Hello,

I've recently purchased the the above laptop which has the Intel Core i7-4710HQ Quad-Core, 8GB DDR3 RAM and 1 TB HD.

I have a low budget remaining after purchasing so need to upgrade because I am finding the laptop becomes very hot quite quickly even when plugged into the mains. I feel something is wrong with it and the machine becomes jittery and applications seem to take a while longer than normal to load. Playing games is a pain as most of them stutter badly once the laptop has warmed up.

Running through Dells diagnostics, it says the battery is stuffed and needs replacing but I feel like this alone probably won't cause the above issues (Unless I'm wrong, which is extremely possible).

I'm no expert at all, so will likely need to pay a laptop repair shop to replace the battery so a chunk of money I have budgeted for this has already gone. They've also recommended that I add an SSD and upgrade the RAM to 16GB minimum. 

I've tried looking online for a cheap option for both products but given the sheer number of options I'm presented with, I have no idea what will work and what won't.

I'm hoping (+ I'm sure there are) more people on here that know better what to do that I.

Please advise....