• Optimise Your Laptop's Memory

• Improve the Functionality of Your Laptop

• Upgrade With a Video Card or Sound Card

• Understand the Motherboard

• Get Essential Laptop Accessories

• Find Laptop Parts & Accessories on eBay Australia

• Buy Laptops Parts & Accessories with Confidence

• Need More Help?

• Legal Disclaimer

Optimise Your Laptop's Memory

Optimise Your Laptop's Memory

If you run a lot of videos, games and applications on your laptop, consider adding more random access memory (RAM) so as to make it run faster and smoother. So exactly how much memory do you need?

Premium RAM will often come with a lifetime guarantee. Cheaper or generic modules on the other hand will usually only offer a one year warranty. Before making your purchase, check your laptop's manual to be sure that you get the right type of memory for your laptop. 

• SDRAM : New laptops no longer use SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), but many older machines can benefit from an SDRAM upgrade. SDRAM comes in either 100 megahertz or 133 megahertz, get one that fits your motherboard. You will find the exact specifications in your laptop manual.

• Double Data Rate SDRAM: DDR SDRAM is able to deliver data to the computer processor twice as fast as SDRAM and is used in most laptops nowadays.

• DDR2 SDRAM: Besides having a faster clock speed than DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM also has other tweaks to make it work more reliably. 

Laptops used SODIMM memory, which is smaller than the full size DIMM memory used in desktop PCs, so check that you buy the right one.

Improve the Functionality of Your Laptop

Improve the Functionality of Your Laptop

Most new laptops come with CD-ROM drives and DVD+RW drives. However, if your laptop doesn’t, you can just buy an internal drive compatible with your hot swap bay or get an external drive.

Prior to shopping for a drive, first write down the information about your laptop's processor, processor speed, available hard drive space and memory. Then when you're browsing through item listings, read through the descriptions carefully to make sure that your laptops meets the drive's minimum requirements to work.

Name-brand drives with a solid warranty offer the most reliability.

Buy quick laptop add-ons

Add functionality to your older laptop by adding FireWire adapters, plug and play USB adapters and PCMCIA cards that fit into an open laptop expansion slot. Laptops that run the latest operating systems require minimal software configuration as they should recognise your add ons right away.

• Upgrade to USB 2.0: Older laptops only have USB 1.1 ports. To get faster data transfer rates from your camcorder, digital camera and other digital devices, add a USB 2.0 adapter.

• Add FireWire: PCMCIA IEEE 1394 (FireWire) cards and FireWire adapters enable your laptop to handle high-speed data transfer from your MP3 player, camcorder, and other digital devices.

• Ethernet: Take full advantage of DSL or plug your laptop into your corporate network using an Ethernet adapter. Buy your own Ethernet cable so that you can work on the road.

• WiFi:  Surf the Internet on wireless networks with WiFi cards and WiFi adapters.

• Memory card readers: Transfer information from SD cards, Sony Memory Sticks, CompactFlash Memory Cards and XD cards to your laptop using a memory card reader.

• Bluetooth: Add short-range networking capabilities to your laptop with a Bluetooth USB adapter so it can communicate with your PDA, cell phone, desktop, or other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Upgrade With a Video Card or Sound Card

Upgrade With a Video Card or Sound Card

Watch DVD movies, view MPEG-2 clips, play 3D games or edit videos on your laptop with help from a video card. Video cards process image data and output it to your laptop monitor. Before buying a new video card, read your laptop's manual first to find out which video cards it will support. Then evaluate video card features.

• 2D video cards versus 3D video cards: Opt for a cheaper video card that supports 2D images if you are not fussed about image quality and two dimensional images are good enough. Otherwise, go for a 3D video card. The best video cards show crisp, clear graphics with realistic shadows and surface textures.

• PCIe video cards versus AGP video cards: There are two types of video cards, AGP and PCI Express (PCIe). AGP video cards fit into AGP slots and PCI Express (PCIe) cards fit into PCIe slots. Check your laptop's expansion slot before you buy a video card as the motherboard will usually only be compatible with one type of video card.

