5 Ways To Enhance Your Laptop

If you have your laptop for a few years, you may start noticing that it”s not quite as fast as it was when you first got it. Many consumers will just let the laptop continue to degrade until it comes time to buy a new model, but there are actually many ways you can enhance your laptop to keep it easy and a pleasure to use. Read on to find five ways you can enhance your current laptop to keep it running like a top-of-the-line model.

Get An External Hard Drive

One of the biggest reasons computers start to lag is due to the lack of storage space. The more things you download to your computer, the slower it may run. If you”ve got vacation photos from the last ten years or enough movies to keep you busy until the next century, consider purchasing an external hard drive. Ideal for storing things you may not necessarily need on hand at all times, but still want access to, hard drives are no longer expensive, clunky pieces of hardware. In fact, many boast sleek designs and portability.

Clean Your Drive

Like a house, the more things that go through your internal hard drive and the more you use it, the dirtier it gets — remnants of code and the fragmentation of files to various parts of the drive can slow down your computer more than you realize, especially if you don”t regularly clean and optimize the drive. Get a program like CCleaner, which gets rid of unnecessary files bogging down your computer, and helps you get the most out of your Windows laptop. These programs won”t delete anything important, just those unneeded remnants, and they will reintegrate your useful files for better speed and efficiency.

Upgrade Your Sound

Does your laptop sound tinny? Consider downloading an audio enhancing program. By compensating for loss of high frequency fidelity as well as stereo separation and depth, these programs can drastically improve the quality of sound from internet-based sources. They can also improve what you hear with your headphones, which is often even better, since laptops aren”t always equipped with the best stereo hardware in the first place. If you like listening to music or watching videos on your laptop, downloading one of these programs may help improve the experience significantly. If that”s not enough, why not consider…

Portable Speakers

If you love speaker sound quality but don”t want to tie down your laptop with bulky hardware, there are many minimalist speakers, both in sets and solo pieces, designed with portability and sound quality in mind. Previously, portable speakers were often tinny and had limited sound range. With the new designs, however, many portable speakers sound almost as good as full size models, and often at a fraction of the price. Wireless and wired designs are both available, and whichever you choose doesn”t make much, if any, difference in the sound quality.

USB or Wireless Mice

Laptop track pads are often the first to go, whether through accident or hardware degrading. If you”re looking for an alternative to your non-functioning track pad, or you just prefer a mouse, the selection of laptop compatible computer mice (which most are) is huge. Whether you”re a gamer than needs a mouse with hot keys attached, or you”re just looking for something with no lag and high sensitivity, there are tons of different options — you shouldn”t have a hard time finding something just right for you. There are, of course, right and left-handed mice, with ergonomic curves to reduce the chance of carpal tunnel problems or hand cramps. Mice for laptops are also a helpful addition to a trackpad, which isn”t always as reliable, and some don”t feature right-click functions without the use of a hotkey.

Using any of the above enhancements will do wonders for your laptop, even if it’s already a top-of-the-line machine. Whether yours is new or old, finding programs or hardware to upgrade your experience will make your time spent on the computer more enjoyable.