To put it simply, how do I boost the perfomance of my laptop?

Specs:

Dell Lattitude D610
Intel Pentium M Processor 2.00GHz
0.99 GB of RAM
Microsoft Windows XP Pro

I'm not completely tech-retarded, but I want to know the different ways to power a laptop could be. I was told that depending on the make and model, I could get a new graphics card, but most laptops cannot do it. I want to use this comp for gaming and I can to some extent. I can play Halo with little lag for example, but that's old school (in computer age at least). Things like memory and graphics, what do they affect and how can I change them? Muchly appreciated!

The best advise I could give you is to go to a small computer shop around where you live and ask them what they think would be a good way to start updating your laptop.

try using google. I dont know much about laptops, but there maybe a program that'll help you over clock your system

First off, the one problem is using a Dell product :P

What you would start off with, is updating the Ram Card and HD, since Dell has crappy Ram/HD's altogether. Thats where most people run into problems with all Dell Products within 2 years time. After that, just Disk Clean-up and Defrag to remove unneccesary files and place files in their proper locations. This will speed up the entire system all around. Depending on the version of Windows XP, you may have a Backdoored Version which will slow down your computer due to cookies having to load and execute themselves without yourself knowing. (Yes Microsoft does do this.)

Other than that, if you need any other help just let me know.