Why's my laptop so darn slow?

indiegirl_2

Greetings.

I have a Pentium-M 1.4ghz (rather old) laptop (Samsung X05, if that makes any difference), with a paltry 256mb RAM (yes, I know I really should upgrade).

However, system properties tell me that this laptop's currently running at 585mhz - a third of its capacity!

There aren't many programs other than essentials running on startup, or in the background - Avast a/v, MS antispyware, my bluetooth service, as well as the usuals - volume / wireless...

What would be your suggestions to pull the lil' processor back up towards it's top speed, and away from this dastardly slow reported one?

Pagefile size is set to the same as the memory - 256mb, I'm in sleep mode today (on hols from work) so brain can't fathom what else I can do to aid this beastie.

Many thanks in advance.

amcluesent

I though Pentium-M will automatically change the speed depending on the load to save battery. At the moment you measured, it could have been idling.

espresso

Why did you thank indiegirl for asking this question :question:

:wall:

wiraone

amcluesent wrote:

I though Pentium-M will automatically change the speed depending on the load to save battery. At the moment you measured, it could have been idling.

Certainly is .. that is what Pentium-M/Centrino all about, conserving power. To the OP, more RAM surely helps.

Found this write-up from google search:

Low power consumption - Many of the Pentium M's features aim to improve the chip's performance, but some are there solely to conserve power. Given that the Pentium M is primarily a mobile chip that can also be used in dense, clustered server environments, customers may first look at power consumption before they examine the chip's performance. The Pentium M 1.4GHz that we'll be looking at today requires between 0.96 and 1.48V, although ultra-low-power versions of the chip clocked between 600 and 900MHz need only between 0.84 and 1.0V.
To help conserve power, all Pentium M chips use third-generation SpeedStep technology to raise and lower their clock speeds and core voltages. SpeedStep lets the Pentium M deliver more performance when it's needed and consume less power when it's not. The chip is also able to shut down internal components such as unused segments of L2 cache to draw even less power. As if that weren't enough, the Pentium M actually boots in a sleep state and only activates internal components as they're needed; the Mobile Pentium 4 boots at full power and disables functional units as they become idle.

wiraone

espresso wrote:

Why did you thank indiegirl for asking this question :question:

:wall:

Guess amcluesent was trying to click on

button but the [Thanks] button is too damn close.

indiegirl_2

Thanks for your responses (and for the errant thanks!) :-)

I thought it was to do with the so-called load balancing, problem is that this machine doesn't appear to manage it very well. What I should've said was that under a heavy load (FM2006, for example) it crawls along and doesn't report any more than the 600mhz that it does when browsing the net / emailing etc.

It's a work laptop, so I'm loathe to spend out on RAM, I may just invest in my own P-M laptop or an AMD Turion version which I see are starting to drop in price these days.

esuhl

I've got an AMD 64 3700+ with Smartstep (or whatever it's called) that dynamically changes the chip speed. I can disable this in the BIOS. Is there a similar option you could use to make sure the CPU has the capability of going faster than 600MHz?

banger9365

it's called Cool'n'Quiet™ on a AMD
to turn it of an easy way is to turn it off is , open control panel and go to power option and power schemes and more it to home /office and see it that works

Little_John

The other thing that affect the clock spped on a m processor is it reduces performance if it is running on batter again to conserve power on mains under load you should see the speed increase

run toast on it and see how the laptop reacts.