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247804
January 29th, 2014 11:00
How do I add internal RAM and an SSD to M4800?
I need to add more RAM and a second internal drive to my 3 week old M4800.
It came with 8GB RAM and 500GB of rotating rust.
For the RAM I've ordered Kingston DDR3L PC3-12800 Non-ECC CL9 SODIMM 1.35V Notebook Memory. The numbers all match what's required but I know that "industry standard" means "partially compatible on alternate Fridays if you're lucky". How difficult will it be to install? I've got the PDF manuals.
For the drive, I've ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SATA 6 SSD (7 mm height). Dell customer support said I could add a 2nd internal SATA III drive as well as an internal MSata (using the empty WLAN slot). Looking at the manuals I can't see where the SSD could go. It's Any hints?
Thx in advance.
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alexhawker
10 Posts
0
February 5th, 2014 16:00
Getting the RAM in there will be really easy. There's two screws beneath the battery that release the lower cover. The factory-installed RAM is under the keyboard, so the two easy to get to slots are empty and should be immediately visible.
For the SSD, you will want to swap it for the HDD and then look into getting a HDD caddy for the optical bay - check out newmodeus - the one I got from them works/looks great.
thompsop
5 Posts
0
February 5th, 2014 21:00
The hardest part of the RAM install was getting the keyboard bezel off. I do *NOT* want to replace the internal HDD with the SSD. HDD will still be the primary drive. The sole purpose of the extra RAM and the SSD is to handle the many VMWare files and virtual machines I need to run. I mounted the SSD into a carrier from NewModeUS (good call) and swapped it for the optical drive. I'm a little upset I had to lose the optical, but optical media is getting to be rare these days. On the other hand I still have a 5 1/4 + 3 1/2 floppy drive around somewhere.... :emotion-5:
dickens
1 Message
0
May 12th, 2014 04:00
Hello Thompsop. How did your SSD install go? Any trouble? How has the Samsung drive performed? I want to do pretty much exactly the same thing - put a virtual server on my machine - and would love to hear how things went / are going.
thompsop
5 Posts
0
May 22nd, 2014 19:00
The RAM and Samsung have (as far as I can tell) performed flawlessly. I have had one memory parity error and a couple random shutdowns. In my experience (YMMV) this is a known problem with Dell laptops when running VMWare Workstation. Keep saving docs. The alternative is to return the machine to Dell then spend the next 6 weeks configuring the new machine & installing software to get it where you want it. Lather, rinse, repeat.
jojolimited
1 Message
0
June 2nd, 2015 08:00
Thanks for the info. I want to keep my existing HDD and add 2 SSDs (replace DVD drive and add mSATA to open slot if it's available). I edit HD and 4K video and need all the speed I can get. I purchased with 32gig ram, wonder if I can add up to 64 (replace 8 gig chips with 16 when available).