I've always been surprised at how people are afraid of the inside of their computer. Perhaps it's like Seinfeld says about cars - we all open the hood of the car, but none of us know what really goes on in there (other than the car enthusiasts/engineers amongst us). I guess I don't understand that mentality because I'm such an enthusiast.

That looks like an awesome guide. It is a concept that PC users are missing. Even though I know lots of people like to send it to their "computer guy" to fix, it really is a simple process that shouldn't require paying someone else for their time and "expertise" for.

I'm fascinated by the insides of computers although I will admit I've not opened this one yet, it's still running under warranty, mind you I wouldn't have to pay if I wanted anything done my son-in-law is an IT Technician.

I've upgraded previous machines with bigger RAM chips, this machine has 2GB and at present does a very good job at keeping up with me. I have thought about putting in a dedicated graphics card but really the onboard chip works well I'm not into streaming video or TV or for that matter into photo or video editing, if I was then I would seriously consider it.

So at the moment I don't really see the need to mess about with the innards of my machine I'm happy with it, as the advert says, "It does exactly what it says on the tin"

Haha, my laptop is also under warranty. I can't wait 'till it expires so I can open it! I'm the meantime, I have a small fan problem that I might send it in within the next two months while I still have warranty.

I open desktops without thinking twice. It's probably not as smart to open laptops, but I'm confident enough. I've also opened my old Palm Pilot millions of times - I just can't get enough of that stuff.

.......and often forgotten are those of us who avoid the desk clutter of PC towers, key-boards etc. etc., and stick faithfully to our laptops.

I've had my Acer Aspire 5630 Series Laptop for just over 2 years, and have upgraded by;

• going from 1GB to 4GB DDR2 RAM [uses only 3.07GB of that], and
• upping the Hard Disk Drive from 120GB to a new install of 320GB.

......sweet as!.....but now wondering if I can improve further with a Graphics Card upgrade, but have yet to investigate that possibility. Why? Because it is the Graphics functions that are keeping my Windows Experience Index sitting on 3.1......unchanged since the date of purchase.

Most of my friends that have asked about upgrades want small things like memory or a new graphics card added but are unsure of what type to get. When they get to the shop they see DDR and DDR2 and DDR 3 you also get different speed of memory.
Memory is the easy thing to upgrade to it is easy to see why someone with no knowlegde of computers would want someone else to do it.
If my car breaks it goes to a mechanic. If one of my mates computers break most of the time it goes to me. They dont trust themselves to repair it or upgrade it.
I have advised a couple of people to go for the upgrade route rather than buying new and saved them alot of money.