Like everyone else you’re probably assuming that you can’t fix your own PC or do the upgrades that you need to without an expert. While it may be true about certain parts of your PC, the fact is that you may be able to do simple installations, upgrades or repairs yourself without taking your machine to a technician.
Adding an upgrade in RAM, installing certain types of software, or adding or changing a hard drive simply is not rocket science and is well within the grasp of nearly anyone to accomplish, from the rankest amateur to the oldest computer user out there.
If you take a peek inside your machine you’re going to see that there are very few actual parts, and the few that you do see are easy to identify. Adding or removing components from your PC may save you as much as several hundred dollars on the price of a service technician.
For example, the cost to replace a stick of RAM in your pc by one surveyed PC technician was about 19 dollars plus the price of the RAM. The time outlay for that replacement was approximately 45 seconds. Spending the money you to buy the piece that you need and installing it saves you a markup on the cost of the RAM as well as the installation fees.
Turn off your computer’s power and open your case and you will see inside several slots with a small tab at either end of them. Press down firmly on both tabs at the same time until the stick of RAM is elevated slightly above the slot that it sits in. Remove it. Take out a piece of your RAM and take it with you to the store when you are considering an upgrade to assure that you get the right piece. Tell the salesman that you want the same thing, with an increase in capacity.
You can move from 256 to 512 to a gig, depending on what you have and what you want, but the installation procedure for your PC will remain the same. When you get home, line up the slots and any cut out areas in the RAM with the slot that it sits in.
Press it gently but firmly into place. The two tabs should close automatically, but if they don’t then make sure they are snapped into place and close the case. Powering up your computer should see your operating system and computer automatically detect the increase in memory nearly immediately.
You just saved yourself about 20 dollars for less than five minutes work. While that isn’t a huge savings, as we all know, small amounts tend to nickel and dime us to death, so saving where you can just makes good sense.
Tags: Adding RAM to your PC, DIY PC Upgrades, Fix your Own PC, How to Add Ram to your PC, Saving Money on PC Upgrades, Upgrading your PC