Optimizing Old Laptop

[Hyderz]

Hey guys

I have an old laptop (acer s13) that has decent specs for work applications.
Its mainly used for doing presentation, excel, word, firefox and steam. I have full version of trend micro maximum installed as well.
Steam is only used for chatting.

Specs are i5 6th gen (cant remember on top of my head which model it was).
8GB of ram
256GB ssd (believe it was kingston ssd)

These specs should be more than enough to run those software but the system is not smooth.
E.g when loading youtube with several software opened takes a good 4-5 seconds to load and mouse would respond slow.

 

[yotano211]

so whats your question

 

[P4-630]

Any drive can slow down once filled up too much.

 

[kurosagi01]

Give the vents and fans a clean with compress air, clear out any excess data on SSD if its full or replace the SSD if it's really old for bigger SSD, if the laptop supports 16GB then maybe stick another 8gb stick if its a single stick 8GB in there and maybe remove the heatsink and reapply fresh thermal paste too.

 

[Hyderz]

I should say that i want to optimize windows more so that it feels more snappier.
the vents are all cleaned,
the ssd i could change to a faster one but i am not sure if the motherboard supports faster speeds
ram is soldered on, cant change that

youtube sometimes takes a good 4-5 seconds to load,
office word, excel, powerpoint feels laggy (not smooth)
over the years with the window updates might have affected the performance a bit.
so just wondering if any1 knows how to tweak windows to make it snappier

 

[king of swag187]

Is CPU usage pegged? If so, by what?
Are you using a HDD or a SSD?
Is the CPU downclocking? If so, why? Temp, power, etc

 

[r9]

For one make sure the HDD is SSD if it's not you want to buy.
And reinstall OS.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I have full version of trend micro maximum installed as well.

Try uninstalling that and see what happens.

 

[Hyderz]

the laptop only recently been formatted,
its currently got a ssd in there,
had a quick look at task manager and 40% usage of host windows for windows task... have no idea what that is.
oh and ff7 runs fine

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Im not gonna say "you get what you paid for" because there are laptops that are over $800 that are still complete ass when it comes to upgradability depending on the form factor.

Unfortunately for you its the form factor. its like an 'ultrabook' or 'ultra thin' style of laptop which means its great for portability but trash went it comes to upgradability - almost everything will be soldered on and non upgradable.

 

[Hyderz]

Im not gonna say "you get what you paid for" because there are laptops that are over $800 that are still complete ass when it comes to upgradability depending on the form factor.

Unfortunately for you its the form factor. its like an 'ultrabook' or 'ultra thin' style of laptop which means its great for portability but trash went it comes to upgradability - almost everything will be soldered on and non upgradable.

yeah i know, the updates for windows 10 spectre and meltdown patch i think has impacted performance
the i5-6200u is a dual core 4 threads processor, should be enough to run browsers word, excel, powerpoint without any slow downs.
8gb ram should be plenty and a ssd these 3 thing should run office productivity very well.

thats why i wanna know if there is any windows 10 tweaks to make things snappier, so that i get maybe another 2 years out of it
its just a waste to let this pc go to the recycle factory since its only 3 years old...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Install Linux Mint/Cinnamon or your choice of linux distro. There are linux apps that will open word files and a lot of games now work on WINE. Steam also works on Linux. if you dont do anything other than watch videos, chat and browse the internet then just throw a linux distro on it.

Get a book on linux and learn something new while at it.

 

[king of swag187]

>Linux
GTFO

It's likely something wrong HW wise, CPU throttling ETC, or his windows install. Try reinstalling windows on a spare M.2 (it does have a M.2 slot, unsure if RAM is soldered or not)

 

[natr0n]

Put windows 7 on it.

 

[P4-630]

unsure if RAM is soldered or not

ram is soldered on, cant change that

 

[micropage7]

try to uninstall any acer apps, they tend to slow down the laptop, using only one antivirus and could be from trendmicro, try uninstall it and see the difference

 

[vectoravtech]

I would install Netrunner Blackbird Debian on it( Sparky might be lighter on resources though but not as packed), im into Linux scripts also. betty the terminal assistant can tell you whos on your network. On windows Pcdecrapifier and Malwarebytes

 

[Mac2580]

Put windows 7 on it.

I agree, windows 7 and a new SSD makes laptops feel as good as new.

 

[shovenose]

6th gen i5 and SSD should feel FAST! The laptop I use most is a ThinkPad T430 with a super cheap Crucial BX 120GB SSD and it feels fast with no lag. Likely you have a software issue.

 

[micropage7]

wait wait what about the temp, does it pretty hot?

 

[Gamepr190]

Download it and reinstall it.

 

[yotano211]

I should say that i want to optimize windows more so that it feels more snappier.
the vents are all cleaned,
the ssd i could change to a faster one but i am not sure if the motherboard supports faster speeds
ram is soldered on, cant change that

youtube sometimes takes a good 4-5 seconds to load,
office word, excel, powerpoint feels laggy (not smooth)
over the years with the window updates might have affected the performance a bit.
so just wondering if any1 knows how to tweak windows to make it snappier

You can google search ways to make your computer load faster.

 

[Hyderz]

i think maybe its the background apps that is running, ill have a look at some tutorials to see which ones i dont need running.

wait wait what about the temp, does it pretty hot?

it used to get hot and fan would spin up, but i have already cleaned out the dust bunnies, so it now runs slightly warm and the fan spins ever so often.

 

[Valantar]

I agree, windows 7 and a new SSD makes laptops feel as good as new.

A fresh W10 install feels just as fast as a fresh W7 install. Stop spreading FUD.


Op: can you give us some actual temperatures while in use (say, from HWmonitor or a similar application)? Also, can you post a screenshot of your process list from task manager? Checking if the drive activity is spiking to/staying at 100% is also worth doing - if so, that's a sign of a sub-par SSD. What is your typical memory usage? Also check that the CPU isn't limited to a low performance state, either from a power saving profile or by limiting the max CPU power settings in the windows advanced power settings. Lastly, check your BIOS for any CPU performance settings - if the BIOS is set to power saving or some such it would limit performance noticeably.

 

[chinmi]

upgrade your ssd. the laptop use an m2 with m key ssd drive
reinstall windows 10 on your new ssd
replace the thermal paste on the cpu