Step up laptop sound

Internal sound cards and external sound cards that connect to your USB port or FireWire port output audio from your laptop computer.

• Musical instrument digital interface (MIDI): MIDI is supported by most sound cards. If you are a musician, you would want to make sure that the sound card's drivers support audio stream input output (ASIO). ASIO ensures that sounds are heart exactly how and when they should be heard.

• Duplexing: Duplexing allows you to play audio on your laptop from multiple programs at the same time, as well as to record and play back data simultaneously for home recording.

• Jack sensing: Jack sensing allows a sound card to quickly detect and assign audio to devices plugged into each port when enabled.

Understand the Motherboard

Understand the Motherboard

Your laptop was designed to hold a specific motherboard (mobo). Look for the same make and model laptop you have on eBay Australia when you want to replace your motherboard..

Basically, the motherboard is your computer's brain. It contains your computer’s processor, memory, expansion cards, and external ports. The motherboard allows your operating system to communicate with peripheral devices, such as the mouse, as well as sends instructions to all the laptop's internal components.

The main difference between motherboards is the processor they support. The strength of the processor is indicated by a figure in megahertz or gigahertz. For example, one gigahertz is equivalent to 1000 megahertz. The higher the number, the more powerful the laptop.

Some other useful features the motherboard might have include expansion slots for sound and graphics cards and memory module slots. Check that your motherboard offers the necessary connections for peripherals such as your printer as well as supports hard drives and CD-ROM drives .

Get Essential Laptop Accessories

Get Essential Laptop Accessories

Consider getting a laptop case so as to protect and transport your laptop. Some excellent choices include Targus laptop cases, Samsonite laptop bags, Init laptop bags, and others.

Don't forget to buy laptop batteries for your laptop as well. Check the specs of your laptop to make sure that the battery will fit. For example, the Hewlett-Packard Lithium-Ion battery works only with HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario series notebooks.

A lot of people find it hard to use the navigational mouse on their laptops. If this is the case, look into getting a smaller mouse made especially for laptops. Great options are available from LogiTech, Dynex and Kensington.

To keep plugging away at all hours, consider a laptop light. There are even laptop lights that offer up to eight hours of continuous light, allowing you to work or play whenever and wherever you like.

Find Laptop Parts & Accessories on eBay Australia

Find Laptop Parts & Accessories on eBay Australia

Once you know what type of laptop parts or accessories you want, go to the Computers & IT portal. Click Laptop Accessories and start searching for items on eBay Australia.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down listings by item type. You'll find links for Adapters, Chargers, Batteries, Drives, Memory Upgrades and more. As you dig deeper into the site you'll also be able to narrow down your choice by brand.

• Keyword search: Search eBay Australia listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find an Ethernet cable, type “ethernet cable” (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay Australia's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Australia Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay Australia will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Laptops Parts & Accessories with Confidence

Buy Laptops Parts & Accessories with Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay Australia and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay Australia (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay Australia are not covered by eBay Australia protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay Australia item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay Australia sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay Australia and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorised payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,500.

• eBay Australia Security & Resolution Centre: Visit the Security & Resolution Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay Australia's quick and efficient resolution tools.

Need More Help?

Need More Help?

Visit our help pages or start a thread on one of our Community Discussion Boards - If you have a quick question that needs answering, try posting it on our community Answer Centre - there's bound to be a seasoned eBay Australia veteran with just the information you're looking for!

Legal Disclaimer

Legal Disclaimer

Buying Guides are intended merely as a guide or review for members when considering what products or services they may be interested in bidding on or purchasing. eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the accuracy of the information or content contained in these Buying Guides. Furthermore, eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the nature or performance of the products or services appearing in the Buying Guides. Content, trademarks and brands referred to and contained in the third-party links provided are the property of their respective owners, and eBay has no control over and accepts no responsibility for their content. eBay is not affiliated with nor does it endorse the use of any particular product or service.