I agree some sort of SSD (m.2 or whatever) is the way to go, but people will still complain about how their computer seems to slow down over time when they have SSD's. This is due to background processes (newly installed programs, or new features on already installed apps that update), and browser slowdowns (cookies or whatever build up over time or whatever browser updates causing it to "phone home" more). I find it important to ask specifically what's slowing down, and the answer is usually web browsing -- which isn't really going to get sped up by an SSD, assuming plenty of RAM available for caching. Install a different browser on their system (like chromium, since they prolly already have chrome installed) and if it works faster and tell them to only use that browser for the specific websites they need to be fast (e.g. a small handful of work-related websites).
I agree some sort of SSD (m.2 or whatever) is the way to go, but people will still complain about how their computer seems to slow down over time when they have SSD's. This is due to background processes (newly installed programs, or new features on already installed apps that update), and browser slowdowns (cookies or whatever build up over time or whatever browser updates causing it to "phone home" more). I find it important to ask specifically what's slowing down, and the answer is usually web browsing -- which isn't really going to get sped up by an SSD, assuming plenty of RAM available for caching. Install a different browser on their system (like chromium, since they prolly already have chrome installed) and if it works faster and tell them to only use that browser for the specific websites they need to be fast (e.g. a small handful of work-related websites).