you need to think about before you buy an upgradeable machine are listed below.
Most easily upgradeable laptops come with a special RAM bay for you to access. This is the simplest hardware component to replace, which is why manufacturers usually allow you to do so without violating the terms of your warranty.
However, before you rush off to do anything else, find out what type of RAM is supported by your device and if it is compatible with bigger-capacity strips since BIOS often acts as a bottleneck in this regard.
Once you have an appropriate RAM stick, unlock the tabs that secure your current RAM, take it out and put a bigger-capacity strip in its place.
Overclocking allows you to achieve extra processing power from your laptop. Whenever a manufacturer designs a new CPU or GPU, they set artificial restrictions on their processing power. If an expandable laptop comes with an unlocked CPU or GPU, then you can do some tweaking to increase their maximum clock speed.
There are several laptop CPUs that support overclocking, with the most popular ones being the i7-6820HK and i7-7820HK.
If you find the provided storage capacity of your laptop to be lacking, you can get an external HDD or SDD to expand it. The biggest advantage of using an external drive is that it doesn’t need to be placed inside the laptop, so it doesn’t even have to be an upgradeable model, as the drive is connected via USB while providing identical functionality. The only downside of using an external drive is the extra bit of space it takes up and the occupied USB input.
The majority of modern models have integrated GPUs that are attached to either the motherboard or the processor. Bigger laptops employ MXM, which sometimes allows you to replace specific components. However, if you’re interested in upgrading the built-in GPU, the only thing you can realistically do is to buy a new laptop.
An external graphics card, commonly referred to as eGPU, is an innovative piece of hardware that is meant to allow a laptop to reach the same level of graphical fidelity as a high-end gaming PC by attaching an external dock. Keep in mind that not all upgradeable laptops can use an eGPU and most of the ones that do, demand you get the same laptop and dock brand.
The average upgradeable laptop includes two or even three RAM slots. The most efficient method of boosting the memory of your device is to remove the inferior strip you have and insert a couple of 8GB sticks, which allows you to enjoy 16GB of RAM.
There are many laptops with upgradeable CPU components on the market. While many processors are integrated into the motherboard, loads of models come with a socket instead. If the socket in your laptop is compatible with an i7 CPU, then you can replace the current processor without buying a new motherboard.
