I need a new laptop! Advice Please.

redrose1414

Hello,
I am hoping someone can give me some advice.
I have a Samsung R519 laptop, very basic, no added extras.
Windows 7, 3GB RAM, Celeron dual core processer.
I am a student so write essays and research on the web. I always have more than 1 web page opener at one time.
I really don't think there is anything I can do for my computer as I have a lot of music and photos on it, it runs very slow and my pages and applications fail and close down all the time.
I also will need to use a credit card for any purchases so I don't think a fix is possible.
Can anyone suggest a laptop for about £300 (I can go up slightly if need be). I just want the best laptop for the budget I have but I don't know much about what makes a computer work. I also want a decent size screen as I find my husbands netbook too small and I can't use it!
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

colin79666

Your laptop sounds plenty powerful enough for the kinds of tasks you are doing. I'd start by performing backing up your data, doing a Windows reinstall/factory restore, running all updates and installing your needed apps (don't install anything you aren't going to use) and finally loading back on your data.

Adding a little more RAM might help but if it has a 32 bit Windows install then there would be little benefit in replacing the 1GB stick with a 2GB as Windows won't see it all anyway.

A £300 laptop is going to be at the bottom of the budget range so isn't going to be great quality. Unless something has actually failed hardware wise with your current machine you would be best off doing a clean out as above and saving up for a new machine in a year or two with a bigger budget and Windows 9 should be out by then too, resolving much of the issues people are having with 8.

redrose1414

Thank you for your advice.
I have no idea how I would back up my stuff!
Also do I need the product key for restoring windows and stuff as I don't have this any more, it was on the bottom of the laptop and it rubbed off.
I do try and delete things that I don't need but I am worried I will delete something vital and completely kill my laptop. I do seem to still have 100's of outlook emails that I have deleted but I can't find them to delete them from the computer, they only pop up by accident!
Also would all what you explained stop my internet from constantly closing down when I have more than one window open? and make browsing faster?
Thank you again.

grumpycrab

redrose1414 wrote: »

I have no idea how I would back up my stuff!

For starters, surely all those important essays, music and pics are backed up somewhere? If not, priority 1 get a USB stick and copy them onto one.

redrose1414 wrote: »

Also do I need the product key for restoring windows and stuff as I don't have this any more, it was on the bottom of the laptop and it rubbed off.

Dowload and run Belarc.
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
This will tell you what your Windows7 (and other micosoft) product keys are.

3GB should be enough for your needs...a tidy up and/or factory reinstall is next...

closed

deleting pictures and music won't speed it up, and 3GB is plenty of ram

backup, reinstall windows, hour or so later, machine won't be slow anymore.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

external hard disks are around £40, blank dvd's 10p

redrose1414

grumpycrab wrote: »

For starters, surely all those important essays, music and pics are backed up somewhere? If not, priority 1 get a USB stick and copy them onto on

Ermm, no :shocked:. I email my essays and presentations to myself. I had the photos and music on a stick once but it stopped working.

grumpycrab wrote: »

Dowload and run Belarc.
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
This will tell you what your Windows7 (and other micosoft) product keys are.

3GB should be enough for your needs...a tidy up and/or factory reinstall is next...

Cool, I will do that.
Thank you

redrose1414

closed wrote: »

deleting pictures and music won't speed it up, and 3GB is plenty of ram

backup, reinstall windows, hour or so later, machine won't be slow anymore.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

external hard disks are around £40, blank dvd's 10p

Thank You,
I will have a look at your guide later today (When the kids are in bed, my brain might be able to take it ion better without distractions). Is an external hard drive the best thing to use? I have about 100 blank CD or DVD things but I have never managed to get them to work as they need formatting or something :undecided
I am really quite good at the internet and PowerPoint and stuff (honestly) but not the ins and outs of computers and how they work.

closed

They should work on window7.

if not you can use 3rd party software such as imgburn to burn data to them (do a custom install and untick the bundled toolbar if you install it)

if you've never backed up, then burning your most important data to dvd would be sensible, as a hard disk can fail or a machine can get infected with a virus at any time.

It is important not to move your data to another place, but to copy it

After that, a £40 portable usb hard disk, and a copy of macrium reflect free is the best way to bakup everything quickly, and restore it quickly should anything go wrrong in future - links and video in the speedup sticky thread.