SSD upgrade to fix slow laptop?

[DaedalusOS]

My mother has a cheap laptop that was bought a few years ago. I'm not sure about the specs of it, but I know that it only has 2GB of RAM and a very slow hard drive.

 

When I use the thing, it takes forever to do absolutely anything, and with task manager opened the disk usage is pinned at 100%, and the RAM is at 70-80%. It's used for general office tasks, so the slowness of it is kind of a huge hindrance.

 

So question:

If I slap an SSD into it, will that help it not suck as much?

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, DaedalusOS said:

My mother has a cheap laptop that was bought a few years ago. I'm not sure about the specs of it, but I know that it only has 2GB of RAM and a very slow hard drive.

 

When I use the thing, it takes forever to do absolutely anything, and with task manager opened the disk usage is pinned at 100%, and the RAM is at 70-80%. It's used for general office tasks, so the slowness of it is kind of a huge hindrance.

 

So question:

If I slap an SSD into it, will that help it not suck as much?

a SSD will help, but another 2-6GB of RAM will also be needed, for it to run at a reasonable speed probably

 

[RAM555789]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

a SSD will help, but another 2-6GB of RAM will also be needed, for it to run at a reasonable speed probably

 

The CPU could still potential bottleneck your disk speeds too, if its really bad.

[NoobCase]

Upgrading the ram might actually be better in your case. Both windows 7 and 10 will use 1.5 alone leading you almost nothing to handle anything else. Solvej everything when I did it to my sisters computer. 

[DaedalusOS]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

a SSD will help, but another 2-6GB of RAM will also be needed, for it to run at a reasonable speed probably

 

I planned on upgrading the RAM anyways, was just curious as to the root cause of all this. I have yet to see the RAM get topped out, but the disk usage is constant 100%.

[RollinLower]

i had a pretty slow acer laptop, but i found out it actually used the G2 socket on the motherboard! i ended up slapping in a secondhand I7 3710QM and 8Gb RAM with a 256Gb SSD. the thing kicked some serious ass after that.

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, RAM555789 said:

The CPU could still potential bottleneck your disk speeds too, if its really bad.

potentially, but if you have both RAM and disk that high, those two improvements will help to speed it up enough for it to be useable

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, DaedalusOS said:

I planned on upgrading the RAM anyways, was just curious as to the root cause of all this. I have yet to see the RAM get topped out, but the disk usage is constant 100%.

both are issues, so fixing both is the best course

[RAM555789]

2 minutes ago, DaedalusOS said:

I planned on upgrading the RAM anyways, was just curious as to the root cause of all this. I have yet to see the RAM get topped out, but the disk usage is constant 100%.

You have to remeber though, SSD loads to RAM through the Southbridge on the mobo, then from the RAM to the CPU cache on the Northbridge where it gets processed.

[DaedalusOS]

1 minute ago, RAM555789 said:

You have to remeber though, SSD loads to RAM through the Southbridge on the mobo, then from the RAM to the CPU cache on the Northbridge where it gets processed.

CPU is an Intel Celeron B800 ._.

[grimreeper132]

8 minutes ago, DaedalusOS said:

CPU is an Intel Celeron B800 ._.

I wish I could say anything good about that CPU, but I can't, but 

 

13 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

i had a pretty slow acer laptop, but i found out it actually used the G2 socket on the motherboard! i ended up slapping in a secondhand I7 3710QM and 8Gb RAM with a 256Gb SSD. the thing kicked some serious ass after that.

please explain how you did this as I think he is able to do this, so yea, please elaborate. you need to change CPU cooler or just use the same one?

[DaedalusOS]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

I wish I could say anything good about that CPU, but I can't, but 

 

please explain how you did this as I think he is able to do this, so yea, please elaborate.

Would this CPU really be that bad for being used as a Word and Browsing machine? 

[grimreeper132]

Just now, DaedalusOS said:

Would this CPU really be that bad for being used as a Word and Browsing machine? 

it could do it, just not well, and you can put a i5 or i7 in it, maybe which will mean it definitely could, plus more, maybe even light gaming/CAD etc.

[grimreeper132]

17 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

i had a pretty slow acer laptop, but i found out it actually used the G2 socket on the motherboard! i ended up slapping in a secondhand I7 3710QM and 8Gb RAM with a 256Gb SSD. the thing kicked some serious ass after that.

really please elaborate as I have just noticed I can do it to, so am really interested now

[DaedalusOS]

Thanks for the help guys. After discussing this, my mother said fuck it and just wants a new laptop.

 

[RollinLower]

42 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

I wish I could say anything good about that CPU, but I can't, but 

 

please explain how you did this as I think he is able to do this, so yea, please elaborate. you need to change CPU cooler or just use the same one?

well, my laptop had a I3 3110m in there first, which is rated at 35W TDP. so i just picked an I7 with the same TDP and socket, which did come with the laptop from tha manufacturer. that way i didn't even have top mess around with the BIOS or anything.

 

so first things first, you need to know your laptop's specs and retail configurations.

[grimreeper132]

18 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

well, my laptop had a I3 3110m in there first, which is rated at 35W TDP. so i just picked an I7 with the same TDP and socket, which did come with the laptop from tha manufacturer. that way i didn't even have top mess around with the BIOS or anything.

 

so first things first, you need to know your laptop's specs and retail configurations.

ok thanks, I know the CPU, a i3 3120M and a list of compatable CPUs for that socket, I'll now look at supported CPUs, next question, where did you buy the CPUs from , guessing it won't be the same place I will, but it's handy to know where to look, as ebay only has the i7 3840QM or something like that

[RollinLower]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

ok thanks, I know the CPU, a i3 3120M and a list of compatable CPUs for that socket, I'll now look at supported CPUs, next question, where did you buy the CPUs from , guessing it won't be the same place I will, but it's handy to know where to look, as ebay only has the i7 3840QM or something like that

well, the place i bought it from is tweakers.net. but that is a dutch enthusiast site so i dunno what the UK equivelant would be. maybe check some forum's classifieds?

[grimreeper132]

Just now, RollinLower said:

well, the place i bought it from is tweakers.net. but that is a dutch enthusiast site so i dunno what the UK equivelant would be. maybe check some forum's classifieds?

yea, thanks, I'll look. I have a TDP of 35W, meaning I can get a quad in this thing, if I want to spend the money. me wantsy