Help Please! my laptop is sooo sloooow!

macman

ellielovesem wrote: »

I just wanted to jump into this thread as I also have a cr*ppy e-system machine from PC World. Granted it is years old and I'm currently grappling with McAfee (thanks for all your help over that Rik, Kaspersky on its way) but is it really worth the bother of upgrading the RAM on an ageing machine or is it better to just throw the towel in and upgrade to something newer and shinier? BTW, I was also having problems with crucial so couldn't get much info from there. How do you even go about getting more RAM, does this involve taking the thing apart?! :eek:

It's well worth upgrading the RAM on any machine. And a fraction of the price. RAM upgrade might cost £20-£40, new laptop £400?
On most laptops you just remove a little hatch in the base (2 screws), and slot in the new RAM. 5 minute job.
Go to crucial.com. Use the system scanner to see what the upgrade options are for your model.

ellielovesem

Thanks macman, you've sold me on the money saving exercise of upgrading rather than new!

Crucial said the following:

The following is a list of what our scan was able to detect:

System Manufacturer: DIXONSXP
System Model: DIXONSXP
Motherboard Manufacturer: To be filled by O.E.M.
Motherboard Model: To be filled by O.E.M.


256 MB

EMPTY

• Maximum Memory Capacity: 3145728 MB
• Currently Installed Memory: 256 MB
• Available Memory Slots: 1
• Total Memory Slots: 2
• Dual Channel Support: N.A.
• CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
• CPU Family: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.60GHz Model 13, Stepping 8
• CPU Speed: 1600 MHz

but couldn't make a complete match. Where should I go next?

macman

For some reason the scanner doesn't recognise your mobo. Try using the manual pull down options on the memory home page-select manufacturer/model/number in turn, eg emachine, etc, etc.
What it does tell you is (assuming that you are running XP) that your existing memory is only 256MB, That's completely inadequate, you need an absolute minimum of 512MB, and preferably 1GB. You have 2 RAM slots, one with 256MB and one empty. So the cheap option is to buy another 256MB (or maybe 512MB) and slot that in. Better option is probably to fill both slots with new 512MB chips. Crucial should give you the options and ther maximum you can fit (probably 1 or 2GB depending on the age of the laptop).

ellielovesem

Thanks macman. I can't find this machine on the drop down menu but I've googled and found it will take up to 2gb. Is it worth popping into my local pc shop to ask about this? Don't worry, I'm talking an independent place not pc world!!

macman

If you can find the motherboard reference somewhere, then Crucial can tell you the correct part number from that. I suspect what you have is a PCW own brand build or a rebadging job.
A local PC shop should be able to help you as an alternative.
If it will take 2GB, I would go for 2 X1GB chips, or 1 x 1GB chip with your old one making 1.5GB (if they don't have to be matched).

Dave101t

i normally go into task manager and disable all processes which are not either internet firewalls or critical tasks, this unclogs the memory as its tight on your system but may disable processes if you dont know what they are.