Speed up old laptop?

You need more ram, at least 4 gigs. Is that all the laptop will support or can you dump the sticks you have in there now for ones with larger capacity? This is about your only good option.

Windows has a feature where you can use a USB drive as psuedo-RAM for some features. It’s kind of a mixed bag, but if you already have a USB drive and no other options, it might be worth a shot.

Here’s an article showing screenshots (not windows 10, but same idea) and explaining what it does.

Short version, it’s not as fast or useful as RAM, but helps some.

Good luck.

I have forwarded this question to a computer expert. Hopefully, he’ll have time to respond.

What do you do with your laptop? If it is just some interneting and Word you could get by with something like lubuntu. I know it is a big ask to switch operating systems but if you do basic stuff it would provide a nice boost.

Swap the hard drive for a SSD

@Lightlyseared :: offers a good suggestion. And with the speed of a SSD it would be less noticeable if Windows had to hit SWAP. The problem here is both HDD and SSD prices have gone way up in the last few months. I bought this a few months ago for 120. Now it is 180.

For 200 you could score a new laptop with better specs.

Kes I know a guy at Lenovo who sells computers. I have bought 3 from him directly and my brother in law bought 2. My last computer he gave me a huge discount on a high end Lenovo thinkpad X1 carbon.

Email me if you’re interested in the contact info. Tell him I sent you.

Our main computer (quad core, 8GB RAM) got zapped in a power outage last month. Been using an old laptop as a replacement. It’s totally underpowered for Win10. I’ll have to find time to troubleshoot it. Likely a fried power supply.

I have a Lenovo E420s laptop as my portable solution. Works great. It’s just that we need 4 good computers at home and we are down to 3 right now.

@funkdaddy – ReadyBoost got that old HP laptop to be half as slow. Well worth the $12 for a fast USB drive. It made less impact on my Lenovo, only because it was pretty fast already (i5, dual processor, 8 GB RAM).

@johnpowell – I am tempted to upgrade my Lenovo with an SSD. Maybe later this summer.

The SSD I linked to 14 hours ago is now 200 from 180. Datahoarders around the world are cringing.

My desktop computer is working again! I needed to unplug everything and let it sit. Apparently there was power from the Ethernet and/or USB that kept it from resetting. Turning off the surge protector was not enough. It sure is nice to have 8GB RAM and SSD cache drive again.

That’s the electronic equivalent of giving it a kick.