| The most serious difficulty related to portable | | | | For example: if your notebook had come with a |
| computers upgrade depends on their nature. In | | | | 40Gb hard drive, you can upgrade it by installing |
| chase of portability, small size and minimum | | | | 80Gb drive instead. You should contact your |
| weight, laptop developers have to step aside | | | | vendor to make sure that your BIOS supports |
| from standard slot-card technology. Most of | | | | 80Gb drives and that there are drives compatible |
| laptop devices are usually integrated into | | | | with your model in sale. |
| motherboard and the internal configuration may | | | | But if lager size of HDD is not supported, there |
| differ greatly depending on a model. That's why | | | | are external hard drives still available. You might |
| laptop parts are rather expensive and laptops are | | | | be interested in such solutions as Firewire or USB |
| less upgradable than desktop PCs. | | | | drives. That kind of upgrade may slightly lower |
| But, fortunately, there are still some ways to | | | | the portability, but is cheaper and available for |
| upgrade a notebook or to enlarge its abilities. The | | | | using with all laptops supplied with USB/Firewire |
| most common features are listed below: | | | | ports. |
| - Additional RAM. | | | | CD/DVD Drives |
| - Smart batteries. | | | | Installation of CD/DVD drives is available only if |
| - Hard disk drive. | | | | the drive matches the body of notebook (fits the |
| - CD/DVD drives. | | | | form of original CD-ROM), provides the right |
| - PC cards (16-bit PCMCIA) and CardBus cards | | | | connector and is supported by laptop BIOS. Note |
| (32-bit PCMCIA). | | | | that laptop CD/DVD drives are much more |
| - External devices. | | | | expensive than desktop ones. As in case with |
| RAM | | | | HDD, alternative solution is to use external drives. |
| Additional RAM (Random Access Memory) gives | | | | PC Cards (16-bit PCMCIA) and CardBus Cards |
| more functionality, especially when you keep | | | | (32-bit PCMCIA) |
| multiple windows opened. It also reduces the | | | | Those cards are expansion adapter cards used to |
| usage of hard disk drive. Windows XP needs at | | | | add some useful features (dial-up modem, |
| least 256 Mb of RAM to work properly and some | | | | wireless networking, additional ports and else). PC |
| graphical chips use system RAM too, so you | | | | cards are older and have much slower data |
| should aim 512 Mb or more. There are two | | | | transfer than CardBus cards. But beware of |
| necessary things to perform such kind of | | | | buying CardBus cards until you are sure that your |
| upgrade: a spare slot and a correct SODIMM | | | | laptop has a 32-bit bus. |
| (Small Outline Direct In-Line Memory Module) | | | | External Devices |
| module. The slot is usually protected by an access | | | | Using external devices requires external ports. All |
| panel on the bottom of your notebook. | | | | laptops have at least one USB port (universal port |
| Advice. Before you start an upgrade make sure: | | | | for a wide range of peripheral devices), and other |
| - that your laptop doesn't already have the | | | | ports are available depending on a model: PS/2, |
| maximum amount of memory installed, | | | | Firewire (IEEE 1394a) or Firewire 800 (IEEE |
| - that you're buying the right SODIMM module. | | | | 1394b), D-sub VGA (connection to analog |
| You should visit your vendor's site or get this | | | | monitor), DVI-D (connection to digital monitor), |
| information by searching it in Google with the | | | | Bluetooth (for Bluetooth wireless connections) and |
| model of your laptop as a search string. | | | | other. |
| Smart Batteries | | | | Those ports allow to connect external drives, |
| Smart batteries contain internal microprocessors, | | | | monitor, TV-tuner, dial-up modem, wireless |
| allow to get an advanced control of charge and | | | | networking, mouse and keyboard, joystick and so |
| provide extra safety. ÓSmartÔ | | | | on. |
| battery is able to inform the notebook about its | | | | Before buying an external device please make |
| charge level and to prevent overcharging, which | | | | sure that your laptop has a required port. If it has |
| greatly reduces the battery life terms. | | | | not, you may need to install a PC card which |
| Hard Disk Drive | | | | provides that port if it's possible. Firewire devices |
| Some models of laptops support the hard disk | | | | may be connected to USB port via a special cable |
| drive (HDD) of a larger size. | | | | - Firewire to USB 2.0 DV Transfer CableÔ. |