How to speed up an old laptop?!

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cdy

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Hi all,
Any programmes I can install/run to help improve the speed and performance of an Toshiba laptop running Vista. It is slow as hell! Maybe something I can do to cancel unnecessary processes which will be taking up CPU usage?
Any advice appreciated. (This is my old laptop, which I have given to the missus since I upgraded, so not planning to 'buy something newer'. Pref. not to do a full format as it would prob. take a full day, but I guess if it's necessary I will.)
Basic spec: Toshiba, Vista 32 bit, 3gb RAM.
Thanks!
 
you have your answer, wipe and re-install.

What CPU is it using ?
 
Something low-tech. lol.
Duo 2 core IIRC.
 
In which case I would wipe and re-install with Win7.
 
dump vista

as above windows 7 will help

format & win 7 install should be couple hours
 
its not too old a computer if its running a dual core and with 3gb ram it should run fine, as other have stated a fresh install of windows 7 and it should be fine, or a cheap way to improve it is to buy an ssd drive, would make a big difference!
 
Yeah, I thought 7 or XP to replace Vista. Also considered Linux, but too complicated for me!
No idea what SSD drives are about?
 
Ssd is solid state drive. Basically using memory as a hard drive. Advantage is super fast access times and transfer rates compared to a mechanical hard drive. Also advantage for laptops is lower power usage. Downside is cost. A 120gb Samsung 840 is going to set you back around 90 to 100 quid.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
oneman said:
Ssd is solid state drive. Basically using memory as a hard drive. Advantage is super fast access times and transfer rates compared to a mechanical hard drive. Also advantage for laptops is lower power usage. Downside is cost. A 120gb Samsung 840 is going to set you back around 90 to 100 quid.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...

You missed a downside :( SSD is fast but suffers from limited writes in comparison to hard drives. To get the best out of older hardware there are a number of other options too i.e invest in a faster hard drive (think rpm), add memory, minimise what gets installed (i.e. remove everything in Windows you don't use), consider Linux as it aint so hard. However, if you go down the Linux route be aware there are some areas to avoid like Windows-based games so check before you jump.
 
Him Her said:
You missed a downside :( SSD is fast but suffers from limited writes in comparison to hard drives. To get the best out of older hardware there are a number of other options too i.e invest in a faster hard drive (think rpm), add memory, minimise what gets installed (i.e. remove everything in Windows you don't use), consider Linux as it aint so hard. However, if you go down the Linux route be aware there are some areas to avoid like Windows-based games so check before you jump.
Click to expand...

I know this is a common thought that many prospective SSD owners have so I did some digging around. Unless you are using the SSD as a database server or something, TLC used in the samsung 840 will last the average user at least 10 years, and MLC over 30 years. There is a pretty good article about it here including links to testing which show some drives exceeding expected life expectancy by a factor of seven.

AnandTech | Samsung SSD 840: Testing the Endurance of TLC NAND

In real life usage, I've put a standard 840 in my mrs laptop about 3 months ago. She probably even uses her laptop more then a typical user as she is using it for uni studying so it gets used 3 hours a day and most days more. Anyway in that three months she has yet to pass the 1 TB of usage mark and that including installing the O/S. That ties in with the figures the article used.

As a comparison, my indexing server which has a 50GB database constantly being updated 24x7 has written 4.5TB in 4 months. But that has a 840 Pro which uses MLC memory so should last much longer.
 
Last edited:
I doubt the SSD life is the issue, as far as the op is concerned. The price of it would be around what the laptop is worth,

and reloading an o/s would be needed in any case. May as well try reloading first to see if the result is adequate.

The SSD may outlast the laptop, but will probably be outdated for any reuse.
 
@cdy in case you haven't done it yet.

This thread reminded me to reload my wife's laptop. I used the upgrade advisor mentioned in post # 10, so knew it was possible,
just never got around to it before. The laptop is a L300 - 1AP, about 5 years old.

Here's a step by step pictorial guide :- How To Clean Install Windows 7 (Part 1 of 3)

It takes about an hour to load, and another to update, depending on the age of the load disc, whether sp1 etc.
I deleted all the partitions, including the oem reserved data (100mb), but your choice if doubtful about that.
If you don't have a valid key (the label on the laptop is no good) just skip that section with "next".
When the initial load is finished, just use daz. When reconnected to your isp, the validation and updates will follow.
The previously downloaded Toshiba drivers have not been loaded yet, the win 7 drivers from the load disc work ok.

The main difficulty was transferring the mail address book and history. Suggest you backup these in all formats from vista.
If you don't like the win 7 equivalent (in live essentials, or some such) it's easier to transfer to other mail programs,
if you have alternative formats available.

The laptop is now much faster, and the annoying uac can be turned off. I don't know whether the speed increase is due to
scrapping vista, or removing the preloaded trial and toolkit trash, but I don't really care.....:)
 
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