Ok, laptop upgrade Number One is to increase the RAM on your laptop. Now, dollar for dollar, increasing your system's RAM is most value for money upgrade you can perform. If your Windows Vista is chugging along with a lot of hard disk swapping and slowing down terribly, pump in another 2 GB of RAM and watch what happens. You'll be amazed at the speed improvement. Head to Crucial.com to check out some good laptop RAM deals.
 

Adding more RAM to your laptop is a good investment

Another popular upgrade choice is the laptop hard drive. I used to have a miserable 60 GB hard drive in one of my old laptops. And I can tell you in this day of huge videos and MP3 music, 60 GB is NOT enough. Do yourself a favor and upgrade that hard drive to something like 160 GB. The other option is to get an external hard drive (say a 320 GB monster) and then you can forget about running out of hard drive space.

Bluetooth technology is incorporated in some laptops but not others. For laptops without in-built Bluetooth, you can buy a USB dongle with Bluetooth capability from any good computer shop. This usually comes with some software which allows you to install Bluetooth capability into your laptop. Very important for those you like to synch their Bluetooth enabled mobile phones to the laptop.
 

A Bluetooth USB dongle is a good upgrade to buy

Ok, this is not exactly an upgrade, but I find laptop stands increasing popular with the mobile computing crowd. Laptop stands are good for your posture, and some of them also allow your laptop to cool better. It's certainly a good 'upgrade' to consider if you leave your laptop at home a lot. Just plonk the laptop stand on the desk and you'll be able to enjoy better computing posture very soon.

If you're on the road a lot, you should really consider buying an extra battery for your laptop. In particular, if your laptop runs out of battery juice quickly, a second battery is almost a must. I bought an extra battery for my ThinkPad X61 and I can sit at a cafe typing away for 8 solid hours, without requiring a recharge.

Well, now you know about 5 laptop upgrades you can easily perform yourself. The next time you feel your laptop needs a bit of a tune up, look to the above list and see what components you can upgrade. Sometimes a small upgrade (especially additional RAM) will do wonders for your laptop and overall computing experience.