Speed Up Laptop

greyteam1959

I have a 7 or 8 year old Emachines E525 laptop.
An excellent piece of equipment.
Seem to be getting a bit slow to load simple webpages now.
I have done all the usual things to speed it up but there is no real improvement.
It has a 500GB HHD which is probably getting a bit tired now I would have thought.
If I put a 1TB SSD in that should boost the job up a bit ??
Where is the best place to buy one ??
TIA

EveryWhere

Don't waste your money on a 1TB SSD for that device. A 250GB SSD would be more suitable, costing from £25. The old HDD can go into an external caddy costing around £4.

Cisco001

I agreed 1TB SSD is a bit of waste in such an old machine.
Get 240GB or 480GB Max

How much RAM have you got?

You laptop support up to 2 x 2GB DDR2 667.
If you haven't max it out, consider grab 2 stick from CEX.

https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=smem9ddh&categoryName=memory-laptop-ddr2&superCatName=computing&title=2-gb-pc5300-ddr2-667mhz-200-pin-memory

stragglebod

Agreed, and while an SSD will speed up its responsiveness when you start the computer and applications, it won't really speed up the time it takes to load web pages.


For that you need more memory as @Cisco001 suggests. Also if you're using Chrome as your browser consider switching to Firefox Quantum - many people find it more responsive.

EveryWhere

I wouldn't bother to clone the old drive, but you might choose to do so if you have a particular set-up..

Cheapest 240GB; https://www.mymemory.co.uk/mymemory-240gb-p5-series-sata-ii-2-5-ssd-drive.html £24
https://www.7dayshop.com/products/crucial-bx500-3d-nand-sata-iii-2-5-240gb-internal-ssd-solid-state-drive-240gb-version-ct240bx500ssd1 £25

If you really want a larger capacity SSD, I would recommend; https://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/ct500mx500ssd1 at £61.19


USB 2.0 caddy; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-HDD-2-5-inch-External-Case-Caddy-UK-Black/401496052985 £4

USB 3.0 caddy; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-3-0-USB3-0-SATA-2-5-External-Hard-Drive-Disk-HDD-Enclosure-Case-Caddy-Blue/173829034497 £5

Takes around five minutes to swap the old HDD for an SSD
Takes a minute or two to fit old HDD into the external caddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRmEIX1HBV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRmEIX1HBV8

Already at 4GB RAM?

EveryWhere

Cisco001 wrote: »

I agreed 1TB SSD is a bit of waste in such an old machine.
Get 240GB or 480GB Max

How much RAM have you got?

You laptop support up to 2 x 2GB DDR2 667.
If you haven't max it out, consider grab 2 stick from CEX.

https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=smem9ddh&categoryName=memory-laptop-ddr2&superCatName=computing&title=2-gb-pc5300-ddr2-667mhz-200-pin-memory

Not so fast, some E525 support DDR3. So we'll need to check exactly which model is in question before talking about RAM.
It's not so much that the device is old, but that it is eMachines, so likely relatively low spec.

EveryWhere

stragglebod wrote: »

Agreed, and while an SSD will speed up its responsiveness when you start the computer and applications, it won't really speed up the time it takes to load web pages.


For that you need more memory as @Cisco001 suggests. Also if you're using Chrome as your browser consider switching to Firefox Quantum - many people find it more responsive.

I don't know why people repeat this fallacy. It most certainly will. Cached pages, swaps. It will all be faster. So almost everything will be faster.
But the biggest difference will be noticed in start-up times etc

greyteam1959

Cracking info guys...........
The laptop is old but a sound piece of kit, built like a tank !!
It is already maxed at 4GB RAM & that is a much as that model can take.
It also only supports DDR2

EveryWhere

greyteam1959 wrote: »

Cracking info guys...........
The laptop is old but a sound piece of kit, built like a tank !!
It is already maxed at 4GB RAM & that is a much as that model can take.
It also only supports DDR2

It's an ACER in reality. I have two ACER laptops. One eleven years old and the other more than twelve years old. Still in use.
Twelve year old device running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit with 4GB RAM and a Crucial SSD.

But it's a waste of money spending £100 on such a low spec device. Just clean install the OS to a 240/250GB SSD unless you need Disk Encryption.

If it the model with Intel Celeron M 900, don't spend more than £25.

If you are a bit handy, think about upgrading the CPU to perhaps a Intel Core 2 Duo P8600; https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Intel-Core-2-Duo-P8600-P8600-2-4-GHz-Dual-Core-AW80577SH0563M-Processor/127294895 or at least any Dual Core CPU.

If it has a Pentium Dual Core, such as the Intel Pentium T4400, that should be ok as it is. But still, don't spend too much on it. I'd really keep to just £25.

greyteam1959

It is has Intel Celeron CPU 900.
The actual laptop model number is KAWF0 if that is any help.
I might have a look at upgrading the CPU.
I presume it is not too difficult on this machine.

EveryWhere

greyteam1959 wrote: »

It is has Intel Celeron CPU 900.
The actual laptop model number is KAWF0 if that is any help.
I might have a look at upgrading the CPU.
I presume it is not too difficult on this machine.

Dual core CPU will make a huge difference. Celeron M 900 is truly horrible. How you must suffer with it.
I imagine that you must drink a lot of tea whilst waiting for something to happen.

I had a single core CPU in the 12 year old ACER and it refused to do anything with Windows 10. Upgraded to a modest dual core and in conjunction with a solid state drive and it's now great for general usage.

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Mobile_Celeron/900.html

Core 2 Duo T9300 seems a good choice, as it shouldn't be too expensive. Perhaps around £15.

Unfortunately, I cannot agree that changing the CPU is the easiest job, as you need to disassemble the thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXmWvU9bojU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXmWvU9bojU