Self-service

This is my wife's laptop. Bought five years ago to enable her to work from home. At that time, it could boast of an Intel i5 chip and a 1TB hard disk, although a bit lacking in internal memory, what with only 4GB RAM. Solid state disks weren't popular yet and besides, were expensive. So I had plumbed for that configuration. Value for money, I thought. 

The laptop served her well enough. As she used it mostly for word and spreadsheet processing, it could be considered under-utilised. But for whatever reason, it began slowing down. Took a long time to boot up and to open programs. Sometimes, had to wait almost five minutes before she could start any work. No prize for guessing correctly who was pressured to do something about this. 

Sometime last year, I bought a 512GB solid state drive. Had wanted to replace her hard disk with it. However....every time I wanted to take away the laptop, she was hogging it. So I deferred the moment to a better time, which never came. But finally, the frustration got to her recently and she implored me to do the upgrade as soon as possible.

At first, I took the laptop to a nearby computer shop along Jalan Maju in Bukit Mertajam, which shall remain unnamed. Showed them the laptop and asked for a quotation. The shop assistant texted me on the next day. The cost for a 512GB SSD, formatting it and installing Windows 10, and setting the old hard disk into a new external casing would cost me RM698. How much was the 512GB SSD, I asked back. The reply: RM400.

I knew that I was being ripped off. They had no qualms about ripping off this old uncle. RM400 for a 512GB solid state drive? The last I checked on Lazada, this SSD was available for abour RM210. Okay, so the price has risen very slightly over the past year but it doesn't matter much. I would willingly pat RM210 for a new 512GB SSD today if I had not already have one. If the computer shop was going to charge me RM400 for an SDD that could be bought online for RM210, I wondered what other inflated prices they were going to be thrust on me.

Back to some self-research. First, it was possible, I found out, to download an officially sanctioned copy of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website. Next, YouTube showed me how to open up the laptop and do the replacement. And that's what I did. Removed all the screws. But then I hit a problem. Tried to remove the DVD drive but couldn't do so, no matter what I tried. Looked so easy in the video but I really couldn't figure it out.

Resigned, on the next day I took the laptop and the SSD to the ph&co (formerly known as PC Depot) outlet close to the Pacific Megamall. The technician took a look and asked me, "No formatting required?" "Nope," I replied. "Then it will cost you RM20 for the labour charges," he said. "Okay," I said, "please proceed. And while you are at it, please also put in another 4GB of RAM." Everything was done on the spot and the bill came round to RM119. So together with the RM205 that I had paid for the SSD last year, the total cost came up to RM324 only. 

At home, I installed Windows 10 on the laptop and then added in the old Microsoft Office 2003 (yes, I'm still using this old version!) and Kaspersky Internet Suite. That's all she really needs on her laptop. No need for any other urgent bell-and-whistles program. And it is now working fine. No more complaints from her.