In this economy?
this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
3 points (63.6% liked)
Hardware
5838 readers
5 users here now
This is a community dedicated to the hardware aspect of technology, from PC parts, to gadgets, to servers, to industrial control equipment, to semiconductors.
Rules:
- Posts must be relevant to electronic hardware
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Its entirely dependant on your location, prices relative to said location, and your comfort replacing said components.
There isn't an answer thats true enough for a wide enough range of laptops, and while I could try to do this all for you, that would be asking a lot from a random stranger on the internet.
I should mention for ram though, if the ram is soldered, then I personally feel that if you think there is even a hint youll ever use even 75% of the ram you'll be getting with the machine, its probably better to get more ram, because not having enough ram can be a huge killer of longevity in a way that not many other components can.
If the ram is not soldered, much less pressure, and then you'd do that whole price comparison thing alone instead
thanks!
How accessible are those components? How accessible are they for you? Most laptops these days require some specialized opening tools and a lot of care. It may not be something you can reasonably do on your own.
In either case, as of right now, I'd say buy on both. Later upgrades are not going to be cheap for a while.
How accessible are those components? How accessible are they for you? Most laptops these days require some specialized opening tools and a lot of care. It may not be something you can reasonably do on your own.
I’ve done some research, and I would say it’s fairly easy to replace the SSD and RAM myself.
In either case, as of right now, I’d say buy on both. Later upgrades are not going to be cheap for a while.
Thanks. I understand RAM is expensive, but does that also apply to SSDs?
Depends on your use, just check what your system uses right now. Realistically, your habits on your new system will be somewhat alike to your habits on your old system.
If you fit in 512 Gb SSD before, you may fit still. If you needed 1Tb before, you probably will need it still.
Unless you want to do local LLM inference or run many virtual containers / operating systems, you don't need too much memory.
Yes I would really need 1Tb SSD and 32GB RAM
I dunno why folks are giving you such a hard time
-
Pay for the RAM upgrade. Your laptop seller gets it cheeeeap now.
-
Upgrade the SSD yourself. You can put the old one in a dirt cheap enclosure for a gloriously fast 512gb USB drive. SSDs are dirt cheap
I can’t give you where to buy SSDs down under, but use this to sort by price/GB.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#D=1&sort=-ppgb&page=1
thanks a lot!
NP!
Here's it filtered a little more, including 2242 and the shorter 2230 (which I assume would also be compatible). If your laptop can take an even longer drive, that'd give you better options. It's sorted by price/GB, so 2TB drives that are conspicuously good deals will show up.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#D=1&sort=-ppgb&f=122030%2C122042
This looks like a sane "premium" buy; good controller per reviews, and 1TB: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CP68JNT
Though you can go cheaper with PCIE 3.0 drives. They'll still be fast.
I have no idea if these AUD prices are sane though, or if there's somewhere 'better' to shop there.
Also, is it worth paying $150 to upgrade from the included 16 GB DDR5-5600 MT/s (SODIMM) to 32 GB (2 × 16 GB) when buying the laptop?
With the prices of RAM right now, if it's only $150, that may be an outright steal.
So are you saying the $150 16 GB RAM is cheap? because RAM nowadays are very expensive?
RAM is spiking in price right now.
oh I see, thanks!
I’d also appreciate any recommendations on where to buy the cheapest RAM and SSD.
Is it worth paying 90 AUD to upgrade the laptop’s 512 GB M.2 2242 PCIe Gen4 TLC SSD to 1 TB, or would it be better to buy a 1 TB SSD myself and and save the 512 GB for future use?