There is only one simple answer to increasing your laptop speed—go for a memory upgrade!

It is a waste of time to look for any other solution, because it will not work. Check out a video here that shows how laptops with 1 GB and 2 GB of RAM perform in comparison. However, if you want a really fast laptop, then go for a higher memory than even that.

The main reason why computers with higher memories are faster is because they use less data from the hard disk and retains more of it in their RAM. Also, if there isn’t enough memory (RAM), then the computer creates a special file and keeps some of the necessary data in a so-called swap file on the disk. This puts additional pressure on the computer hard disk, and that makes it slow down even more.

Actually speaking, it is difficult to upgrade a processor in a laptop, because it is fitted deep inside the motherboard. With a desktop computer, this process is quite simple, because the motherboard is so easily visible. You only have to open the case of the CPU and there it is, staring at you! Within just a few minutes, you will be able to add a new RAM to your desktop computer and you are done. With laptops, the process is slightly lengthier.

Another factor that has some influence on the computer speed is the hard disk itself, which we technical people love to call as HDD.

There are a few possible hard disk speeds for laptops—4500 RPM, 5700 RPM and 10,000 RPM. The numbers refer to the spinning speed of the hard drive plate. If the RPM number is more, it means that the hard disk plate is spinning faster, which means more data can be read and written.

A third factor that you have to think about is the speed of the RAM. However, this takes a secondary position in comparison to the actual size of the RAM. Anyway, there are a few speeds that operate RAM on a computer; select the highest one.

There is another factor to look at—the actual size of the buffer in the hard drive. The more the buffer, the better will be the speed you can get.

Another way to speed up your laptop may be to install a different operating system. For example, Windows XP is far more friendlier for older laptops than Windows Vista. Or, you may want to look for Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu. If your laptop is used only for the Internet, then Linux would be the perfect choice because of the high measure of security that it provides.

You might also want to choose from Puppy Linux, Slitax, or just type in “small Linux distributions” in your favorite search engine and see what comes up.