Upgrade current laptop or buy new (to me) laptop?

[G-String]

My current laptop (HP 2560p) only has 128 GB of storage which is now not enough for me. Otherwise the laptop is perfect for me. The cost to upgrade to 240 GB storage is $125 parts and labour included or $140 for 480 GB.

The other option is I can get a new (to me/refurbished) HP 840 G3 laptop with 256 GB storage for $230.

Which of these should I do? Upgrade the current laptop, or spend a little more for a new (to me) laptop?

[neo von retorch]

Looking at the service manual, it does seem like self-service might be an option.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03011618.pdf

It may only have that one 2.5" bay, which means the process would go like this:
1) Purchase a USB / 2.5" drive bay - $12 - https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/
2) Purchase a 250GB or larger 2.5" drive - $40 - https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0781VSXBP/
3) Put the new drive into the bay and plug the USB into your laptop
4) Download and install Macrium Reflect Free
5) Clone your existing drive to the new drive using Macrium
6) Follow the HP manual instructions for removing the old drive; reverse this with the new drive
7) Boot back into your existing operating system with all data present but a larger drive
8) Plug your old drive into the USB drive bay, format it, and use it as an external drive

Of course, you could just use an external drive for extra storage
$50 or less https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Portable-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B07CRG7BBH/r

[YttriumNitrate]

If you haven't used the DVD drive in a while, you might be able to swap out the optical drive for a second hard drive to add a bunch more storage.

https://youtu.be/tRuIydHUMuM

To swap out the DVD drive, you basically need a caddy (about $10) and 2.5" drive ($47 for 500 gb).

https://www.amazon.com/9-5mm-Drive-Caddy-EliteBook-2560p/dp/B075FMPK66
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B

I did this with my laptop from 2012 when I realized it had been several years since I actually read a DVD. Since the old drive still has the operating system on it, it is usually a very easy install.

[sailinlight]

Get a USB drive. If there are important files on there, get several and copy them periodically and store them in different locations. This also serves as your backup/ disaster recovery solution.

[Syonyk]

Which of these should I do? Upgrade the current laptop, or spend a little more for a new (to me) laptop?

Looks like a trivial swap from the service manual.  Upgrade the storage.  If you have any faintly geeky friends who can help you out for beer, it's about 10 minutes to swap the drive, then however long to clone from the old drive to the new one, and expand the partitions.

[gooki]

Get a USB drive.

Yeah I'd be doing this. $35 for 256gb.

Or just move your documents/photos to the cloud.

[lifeisshort123]

My choices ranked:

1. USB/External Drive
2. Upgrade Hard Drive
3. Replace Laptop

[jim555]

You can do it yourself.  Open the case, get a new SSD, 256gb or 512gb and replace it.  Make sure you have created the Windows backup from the Microsoft Media Creation Tool site to a USB.  Then restore your backed up data.  It will auto activate if you had a valid license.

[JLee]

My current laptop (HP 2560p) only has 128 GB of storage which is now not enough for me. Otherwise the laptop is perfect for me. The cost to upgrade to 240 GB storage is $125 parts and labour included or $140 for 480 GB.

The other option is I can get a new (to me/refurbished) HP 840 G3 laptop with 256 GB storage for $230.

Which of these should I do? Upgrade the current laptop, or spend a little more for a new (to me) laptop?

Are you in the US?  You can get a 1TB SSD for ~$75:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B078211KBB

I'd back up all your stuff and then do a clean install of Windows. Fresh & clean installs are the best IMO (just remember if you are doing Windows 10 and want an offline user account instead of a Microsoft account, don't connect to the internet during setup).

[RWD]

I also vote for upgrading it yourself, as previously mentioned. And don't try to save money by getting only a ~250 GB drive. Get at least 500 GB (the price difference is extremely minimal).

[Malossi792]

If you haven't used the DVD drive in a while, you might be able to swap out the optical drive for a second hard drive to add a bunch more storage.

https://youtu.be/tRuIydHUMuM

To swap out the DVD drive, you basically need a caddy (about $10) and 2.5" drive ($47 for 500 gb).

https://www.amazon.com/9-5mm-Drive-Caddy-EliteBook-2560p/dp/B075FMPK66
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B

I did this with my laptop from 2012 when I realized it had been several years since I actually read a DVD. Since the old drive still has the operating system on it, it is usually a very easy install.

+1 This is what I did.
Very easy, plug n play stuff!
I used SSD, and installed Windows on that one, sped up the ole laptop so much it was hard to believe.
Actually booted quicker than a current smartphone.

[yachi]

If you haven't used the DVD drive in a while, you might be able to swap out the optical drive for a second hard drive to add a bunch more storage.

https://youtu.be/tRuIydHUMuM

To swap out the DVD drive, you basically need a caddy (about $10) and 2.5" drive ($47 for 500 gb).

https://www.amazon.com/9-5mm-Drive-Caddy-EliteBook-2560p/dp/B075FMPK66
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B

I did this with my laptop from 2012 when I realized it had been several years since I actually read a DVD. Since the old drive still has the operating system on it, it is usually a very easy install.

Your post made me look at my laptop (new in 2020 or 2021) for a DVD drive and it doesn't even have one!  So they're pretty much going away anyway.

[JLee]

If you haven't used the DVD drive in a while, you might be able to swap out the optical drive for a second hard drive to add a bunch more storage.

https://youtu.be/tRuIydHUMuM

To swap out the DVD drive, you basically need a caddy (about $10) and 2.5" drive ($47 for 500 gb).

https://www.amazon.com/9-5mm-Drive-Caddy-EliteBook-2560p/dp/B075FMPK66
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B

I did this with my laptop from 2012 when I realized it had been several years since I actually read a DVD. Since the old drive still has the operating system on it, it is usually a very easy install.

Your post made me look at my laptop (new in 2020 or 2021) for a DVD drive and it doesn't even have one!  So they're pretty much going away anyway.

A lot of new laptops (most?) don't have optical drives - they're not nearly as useful as they used to be, and modern laptops are so small & thin that they wouldn't really fit anyway.

[Syonyk]

Your post made me look at my laptop (new in 2020 or 2021) for a DVD drive and it doesn't even have one!  So they're pretty much going away anyway.

They've been going away since about 2012-2013, not much past 2015 or so has one unless it's a specialty machine.  OS installs are via USB, and there's just no good point to wasting the space for an optical drive anymore.  They're not small, and that space can be put to better use with a battery or cooling.

I've got a couple USB3 "Reads/Writes Everything" drives laying around I use for optical media these days.  They'll read and burn up through BluRay (100GB on a disk is decent for cold storage).

[jim555]

Another option is to backup with Clonezilla.  Create a Clonezilla bootable drive.  Backup.  Install new drive.  Boot with Clonezilla and tell it to restore and fill out the new empty space.  It will tell Windows the new disk size. 

This will work as well.  But a clean install is always better.