More RAM or new computer?

J

jemmons

New Member
I have a hp dv1000 with 1.6 Ghz and 504 Mb of RAM. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to upgrade to 2 Gb of RAM or to just get a new laptop. I don't do any type of computing or gaming, mainly just internet and itunes. I find it takes forever to switch between itunes and the internet when i have them both up and also to come back to the internet when I let it sit for a while. My question is if more RAM will help all this run NOTICEABLY faster even though the processor is only 1.6 Ghz or is the processor just to old and slow?

Thanks,
Jordan
 
first off welcome. secondly I would say it would be worthwhile to upgrade the ram. ram is REALLY cheap and gives a huge boost in performance.
 
if your using 32 bit installation then 3gig max. one more gig will likely be good enough. yes it is a cheap upgrade for speed up.
 
If you have Windows XP and all you use it for is the internet and itunes, then upgrading to a 1 GB would probably help. More than 1 GB total won't likely do much good with only a 1.6 Ghz cpu. Also, ram prices are fairly high right now. I have an old hp laptop very similar to that one (1.6 Ghz cpu, 1 GB ram, Win XP). Unless you are using Vista or Windows 7, or do a lot of ram intensive tasks like photo editing, then you really don't need more than 1 GB of ram.
 
Hello jemmons,

For me, upgrading RAM would be a better idea rather than purchasing a new unit immediately. As of the moment, you have 504 Mb of RAM, and if you upgrade it to 2Gb of RAM it will increase and boost the performance of your unit. If you are going to purchase a new unit then you're going to spend a huge money on it rather than upgrade the memory RAM. Try to upgrade the RAM first then feel and see the difference.

Thanks,
 
How did you come up with 502MB RAM? I assume you mean 512MB? :P

Also, as a rule of thumb, I try to match the amount of RAM I have installed as closely as I can to the processor speed. So I think another GB of RAM would significantly boost your performance.

But there are other things you can do to speed up you computer. If you are interested, here are some of the things I do when clients complain about their computer being slow:

The first thing I do is completely uninstall anything that says Norton or Symantec. It's a major resource hog. Follow the steps in this post, and we'll replace it with something equally effective and less demanding.

Have you scanned for malware? If not, download and run Malwarebyte's Antimalware in Safe Mode with Networking and remove anything it finds.

After that, download and install Piriform CCleaner. Run the program, and on the left hand side select Registry. Scan and Fix Issues. Continue scanning for/repairing issues until it doesn't find anymore.

Then, if you're like 90% of Windows users, you probably have a ton of extra programs starting up automatically when Windows starts up. You can disable unneeded processes from starting up by doing the following:
Go to Start-->Run-->type in 'msconfig' and hit <enter>

In the Startup tab, uncheck everything that you do not need running in the background at
startup and click "Apply." Then, in the Services tab, check Hide All Microsoft
Services, uncheck everything that you do not need running in the background at startup and click "Apply." Restart the computer.

Next, download and run the executable for TrendMicro HijackThis!.
Press the button labeled "Open the Misc Tools Section". Then check both the check boxes next to the "Generate StartupList Log" button and click the button. Click the button to generate the list, save it and upload it as an attachment to your next post, and I or some other forum member will advise you on what else to disable, if anything. Then run HijackThis! in normal mode and post your scan log here and we'll see if there's anything else that needs to be looked at.

Finally, you can install a free anti-virus to help keep you protected (these aren't nearly as taxing on your memory as Norton). I prefer AVG Free Edition, but I've heard good things about Microsoft Security Essentials as well. Avira AntiVir and Avast! are two more options. Please install one of these programs to help keep you virus free.

After you've done all of these things, please wait until the computer is idle (no programs loading/scanning/etc), and hit ctrl+alt+delete and make note of your CPU usage at the bottom of the popup window, as well as any processes that are using more than 10,000K Memory.

On your next post, please include both the HijackThis! Logs I've requested, your idle CPU usage, processes using more than 10,000K memory any steps you left out, the make/model of your computer, and let us know how your it is running now.


Additionally, I like to clean my computer cases once every 6 mos or so. Many people use canned air, but I've found that the hose extension on my vacuum cleaner works really well. I remove all dust from the case, even taking the fan off the heat-sink and vacuuming that out. If you decide to do this, download and install SpeedFan and make note of your temperatures before and after. You'll be surprised how much cooler a clean computer will run!

Have fun and good luck. :D
 
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