Slow Laptop Performance

[BlizzardWolf]

So my sister has a Dell Inspiron 5160. The specs of the laptop are Intel Pentium 4 2.8ghz HT, 256mb ram and 30gb 5400 RPM HD.

She still has about 20gb left... maybe I should get a 7200 RPM HD instead?

Right now her laptop is really slow with 256mb ram, even just with opening firefox and running MS Word, firefox and windows media player....

Will adding the 1gb RAM that I ordered solve this problem of lag and slowdown?

Or should the CPU be changed or maybe the HD be changed? What if I install the 1gb ram and the laptop is still slow? What should i do then?

Should I reformat the HD?

 

[suicidalpigeon]

upgrading the ram would be a big help, upping to 7200 rpm will be another good performance boost.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
upgrading the ram would be a big help, upping to 7200 rpm will be another good performance boost.

Will her laptop be compatabile wiht a 7200 RPM harddrive? Will there be overheating issues?

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
upgrading the ram would be a big help, upping to 7200 rpm will be another good performance boost.

Do you think my current CPU (P4 2.8 ghz HT) is a bad CPU? Do you think I should replace my CPU with Pentium M? Maybe my current CPU is too slow?

 

[doinmybestatlast]

Your CPU is plenty fast enough. Just add ram - the boost will be dramatic. I upped my ram to 1.5 gig from 256 meg and the speed was dramatic. Just going to 512 meg will let Windows fly. As far as getting the 7200 rpm drive - after getting the ram boost the new 7200 drive had Windows load faster. As far as real time improvement Ram really helped, especiall alot of it. As far as a 7200 rpm drive - the speed boost is minimal, unless you are using a disc intensive program. It doesn't sound like you're using the laptop for more than email and surfing. If that's the case then buy a hal a gig of ram.

 

[ValuedCustomer]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Your CPU is plenty fast enough. Just add ram

^^ 'nuff said ^^

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Your CPU is plenty fast enough. Just add ram - the boost will be dramatic. I upped my ram to 1.5 gig from 256 meg and the speed was dramatic. Just going to 512 meg will let Windows fly. As far as getting the 7200 rpm drive - after getting the ram boost the new 7200 drive had Windows load faster. As far as real time improvement Ram really helped, especiall alot of it. As far as a 7200 rpm drive - the speed boost is minimal, unless you are using a disc intensive program. It doesn't sound like you're using the laptop for more than email and surfing. If that's the case then buy a hal a gig of ram.

Right now the laptop has 256mb ram and I just bought 1gb. So do i just add the 1gb ram to the other slot? what if the laptop doesnt boot since it might not recognized the 1.25gb ram?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

try it with 1.25gb, if it doesnt work take out the 256.

Do not upgrade the CPU, it's nto worth it because pentium Ms are a different socket they wotn work all you can "upgrade" to is a faster P4.

Depending on what speed your current hard drive is, upgrading to a faster one can be just as dramtic as adding ram.

If you are currently on a 4200rpm drive (likely), then upgrading to a big 5400rpm drive or 7200rpm drive will give a MORE significant boost in speed than upgrading the ram, IMO

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
try it with 1.25gb, if it doesnt work take out the 256.

Do not upgrade the CPU, it's nto worth it because pentium Ms are a different socket they wotn work all you can "upgrade" to is a faster P4.

Depending on what speed your current hard drive is, upgrading to a faster one can be just as dramtic as adding ram.

If you are currently on a 4200rpm drive (likely), then upgrading to a big 5400rpm drive or 7200rpm drive will give a MORE significant boost in speed than upgrading the ram, IMO

Right now my HD speed is 5400 RPM, is it worth it to spend $175 for a new 60gb 7200rpm HD?

 

[Hacp]

No.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Do you think I should reformat my harddrive or maybe reset the laptop to Dell factory installed software?

Maybe this will delete some hidden viruses and then cause my HD to be faster?

 

[zephyrprime]

might be a software problem also.

 

[w00t]

just get a stick of 512mb and she is good she doesnt need a gig unless she is really working on the laptop.

edit: maybe reformat that always get everything fast but ya 512mb at least and even see how many processes she has she could be running way to much stuff in background.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
might be a software problem also.

What do you mean software? Should I just reformat the HD and reinstall windows xp? That will get rid of all software problems won't it?

But i dont think i have my windows xp disk and i don't know how to reformat a hd yet.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: w00t
just get a stick of 512mb and she is good she doesnt need a gig unless she is really working on the laptop.

OOps. I already bought 1gb ram already... too late i guess. So when she comes back from college next week, hopefully 1.25 gb will work and be extremely fast

 

[modedepe]

Even with the slower HD and the small amount of RAM I don't really think it should take long to open up the apps you mentioned. Unless of course she has a bunch of programs already running that are using all the RAM, or something else intensive running in the background. At any rate, adding RAM should help.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: modedepe
Even with the slower HD and the small amount of RAM I don't really think it should take long to open up the apps you mentioned. Unless of course she has a bunch of programs already running that are using all the RAM, or something else intensive running in the background. At any rate, adding RAM should help.

I'm concerned there's some kind of virus.... Should I just reformat the HD and reinstall windows xp? That will get rid of all software problems won't it?

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: BlizzardWolf

Originally posted by: modedepe
Even with the slower HD and the small amount of RAM I don't really think it should take long to open up the apps you mentioned. Unless of course she has a bunch of programs already running that are using all the RAM, or something else intensive running in the background. At any rate, adding RAM should help.

I'm concerned there's some kind of virus.... Should I just reformat the HD and reinstall windows xp? That will get rid of all software problems won't it?

 

[imported_Dimicron]

1. Install all the goodies you bought.
2. Boot up to make sure the 1.25GB will work.
3. Repartition/format/reinstall windows
4. ???
5. Profit!

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: Dimicron
1. Install all the goodies you bought.
2. Boot up to make sure the 1.25GB will work.
3. Repartition/format/reinstall windows
4. ???
5. Profit!

Should I reformat my harddrive or reinstall windows?

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: BlizzardWolf
Should I reformat my harddrive or reinstall windows?

If you reformat, all data on the hard drive will be unretrievable* by you, and you'll have to reinstall windows.

Maybe all those porn sites you visited while she was away bogged her laptop down with Spyware. Run Spybot and see if that helps. If doesn't then go find a XP disc to nuke (reformat) and pave (reinstall windows). If she has anything important on the laptop (cure for cancer, aids, blueprints for working fusion reactor, etc) then you might want to consider just reinstalling windows and not reformatting.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: ribbon13

Originally posted by: BlizzardWolf
Should I reformat my harddrive or reinstall windows?

If you reformat, all data on the hard drive will be unretrievable* by you, and you'll have to reinstall windows.

Maybe all those porn sites you visited while she was away bogged her laptop down with Spyware. Run Spybot and see if that helps. If doesn't then go find a XP disc to nuke (reformat) and pave (reinstall windows). If she has anything important on the laptop (cure for cancer, aids, blueprints for working fusion reactor, etc) then you might want to consider just reinstalling windows and not reformatting.

So reinstalling windows won't delete any documents or programs? How do i reinstall windows?

 

[ribbon13]

First, you run Spybot to check to see if Malware is the problem. No need to go through the long process of reinstalling windows if you dont have to. Download Spybot and report back how many problems it found first.

 

[Jiggz]

I'll try upgrading to 1 GB of ram and then clean the system of spy and ad wares! Do a disk cleanup and then defrag. You might want to review the start up group also to make sure you only have those programs you need to run at start up.