Hi I’m not very computer savvy and have an old laptop , probably 10 years old. I run linux on it and windows 10 dual boot , linux is fast enough tbh but windows takes ages.

It’s got 3gb ram would I notice if I upgrade to 4gb , 4 is max I can use. Or is it only worth swapping the hdd for an ssd, processer is amd Turion 64 X2 and has Nvidia graphics card that both seem to work well enough

It’s cheaper than a new one as it’s a 17 inch quality screen/display and I don’t use it a huge amount,  I want the windows for my Garmin and memory map stuff.

The little one will want to do some homework on it too probably on windows

Ssd looks an easy enough swap and pretty cheap

Ta

SSD is the quick upgrade,

In windows though open task manager and see what is maxing out when it’s going slow. If it’s disc then an ssd will help a lot, if it’s CPU and RAM then you are just moving on the next issue.

Just done mine,  https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizardpro/ was simple to do the clone to the SSD and I used a nice little adaptor to put the SSD in the DVD slot space which means I have extra storage on the HDD for general files

On ebay  you can buy an hp 745 elitebook with 8gb of ram and an ssd for £120 ish , 3 or 4 years old, just check if linux is supported – very likely , a better investment then a much older machine.

Agree with the above, but it’s usually/always HDD unless it’s full of malware or whatever.

256GB SSDs are cheap enough now and will transfer to the next one when it finally dies.

3-4GB ram, maybe, all my machines have 8GB and usually run at 50% RAM when they’re actually doing something so you might be topping out.

Also, if you can copy your data off and instal a fresh build rather than cloning the discs if you can, it’ll fix any background software issues you’ve got at the same time.

Cheers for the replies I’ll have a look when back home next week.

Finishthat I don’t doubt there is better machines about for a similar cost to upgrade but the 17 inch screen is great and that seems to push up the costs in used machines

SSD would make a difference, more so if you start afresh with a clean install.

Going from 3GB to 4GB probably not.  Assuming you’re running a 32-bit version of Windows you’d maybe see 3.5GB of that 4GB.  Switching to 64-bit would allow all 4GB to be accessed but the overhead of x64 would consume any advantage you gained.

It’s 64 bit cougar, I’ve just done fresh install of windows and linux it’s better but still not great

Right.  Then it might be helpful, depending on upgrade costs, if you can do it on the cheap.  Sticking with 3GB and dropping to 32-bit might yield similar results though.  In your case I’d be temped to stick in an SSD and experiment.  There’s probably not a vast amount in it all either way I’d guess.

Ok thanks I’ll look into ssd options cheers

If the processor is slow there isn’t much you can do, SSD could make it boot faster but it’s still going to struggle in applications

Managed to get home and have a quick look, as luck would have it I had a broken screen laptop with 2x2gb ram in so switched it to mine so it’s now got 4gb

Also I have a spare drive bay unfortunately I’ll have to source a hp caddy and adapter for an ssd but it should then just clip in, for now I’ll pick up an ssd and use the old caddy for existing hard drive then later I can stick the old one in as extra storage

Thanks for the replies

If the processor is slow there isn’t much you can do, SSD could make it boot faster but it’s still going to struggle in applications

That is where the look at task manager comes in, it will tell you that right now.

An SSD makes a huge difference, not just booting, but general opening files and programs. It’s a worthwhile upgrade, even on a fast machine.

 I have a spare drive bay unfortunately I’ll have to source a hp caddy and adapter for an ssd

Ebay is your friend here.

Ah hp sauce:) just ordered from eBay France cheers

Cheers all

Today reinstalled windows 10 pro with my 4gb ram and my new ssd, I had read I needed to change in bios ide to ahci or something but couldn’t find it in the system setup so perhaps its too old to be supported but it works fine

It’s actually updates windows for the first time in years and is running much faster at everything the old hdd was maxed out the new one is now hardly touched. The processor is now working hard but it’s way better for the grand sum of 50 quid all in

Thanks again