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So my missus who knows even less than me about it asked me to fix her Dell 3510 laptop as it was working as slow as a snail. After messing about with it for several days I've come to the conclusion that it hasn't enough memory. It should have at least 8gb instead of the 4gb it came with.
I unscrewed the back however I can't for the life of me get the casing off. I Googled the problem and it says to use a plastic clip to pry it off which I don't have. Is there anything else I can use instead?
A guitar plectrum or similar is good for that. I've done that plenty of times, even though it's a real faff.
Try looking on YouTube for that model or similar on how to do it. And no, 4GB just doesn't cut it nowadays and I suspect it has a mechanical hard drive when really it needs an SSD.
I don't have a guitar thingy but know someone who will thanks. No idea about the hard drive but it came with Windows 10 Pro. Any idea of the cost of 4gb of ram?
It takes DDR4 and I suspect that it has 1x4GB in one of the two memory slots, so you'd be better off taking that out an putting 1x8GB in each slot.
It's possible that it has a 500GB SATA 7200 mechanical hard drive.
Latitude 3510 Setup and Specifications | Dell UK
It takes DDR4 and I suspect that it has 1x4GB in one of the two memory slots
After looking at the Dell site I managed to get the cover off. It suggested starting at one of the hinges. So I used a blunt butter knife to release it and it was easy after that just using my fingers. Yes indeed, just one of the slots was occupied.
Can you take a picture of the mem and hard drive please?
Can you take a picture of the mem and hard drive please?
Here you go. Not too sure where the hard drive is to be honest. 
So my missus who knows even less than me about it asked me to fix her Dell 3510 laptop as it was working as slow as a snail. After messing about with it for several days I've come to the conclusion that it hasn't enough memory. It should have at least 8gb instead of the 4gb it came with.
I unscrewed the back however I can't for the life of me get the casing off. I Googled the problem and it says to use a plastic clip to pry it off which I don't have. Is there anything else I can use instead?
You should clarify if it a UK Dell Latitude 3510 or Dell Inspiron 3510 or other. Those two have quite different maximum ram specs, and possible storage upgrades. Latitude would allow m2 solid state storage (while you are making better), where Inspiron does not. Crucial advice is Inspiron max is 8gb ram vs latitude would allow the 16gb - though that picture does show 2 banks for ram which probably means it is the Latitude as Splinter said.
It was bought here in Argentina a couple or more years ago. So probably safe to say it's an overpriced low spec one.
It was bought here in Argentina a couple or more years ago. So probably safe to say it's an overpriced low spec one.
Google lens shows it probably is the latitude. I am guessing Splinterdid that search. Not an ancient machine.
So Ignore my mention of Inspiron. Still It should say on the case somewhere. Which means, and it looks like the photo shows the NVM 2280/2230 slot is empty. I believe you could upgrade to SSD which are faster then the HDD you have. RAM is the priority upgrade. SSD is secondary nice to have, but more work for you to transfer the os after the hardware upgrade.
Google lens shows it probably is the latitude. I am guessing Splinterdid that search. Not an ancient machine.
So Ignore my mention of Inspiron. Still It should say on the case somewhere. Which means, and it looks like the photo shows the NVM 2280/2230 slot is empty. I believe you could upgrade to SSD which are faster then the HDD you have. RAM is the priority upgrade. SSD is secondary nice to have, but more work for you to transfer the os after the hardware upgrade.
All I know is it says Latitude 3510 on the case as well as Intel Core whatever tht is. She only uses it for her Spanish Consul work so mostly Word documents and a bit of browsing.
Good, that confirms it is a Dell Latitude 3510. In your first post you only said Dell 3510. Unless I missed something. Later the photo of the board made it easier to assume it was not the Inspiron 3510.
As aficionado says, replacing the hard drive would require a clean Windows install from zero, but upgrading the memory from 4Gb to 16Gb would make a big difference in performance.
As aficionado says, replacing the hard drive would require a clean Windows install from zero, but upgrading the memory from 4Gb to 16Gb would make a big difference in performance.
More memory will do fine. What's a NVMe?
More memory will do fine. What's a NVMe?
It's a hard drive, in simple terms, but much faster and physically smaller than older designs. They slightly resemble memory (RAM).
The speed difference compared to a mechanical drive is phenomenal.
Absolutely the RAM is what is needed. It was criminal that they sold a modern machine with only 4gb.
Still, if the machine is very slow, it is a good idea to investigate if there is something happenings with the hard drive (HDD) storage.
1) Perhaps it is close to full, which would prevent your swapper (virtual memory) file from growing as needed. The swapper often needs to resize because you only have 4gb of ram. So by upgrading ram, you resolve both problems. Though you need to always monitor the amount of free HDD storage space.
2) be sure the HDD is not failing. There are built-in windows tools to help to investigate https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tec…rd-drive-health
If I had this laptop in my workshop I'd slam in as much RAM as possible, replace the HDD (even more important if it's a mechanical spinner) with an SSD, fit an NVMe and take advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 10 to 11.
Job done.
It takes DDR4 and I suspect that it has 1x4GB in one of the two memory slots, so you'd be better off taking that out an putting 1x8GB in each slot.
- 16 GB DDR4 at 2400 MHz/2667 MHz (2 x 8 GB)
https://www.mercadolibre.com.ar/memoria-ram-st…eb06&sid=search
You understood that you should buy two of these 8GB DDR ram, if you are planning to go to 16gb?. A decent improvement for less than $70000. Splintermight know better than me, on why the common recommendation is two times 8gb instead of a single 16gb DDR4. The above dell link showed all possible combinations
| Minimum memory | 4 GB | |
| Configurations supported |
| |
