Old laptop with poor performance. Can something be done?

Hoggorm · 04 May 2021

Hello,

I have this older Dell laptop running Windows 10 Pro that is really, really slow. It takes a long time to even open Chrome.

Some specs:

Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T5750 2 GHz
4 GB DDR2 RAM 333 MHz
Intel 965 Express Chipset
Internet speed is fast!

I've adjusted the appearance and performance to max performance and battery settings to best performance.

Can something be done to this computer to speed it up a bit, or is it just this slow. It is currently only used as a server for a couple of devices and once everything is up and running it goes along. But it can take a long time updating, restarting and start servers again.

dalchina · 04 May 2021

It is likely to be slow with those specs.

How big's the disk and how much free space is there on C: ?

Look at the task manager- how heavily are resources being used?

Is paging left as default?

What's the maximum transfer rate you achieve if copying a large file back to the disk? (task manager, performance, disk).

Try this:
Get Windows Experience Index (WEI) Score in Windows 10

hsehestedt · 04 May 2021

As dalchina pointed out, the machine will be slow with those specs.

I too have a machine with a core 2 duo CPU, although it is a slightly different model.

In my system I replaced the SATA HD with an SSD. While the machine is no speed demon, that did help a good bit. It's actually good enough to do a few menial tasks. Of course, having only 4GB RAM is also a bit of a limiting factor to consider.

AndreTen · 04 May 2021

Like it was said above, can't expect miracles. Install SSD, and some RAM, if you have one laying around.

One thing to check.. did it became slower after an update in the last few month? Check if the CPU is running at declared speeds (2 GHz). Task manager will do (performance tab, check CPU). If there is something suspicious remove CPU drivers from device manager and let Windows reload them

Jaylob4 · 04 May 2021

Hoggorm said:

Hello,
I have this older Dell laptop running Windows 10 Pro that is really, really slow. It takes a long time to even open Chrome.

Hi,

As stated anything you do, it's never going to be a stallion.

An extra 4 gb of ram might do something and something I recall about some older Dell PCs/LTs, ram maybe proprietary, so you will need to check that, ( not even sure if you can purchase new DDR2 anymore, no doubt some 2nd hand ).

An SSD coupled with extra ram is your best bet for better chance at increased performance.

I know nothing about overclocking but wondering if that's a possibility?

elbmek · 04 May 2021

My lenovo laptop was always slow, and sound was terrible, I ended up selling it a couple of months ago. My surface tablet is xxxx times faster, almost instant desktop. I dont think I will laptop again.

SIW2 · 04 May 2021

Puppy Linux

idgat · 04 May 2021

SIW2 said:

Puppy Linux

Agreed (or Linux Mint). A device that old shouldn't be expected to do much more than web browsing, email, basic office, image viewing.

And a Linux distro will kill it!!
Firefox
Thunderbird
LibreOffice
multimedia software
... all free and built-in.

(I wouldn't go much "heavier" than Puppy or Mint)

elbmek · 04 May 2021

Hmmm, never thought of Linux; prob is avail software I would imagine

SIW2 · 04 May 2021

Chris Barnett is the funniest guy on the net
Linux for an Old Laptop - YouTube