What can i do to improve my laptop's performance?

[lidge1337]

My Laptop is a Lenovo 3000 N200, it has:
A dual-core 1.6 GHz Intel T2330 processor
2.5 GB of RAM (not sure which exactly)
120 GB HDD

Now, I know i should maybe put in 4 GB of RAM, but, what else could i put into my laptop to take the load off of the processor and make it run more quietly?

P.S. my Optical bay drive isn't functional, so if you have any suggestions on what to use it for, please tell me

 

[groundrat]

replacing the hard drive with a SSD in will speed up your system.

You can pick up an external optical drive that plugs into a USB port.

Yes, increase the memory to 4GB.

 

[lidge1337]

ok, what about an optical bay caddy?
should i buy one?

 

[Unknowngama]

If you are willing to spend money, buy and SSD drive. If you are not able to spend money right now, then download a program called Glary Utilities and Game Booster. These two really helped me increase the performance of my laptop. I will have the links for the downloads below.
Glary Utilities : http://download.cnet.com/Glary-Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html
Game Booster : http://download.cnet.com/Razer-Game-Booster/3000-18512_4-10913645.html

 

[mljls1]

Groundrat is correct. Increasing the RAM and adding the SSD will make a NOTICEABLE difference.