Is my CPU sub-par or should I upgrade my RAM or do nothing

Undecided whether my CPU needs an upgrade along with the RAM.

Unit is a Lenovo Thinkpad T500 with Win10 Pro 64 bit and 4 GB of RAM.
CPU is Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4 GHz and it's x64

I have downloaded the "crucial scan" but haven't executed it yet.

Workload is what I'd consider "heavy home use" with multiple user accounts, browsing, downloading, video, some games... hardware is all put through USB 3.0 ExpressCard upgrade with an Anker 7 port USB hub (DC power) except for the Seagate 2 TB slim which is connected to the other 3.0 slot... also VGA to HDMI output and external fan-stand powered by the USB 2.

A quick look at Task Manager reveals the Memory and CPU are at >60% workload from just browsing but I think on average the CPU is the bottleneck.

Anyone with good knowledge of this system please advise whether I should upgrade the CPU along with the RAM or not bother at all, the computer was only $100 so I want to keep using it as long as possible.

Firstly, that CPU is an 08 model and this is a laptop and changing out the CPU is a SUPER PITA but can be done. The only issue is the limited CPU's (vendor specific) that mobo will allow and 9 times out of 10 the upgraded CPU isn't worth the cost. It's just not cost effective for the minimal gain.

Now, there are two upgrades you can do to help out; change out HDD to SSD, and max out RAM speed and amount. Again...the issue is cost effectiveness. Is that 08 laptop worth the time and money for those upgrades or would that money be better spent in the purchase of a new and better laptop.

eric9000k said:

Undecided whether my CPU needs an upgrade along with the RAM.

Unit is a Lenovo Thinkpad T500 with Win10 Pro 64 bit and 4 GB of RAM.
CPU is Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4 GHz and it's x64

I have downloaded the "crucial scan" but haven't executed it yet.

Workload is what I'd consider "heavy home use" with multiple user accounts, browsing, downloading, video, some games... hardware is all put through USB 3.0 ExpressCard upgrade with an Anker 7 port USB hub (DC power) except for the Seagate 2 TB slim which is connected to the other 3.0 slot... also VGA to HDMI output and external fan-stand powered by the USB 2.

A quick look at Task Manager reveals the Memory and CPU are at >60% workload from just browsing but I think on average the CPU is the bottleneck.

Anyone with good knowledge of this system please advise whether I should upgrade the CPU along with the RAM or not bother at all, the computer was only $100 so I want to keep using it as long as possible.

I think even today's Pentium dual core CPUs or just i3 runs circles with your P8600 chip. I'd rather just get a new thinkpad with about 300% or more CPU processing power rather than buy a higher Core2Duo CPU that is 5-10% better than your P8600.

I've just upgraded a 2004 PC with 4GB RAM with a cheap SSD and the performance boost is amazing. Do this first, then maybe consider increasing the RAM. You can always use the SSD on another PC when you retire your laptop.

I recommend using Macrium Reflect to image the current HDD installation to an external drive then recover that image to the newly installed SSD. You will need a Reflect USB recovery stick to boot from to do this.

Thanks for the responses.

It looks like you are saying the CPU should not be upgraded in this unit, but it is advisable to update the Hard Disk to a SSD and then run about 8 GB of RAM? (@Steve C ... I wouldn't dare take the case apart unless I was upgrading both at the same time)

The crucial website advertises a 240 GB SSD for this model for 90 dollars which I have no problem purchasing along with 8 GB of RAM

Guys ?> I feel DUMB because I just bought a 2 TB removable hard drive with a spinning disk and now I'm upgrading my laptop to SSD ... lol

Just wondering if anyone thinks the SSD upgrade will not provide the performance boost I am hoping for.

6GB of ram with that unit is fine. SSD will help improve performance of that old laptop. A Pentium E2180 is already a hundred times more faster than that P8600.

As it's so old, CPU dates from 2008, you don't want to spend much money.
If you can and it's cheap get 8 GB of RAM.

It' s not just about workload, Windows and applications do make use of the extra RAM preloading stuff and minimising read/writes to the HDD.

Even if it's possible on that Laptop, a CPU upgrade or an SSD is a waste of money, which would be better put to a new one.