I’ve nicknamed my laptop Laggard :-(

The HP PC laptop I bought three or four years ago is showing its ancient age :-( It's far too slow to run Tinkercad.

It takes ages to start up Firefox and much of the software in the computer, switch between tabs on the browser.

That’s why I’ve given the nickname Laggard to this laptop. If it was in a horse race 🏇 , it’d finish several laps behind the modern laptops lol.

So what will I do with Laggard? Put something like Linux on it? Or fire Laggard into the e-waste basket and replace it with a modern and fast laptop? Any recommendations for fast PC laptops for a price around $500?

FYI, I’ve typed this post on my iPad which I bought about three years ago. It runs software very well.

Many thanks in advance,
Barry.

Only four years old and it's that slow already? Could just be the OS bogged down, try a clean install of Windows first.

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Originally Posted by barryk

The HP PC laptop I bought three or four years ago .... too slow .

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Think of PCs like a car with a trailer attached. You add stuff to the trailer, more and more until it's higher than the car roof.
Bloat accumulates, no matter the uninstalling or CCleaner type tools (which err on the side of caution).

Back it up, do a fresh install from scratch and put your docs etc back. It will have lost that trailer....

Whats the specs of the laptop
CPU , RAM
A peice of cheap crap will allways be cheap crap :)

Assuming its reasonable spec ,
in this order of preference
1) Install a SSD hard Drive
2) Add more RAM if less than 8Gb
3) clean install on new SSD drive
4) clean reload on existimg hard drive (may not help)

its often the old hard drive literally slowing down. SSD is the fix for that
Ive fixed many speed issues just with a SSD Hard Drive

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Originally Posted by 1101

Whats the specs of the laptop
CPU , RAM
A peice of cheap crap will allways be cheap crap :)

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Yes, but I saw this a lot as a tech...slowER, not the slow from day one.
And a clean install does wonders.

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Originally Posted by piroska

Yes, but I saw this a lot as a tech...slowER, not the slow from day one.
And a clean install does wonders.

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some peoples expectations as to PC performance does change
The PC / Laptop may be exactly the same speed , but they later perceive it as running too slow .
Sometimes they are simply expecting too much from a very low spec .

I see that from some of my customers. Too low spec & far to many programs open at once: many docs & spreadsheets ,many pdfs, 10+ web pages open at once (all too much for the 4Gb RAM) , and a very slow HD .
They complain about slow speed , wanting a magic quick fix , refusing to spend even the $200 in hardware for RAM & SSD . :badpc:

A clean install used to be my goto as well, but wont help if the old HD is running slow.
Im seeing that more often in the last couple of years, mechanical HD's running at a fraction of the speed they did when new , to the extent it can make the PC barely usable .

"It takes ages to start up Firefox and much of the software in the computer"

classic symptom of needing a SSD . Thats usually the easiest fix .
every time I installed SSD because of speed complaints, it fixed the issue (recent years) .
Thats now my standard response . If CUSTOMERS wont pay for a SSD , they wont pay to try a reload either .

If you dont want to spend money on an oldish laptop, they try a wipe & reload .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1101

Whats the specs of the laptop
CPU , RAM
A piece of cheap crap will always be cheap crap :)

Assuming its reasonable spec ,
in this order of preference
1) Install a SSD hard Drive
2) Add more RAM if less than 8Gb
3) clean install on new SSD drive
4) clean reload on existimg hard drive (may not help)

It's often the old hard drive literally slowing down. SSD is the fix for that
I've fixed many speed issues just with a SSD Hard Drive

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Thanks 1101 for your reply.

The specs for Laggard are:
CPU: Intel Celeron CPU N280 2.16 GHz
RAM: 2.00GB (1.89 GB usable).

Does this specs info shed any light on why Laggard is going at snail or laggard pace? :confused:

Here's a list of SSDs at the PB Tech website: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/co...drives?sfr=ssd .

Cheapest one may be $54 but can SSDs fit inside my HP laptop?

And how do you accurately measure HD speed?

Cheers.

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Originally Posted by barryk

The specs for Laggard are:
CPU: Intel Celeron CPU N280 2.16 GHz
RAM: 2.00GB (1.89 GB usable).
Cheers.

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Thats VERY low spec.
A SINGLE Core CPU (2 thread)
Not really enough RAM for Win10 .

just my opinion
If it was me , I wouldnt put any money into it.
At the very least you'll want more RAM and a SSD . Some of those cheapies have a max of 2Gb RAM (Hopeless)
Youre cluctching at straws it you want that thing to run fast .

I bought a 14" i5 with 4GB notebook for $120 a year or so ago , then spent $120ish on an SSD & used ram to give me a descent spec'ed Notebook , dirt cheap.

