A slow laptop is one of the most frustrating things in daily life. You’re working, studying, or just trying to watch something, and every click takes five seconds to respond. The hard drive inside most older laptops — sometimes called a hard drive, sometimes an SSD — is usually the cause. Replacing it with a modern solid-state drive (SSD) can make the machine feel new again.

But if you don’t live near a specialist repair shop, your options are limited. Our Windows laptop SSD upgrade service covers the whole of the UK by post — and we know exactly what goes through your mind when you consider sending a £500+ device to someone you’ve never met.

So let’s go through it. Every concern, every “what if” — answered honestly.

Will They Go Through My Files?

This fear is well-founded. It’s documented. And it applies to repair shops in general — because most software repairs require opening your operating system and browsing through it.

An SSD upgrade is different. The job is to remove the old storage drive and install a new one. That’s hardware work. For most upgrades, the technician doesn’t need to log into your operating system at all. Your files are not the subject of the repair.

When data migration is requested — moving your files, programs, and Windows installation across to the new drive — we run a cloning process that copies data automatically. No one is manually browsing your folders.

Source: University of Guelph repair shop privacy study (widely cited); Kaspersky Lab consumer privacy survey, 2019

What If It Gets Lost or Damaged in the Post?

The 37% problem figure sounds alarming. It’s worth understanding what it actually covers: parcels left in insecure locations, late deliveries, wrong-address drops. Outright loss — a parcel that never arrives anywhere — is a fraction of that number for tracked, insured, signature-confirmed shipments.

More importantly: we don’t use Evri. Laptops are excluded from Evri’s compensation scheme entirely, which is why we won’t touch them. Every ALVA PC collection uses DPD, Royal Mail or UPS — couriers with GPS tracking, live status updates, and signature confirmation at every handover.

Source: Citizens Advice Parcels League Table, November 2025 (8,000 UK adults surveyed); Evri packaging terms — laptops excluded from compensation

I Don’t Have the Original Box — How Do I Package It?

You don’t need to figure this out. When you book with ALVA PC, you have two options:

Collection from your door: we arrange a DPD, Royal Mail or UPS courier to come to your home or workplace between 9am and 6pm on a date that suits you. You just need to have your laptop in something sturdy — a bag, a box, whatever you have — and hand it to the driver.

Add packaging for £10: if you want everything sent to you, we’ll ship a purpose-built padded box with a prepaid tracked label. Put the laptop in, seal it, drop it at any DPD, Royal Mail or UPS point. Done.

How Long Will I Be Without My Laptop?

Our total turnaround — from the day you send it to the day it’s back with you — is 3–5 business days. That covers the courier transit each way plus the upgrade itself, which typically takes 1–2 working days in our workshop.

You’ll receive a WhatsApp update the same day your laptop arrives with us. You’ll know when work has started, when it’s been tested, and when it’s been dispatched back. You’re not left wondering.

How Do I Know the Job Was Done Properly?

This is the most important part of what we do differently. Before your outstanding balance is due, we send you a video of your upgraded laptop. Not a generic video — your specific device, booting up, showing the new SSD installed and running, your improved boot time.

We record this at the login screen — so your personal account is ever accessed. You see proof the upgrade is complete and working. Then once you are satisfied with the outcome, you pay the remaining balance.

No other UK laptop SSD upgrade service offers this. And because the video is recorded at the pre-login stage, your files stay completely private — which means two of your biggest concerns are answered by a single step in our process.

This is why we only ask for £10 upfront. Everything else is contingent on you seeing that proof first.

What Happens to My Files and Data?

Data migration is included at no extra cost with every SSD upgrade through our Windows laptop SSD upgrade service. Your files, programs, and Windows installation are cloned from the old drive to the new one. Your laptop comes back with your files exactly where you left them — just running significantly faster.

If the original drive is failing and the data can’t be read cleanly, we’ll tell you before any work proceeds. Nothing is done without your confirmation.

One thing we always recommend before sending any laptop anywhere: back up your important files. Not because we expect anything to go wrong — but because it’s good practice any time your laptop is out of your hands, for any reason. If you’re not sure how to do this, our live chat team can walk you through it free of charge.

How Do I Know I Can Trust You?

We can’t replace the trust that comes from walking into a local shop and shaking someone’s hand. What we can do is design the service so that trusting us doesn’t require a leap of faith.

The entire ALVA PC offer is built around the question: what would make a rational, cautious person comfortable posting their laptop to a business they found online?

The answer is: minimum upfront commitment, maximum transparency, and proof before payment.

• £10 upfront — your maximum commitment before seeing proof is ten pounds
• Video proof before payment — you see your device working before the balance is due
• No fix, no fee — if we can’t complete the upgrade, your £10 is refunded and the laptop returned at no cost
• Split payments — remaining balance can be paid via Klarna or PayPal Pay in 3, interest-free
• 12-month warranty on all installation work

Source: warwick-appliance-repairs.co.uk, “Is It Safe to Take Your Laptop to a Repair Shop?” May 2025

Every Concern — At a Glance

Here’s how ALVA PC specifically answers every friction point that comes up when considering a mail-in laptop SSD or hard drive upgrade.

Is an SSD Upgrade Worth It — or Should I Just Buy a New Laptop?

If your laptop takes several minutes to start, freezes when opening programs, or shows 100% disk usage in Task Manager — but the rest of the machine is otherwise fine — an SSD or hard drive replacement is almost certainly the answer. It’s the single most impactful upgrade available for an older Windows laptop.

A new laptop costs £400–£2000. An SSD upgrade through our Windows laptop SSD upgrade service costs from £150 — including the drive, fitting, data migration, and return shipping. Most customers find their laptop feels completely different within a week of getting it back.

We regularly upgrade Lenovo ThinkPad T480s, HP EliteBook 840 G5s, and Dell Inspiron 15 7000s — machines that customers were on the verge of replacing, which now run smoothly again for a fraction of the cost.