I have a laptop that I have been using for five years and it now lags so often that I can't work on it. I took it apart and found that there is only one HDD in it, so I was wondering if replacing the HDD with an SSD would speed up my computer?
My laptop module is HP Pavilion 14-al072txYes a SSD would speed up the boot TIME as well as lag in opening stuff would be far LESS. Games or anything else that lag for functionality though would remain the same with the other difference being that the load time of the software/game would be faster. SSD's also can increase systems speed by the fact that virtual memory needs are served back to the system faster and so less lag.Are there some recommendations for SSDs? And I might consider adding a memory stick.When it comes to RAM, I suggest buying a stick of RAM that is on the recommended RAM list of the manufacturers support page to avoid problems. Laptops can be picky with RAM sticks. I had a laptop recently that I had a small pile of RAM sticks all correct speed and type and it would only boot properly with one of the generic 4GB sticks. The others would start to boot and then power off before the bios splash screen. Yet all the sticks work and had been tested in a different laptop that was less picky to the RAM.

When it comes to SSD drives I suggest going with a good quality name brand DRIVE vs cutting corners in buying a cheap model of a questionable quality brand. Not to say that the cheapest SSDs are bad but if you want to avoid problems and the price difference is only like $50 or less between the better brand quality drive and the cheapie, I'd suggest the name brand that stands behind their product to avoid data loss as well as to avoid having to crack open the laptop all over again.

I have used some cheap questionable quality drives before in desktop applications where installing and replacing a drive is bad is a quick process. I have had mixed results with the drives lasting as well as having problems. I also have bought refurb SSDs back years ago when SSDs were more costly to GET the larger capacity for less and some of those drives are still working and others are dead. The name brand good quality drives I have only had one of them DIE and it was because it was heavily used and I burned out all the cells until it failed because it was used for video editing. The refurb and questionable brand/quality drives its a 50/50 toss as to getting a good one that will last or not for greater than 2 years of daily use. If able to buy new and good quality name brand I would as a suggestion vs cutting corners, especially since drives these days are so much more inexpensive than of years past.