Advice updating laptop with SSD

Jason56d

My old (86) stepdad has an ancient HP laptop (he got 2nd hand) that takes about 10 mins to boot into Windows 7 now. Everything on it is so slow it’s painful to use.

He asked me to look into getting him a new one. But for his usage, bit of browsing, checking emails and playing very basic games (all card games, solitaire, hearts and poker), I can’t see the point in spending a lot on one? He has nothing else stored on there. So I said about a Chromebook for around £200 or less. He was OK with that.

But today I was thinking that maybe I should just upgrade the HDD to an SSD? A 120GB Crucial one on Amazon is less than £18.

So if I go down the SSD route, which way would be best? Make a recovery file to USB (if hasn’t been done before), recovery file to DVD? Or do a clean install of Windows 7? But he doesn’t have the disc? Could I use my 7 installation DVD and enter his product key?

Or does anyone else have any suggestions? Thanks

CARLOS

Have you checked it will accept an SSD as if it as "ancient" as you suggest it might use an IDE drive ?

The problem will be that if you do a clone etc of the original drive it will probably be full of crap that will also be slowing it down and doing a fresh install may require an original HP install disc also you will need to source all the drivers if HP don't still offer them.

Jason56d

Ah ok, thanks. To be honest, he can’t find the model number when I asked him to look earlier so I could check! Kept giving me the Windows 7 code off the label on the underside. I’m not over with him till Thursday.

I knew laptops were a pain and usually steer well clear!

May just go down the Chromebook route then?

DavidG1

If it is a windows 7 laptop then it will have a SATA drive, so swapping out to an SSD should dramatically improve performance. You can either make a generic windows 7 installer or if you have a generic (not an OEM Dell HP ASUS etc) windows 7 installation you can use that and the product key underneath the laptop. Additionally there may be software already on the laptop for you to make a recovery DVD.
As Carlos said if you do a generic install you may have to get some drivers off the HP website