Slow boot, slow programs, slow everything? The hard drive is almost always the bottleneck. A quality SSD upgrade brings most 2014-or-newer laptops and PCs back to feeling brand new — for a fraction of the price of replacing them. From $180 fitted, same-day on most machines.
The single biggest reason older laptops and PCs feel slow isn't the processor or the RAM — it's the mechanical hard drive. Spinning platters at 5,400rpm simply can't feed a modern operating system fast enough, and Windows 10 and 11 sit there waiting for the drive 80% of the time.
Swap that drive for a quality SSD and the same laptop boots in 15 seconds instead of 2 minutes. Programs open instantly. The whole machine stops feeling tired. Total cost: typically $180–$320 fitted, including the drive and a full data migration.
For roughly the price of a tank of fuel and a weekend's groceries, you can extend a perfectly good laptop's useful life by 2–4 years. That's a much better deal than the $1,200–$2,500 a comparable new laptop will cost you.
Get a Free Speed Diagnosis →Boot times typically drop from 60–180 seconds to 10–20 seconds. The biggest single performance change you can make to an older machine.
A typical SSD upgrade is $180–$320. A comparable new laptop is $1,200–$2,500. The maths is obvious if your machine is otherwise healthy.
Clone the existing install and everything is exactly where you left it — apps, files, bookmarks, signed-in accounts. No "starting over" pain.
A working laptop in landfill is a tragedy. Extending its life is one of the most environmentally sensible IT decisions you can make.
Not just "fit a drive". A proper upgrade is a full job done once, properly, so you don't lose anything and the machine is faster the moment you power it on.
Not every laptop or PC supports the fastest drives. Here's the honest version of what we'll fit and why.
The faster, modern option. A small "gum stick" that plugs directly into the motherboard.
The older form-factor — still huge over a spinning drive. Fits any laptop or PC that originally had a mechanical hard drive.
We'll check what your laptop or PC actually supports before recommending — many older machines only take SATA, some newer ones only NVMe, some take either. We use trusted brands (Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston) — not the no-name cheap drives that fail in 6 months.
All prices include the SSD itself, data clone or fresh install, fitting, testing and GST. Fixed-price quote confirmed before any work.
| SSD Capacity | Type | Total Fitted Price |
|---|---|---|
| 250GB | SATA or NVMe (entry) | $180–$220 |
| 500GB | SATA or NVMe (most popular) | $210–$260 |
| 1TB | SATA or NVMe | $250–$300 |
| 2TB | SATA or NVMe | $300–$380 |
| High-performance NVMe (Gen4) | For creators, gaming, video work | $280–$420+ |
| Add: fresh Windows install + setup | Optional, instead of clone | + $60–$90 |
Most upgrades land in the $210–$280 range fitted. Diagnosis is free, and if we can't economically upgrade your machine, you don't pay.
If two or more of these sound familiar, an SSD upgrade will transform your machine:
Honest summary — not every machine is a good candidate, but most newer-than-2014 laptops and PCs absolutely are.
Not sure if your machine qualifies? Tell us the make and model on the phone, or drop it in for a free check.
Drop it in, pick it up the same day in most cases, take home a transformed machine.
Drop in or send us the make/model. We confirm what SSD type fits, what capacity makes sense, and quote a fixed price covering drive + fit + migration.
Full backup of your existing drive before any disassembly. Then either clone (everything exactly as it is, just faster) or fresh Windows install with your data migrated — whichever you prefer.
New SSD fitted, system booted from it, drivers updated, BIOS firmware checked. We also do basic clean-up if it's a clone: remove obvious bloatware, enable TRIM, check for malware.
You collect a working, blazingly faster machine. Old drive returned as a backup (or securely destroyed if you prefer). 90-day workmanship warranty.
Local techs, quality drives, no data loss, fast turnaround. The simple kind of repair done properly.
Drop in, talk to the tech doing the work, collect the same day where possible. No couriers, no waiting weeks.
Full backup before any work. Old drive held for 30 days. If anything goes sideways, we restore everything — guaranteed.
Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston — proven brands with proper warranties. We don't fit no-name cheap SSDs that fail in months.
Drive + fit + migration in one number. No "we found extra problems" creep.
If your machine isn't worth upgrading, we'll tell you. We'd rather lose the sale than do a $300 job on a laptop that'll die in 6 months.
Workmanship covered. SSDs themselves carry the manufacturer warranty (Samsung/Crucial/WD usually 3–5 years).
If an SSD isn't the only thing slowing you down, we can sort the rest.
Drop in from anywhere — every suburb in the region covered.
Quick answers to what Townsville customers ask before booking an SSD upgrade.
No. Our standard upgrade clones your existing Windows installation, programs and files to the new SSD — you turn the computer on after pickup and everything is right where you left it, just much faster. If you'd rather start fresh, we can do a clean install of Windows and migrate just your files. Either way nothing important is lost, and we keep the old drive as a backup for at least 30 days.
Clone is faster (usually same-day) and keeps everything exactly as it is. Fresh install takes a bit longer but gives you a cleaner faster system — recommended if Windows is bloated, full of junk programs, or showing its age. We'll recommend based on what we find when we inspect your machine.
Dramatically faster. Windows boot times drop from 1–3 minutes to 10–20 seconds. Programs that took 30+ seconds to launch open instantly. File copies are 5–10x quicker. The whole machine feels snappy and responsive again. On older laptops where everything else is fine, an SSD is genuinely the biggest single performance upgrade you can make.
Most upgrades are same-day if you drop it in by mid-morning — typically 2–4 hours of bench time covering disassembly, clone or fresh install, reassembly and full test. Higher-capacity clones (2TB+ of data) can extend to next-day. We'll give you a firm timeframe before we start.
Typically $180–$320 fitted including the SSD itself, clone or fresh install, fitting and testing. The main variable is capacity — 250GB at the low end, 1TB mid-range, 2TB+ at the top. We almost always recommend at least 500GB so you've got room to grow. Fixed-price quote up front before any work.
If it's roughly 2014 or newer, has 8GB+ of RAM, and the screen, keyboard and battery are still in reasonable shape — yes, almost always. An SSD upgrade typically extends a laptop's useful life by 2–4 years for $250 instead of $1,500+ on a new machine. Older or already-damaged machines we'll honestly tell you to replace.
Older Intel Macs with a spinning drive or even an old SATA SSD — yes, absolutely worth doing. Newer M-series MacBooks have soldered storage and can't be upgraded after purchase. See our Mac repairs page for what's possible on your specific model.
Call now or request a quote online. Most SSD upgrades fitted same-day — old laptop, new speed, no data loss.
Mon–Fri 8am–5pm · After hours by arrangement · All Townsville suburbs