A wipe & reload or Win10 reset might help, that wont cost you anything .

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Originally Posted by 1101

Thats VERY low spec.
A SINGLE Core CPU (2 thread)
Not really enough RAM for Win10 .

just my opinion
If it was me , I wouldnt put any money into it.
At the very least you'll want more RAM and a SSD . Some of those cheapies have a max of 2Gb RAM (Hopeless)
Youre cluctching at straws it you want that thing to run fast .

I bought a 14" i5 with 4GB notebook for $120 a year or so ago , then spent $120ish on an SSD & used ram to give me a descent spec'ed Notebook , dirt cheap.

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Thanks 1101 for your reply. Where did you procure the notebook and SSD for that dirt cheap price? What is the degree of computing expertise needed to merge the SSD and notebook into the fast notebook? Ph.D needed or just the average person’s knowledge of computing?

Hey! try next :
1) Clean your SSD/HDD (if you have SSD you must leave some space free like 30 gb, because it doesn't have pieces that rotate or move and it's vital to have some free space to maintain high speed)
2) Reinstall your OS but remember that if you have less than 4gb RAM you put x86(x32) system, if more then 64 bit system
3) Change your optical driver(if you have) to an SSD
4) Find another laptop that have at least an intel core i5 or amd ryzen 5 and 8 gb ram with at least 512gb ram

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by barryk

Where did you procure the notebook and SSD for that dirt cheap price?

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I'd guess and say the laptop off Trademe, and Pricepsy to search for the cheapest ssd.

Also, Edge meets all my requirements and is alot less resource heavy than Firefox. My i7-360 16Gb ram PC, not top range, but still Firefox is sluggish compared to Edge. I just use an adblocker though, so there may be something on Firefox that Edge doesn't have

Another reason for computers to get slower over time is a dying hard drive. I've seen that a few times. The drive is often busy struggling with and/or reallocating failing sectors, so everything else gets delayed.

Didn't happen often, usually at that point the drive just dies, but sometimes they keep going and just end up really slow.

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Originally Posted by Agent_24

, but sometimes they keep going and just end up really slow.

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Im seeing that more & more . :-(
PC's so slow they are barely usable , all due to HD running slow , and not enough RAM so paging to HD making things even worse
Customer wants a magic fix, doesnt want to pay for new HD (and RAM)

This guys 'laggard' is horrendously low spec though. Even with a new SSD , he's still have a very low spec laptop (see above)

Indeed. The CPU is not so great and the 2GB RAM does not help.

You need at least 2GB these days just for Win7+ and all the browsers these days fill RAM like crazy so really 4GB is minimum if you actually want to do anything online.

With 4GB RAM, an SSD, and a fresh install or a lightweight Linux, it would be somewhat better - but unless you get these parts second hand dirt cheap it's probably not worth doing so.

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Originally Posted by Agent_24

Indeed. The CPU is not so great and the 2GB RAM does not help.

You need at least 2GB these days just for Win7+ and all the browsers these days fill RAM like crazy so really 4GB is minimum if you actually want to do anything online.

With 4GB RAM, an SSD, and a fresh install or a lightweight Linux, it would be somewhat better - but unless you get these parts second hand dirt cheap it's probably not worth doing so.

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a few of the very cheapy laptops wouldnt accept more than 2Gb RAM anyway .
Good point, it may be better suited to a lightweight linux distro.

MS should really be ramping up minimum spec for OS's .
having a low min spec for Win gives manufacturers an excuse to sell garbage , and the user then blames MS for Win being slow .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1101

a few of the very cheapy laptops wouldnt accept more than 2Gb RAM anyway .
Good point, it may be better suited to a lightweight linux distro.

MS should really be ramping up minimum spec for OS's .
having a low min spec for Win gives manufacturers an excuse to sell garbage , and the user then blames MS for Win being slow .

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Hello all,

I did a WIN10 reset this weekend to get rid of unnecessary software, chose the option to keep my files. Laggard now has just Edge as its browser. It seems Laggard is running a bit better but it would still lag behind the fast new laptops selling off the shop shelves. So I guess Laggard is still very low spec. The reset has introduced an annoying new issue, the notifications screen keeps appearing every time I move the mouse pointer around the screen, how the heck do I get rid of this more annoying than Clippy issue? I've tried bringing up settings and changing notifications togglings to no avail. So perhaps "Annoying Notifications" is a worthy successor to Clippy lol?

Also, touching the touchpad doesn't work now, only pressing the buttons below the touchpad works, what made this happen??

Sooner or later, I'm going to have to replace Laggard with a fast laptop that will be still fast four years post purchase.