2-year old laptop CPU, not fast enough for Skype?

[Morbus]

A two year useful life out of a 350$ laptop? Sounds about right.

I don't see the problem here. You have an old low-end computer. Get a new one or get a better one. Two years for low-end is death.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A two year useful life out of a 350$ laptop? Sounds about right.

I don't see the problem here. You have an old low-end computer. Get a new one or get a better one. Two years for low-end is death.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834314110

My bad, I purchased it 10/2013. So it's a year and two months old. And it wasn't the lowest-end laptop I could buy. I would have called it mid-range budget.

But what I don't get is, tablets can run Skype just fine. Do tablets have more processing power than a 1.5Ghz Ivy Bridge now?

 

[CHADBOGA]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834314110

My bad, I purchased it 10/2013. So it's a year and two months old. And it wasn't the lowest-end laptop I could buy. I would have called it mid-range budget.

But what I don't get is, tablets can run Skype just fine. Do tablets have more processing power than a 1.5Ghz Ivy Bridge now?

Why didn't you just get a laptop with an i7 in it?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why didn't you just get a laptop with an i7 in it?

As if, I needed to spend $1000 on an i7 laptop, just to run Skype? Are you serious?

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm not surprised that an AMD C-range processor is choking when dealing with Skype video, I saw a C-range processor in the last couple of years that choked with a Flash game until I switched off Aero desktop composition (Win7). I've also seen a sub 2GHz AMD CPU (again, Win7 laptop) really take >30 minutes to run the .net optimisation after a Windows update, during which time the system was obviously lagging.

IMHO AMD C-range CPUs should be marketed as "CPUs for word processing only". Admittedly every AMD laptop I've seen in recent years has sucked performance wise IMO, but I think my perception of them suffers from the fact that most UK laptop vendors only use AMD for the low end of laptops.

PS - I hope CHADBOGA's suggestion for an i7 in a laptop to do Skype is a joke. I'd expect a Celeron to manage it without problems, though I tend to recommend non-U Pentiums or i3's for the average user.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm not surprised that an AMD C-range processor is choking when dealing with Skype video

Yes, but my laptop is a 1.5Ghz Ivy Bridge. You know, a "big core" CPU.

Anyways, for those people telling me to get an i7 laptop, have you forgotten I've mentioned that Skype takes 33% CPU, on my $60 Atom quad-core tablet? That CPU has less than a 1000 Passmark score.

 

[NTMBK]

What do you expect, should have bought a laptop with an i7.

 

[mikeymikec]

Yes, but my laptop is a 1.5Ghz Ivy Bridge. You know, a "big core" CPU.

Anyways, for those people telling me to get an i7 laptop, have you forgotten I've mentioned that Skype takes 33% CPU, on my $60 Atom quad-core tablet? That CPU has less than a 1000 Passmark score.

Oops, I failed at scan-reading The 'U' class CPUs worry me a bit, I tend to only recommend them where maximum battery efficiency is really important.

 

[gmaster456]

The CPU in his laptop is not the issue. It should be more than fine for simple skype. My 5 year old TX2 with an ancient Turion x64 runs it no problem.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Maybe the latest version of Skype has issues I have not tested it on a slow machine yet. Try doing the ad blocking trick it might reduce CPU usage (Google it) at the very least the program will be much less annoying to use.

 

[tential]

Another day, another thread about Virtual Larry being too cheap to spend a little extra and get a product that will last.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Another day, another thread about Virtual Larry being too cheap to spend a little extra and get a product that will last.

He can buy what he wants, what's the problem? Like I said I've run Skype on a 10 year old processor and it's been usable. So if a new version becomes a CPU hog for no reason well that's not the fault of the hardware is it.

 

[tential]

He can buy what he wants, what's the problem? Like I said I've run Skype on a 10 year old processor and it's been usable. So if a new version becomes a CPU hog for no reason well that's not the fault of the hardware is it.

He can what he wants? And I can laugh at him for continually purchasing subpar products, then coming here and complaining that they don't work on new versions of programs.

If you CONSISTENTLY purchase products that are outdated 1-2 years after their release, then come online to complain, what do you want me to do?

Say:
"Sorry Virtual Larry, it's all the software engineers fault for purposely making your low quality purchase outdated! They really should stop making your life miserable!"

I'm not hopping on the VirtualLarry pity party because he's too cheap to spend $100 more dollars and get a laptop that would have lasted him 5 years, instead of 2.

 

[Piroko]

I'm thinking the graphics drivers might be borked, having no h.264 video acceleration can be pretty demanding on your CPU. The CPU itself should be fine with Skype imho.

 

[SlickR12345]

What do you expect, should have bought a laptop with an i7, huur huur

But I have a feeling its your browser that is taking all that CPU, do you by any chance use Chrome browser? If yes, than change to Firefox.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Not particularly relevant, but I made a graff.

Deer VirtualLarree:

 

[gdansk]

This is a recurring glitch of Skype, see:
http://superuser.com/questions/707204/skype-consumes-100-cpu-on-idle-unles-it-has-admin-privileges

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-archive/Getting-extremely-high-CPU-usage/td-p/1914583

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windo...high-CPU-usage-Possible-Solution/td-p/2355319

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Skype-using-high-CPU/td-p/2113581

Your processor may also be bad, but Skype is the root cause here. I suspect you've a glitch like this, which would surely mess up your voice quality. I have a 1.4GHz Sandy Bridge and it does fine with Skype + Chrome simultaneously.

 

[escrow4]

Yes, but my laptop is a 1.5Ghz Ivy Bridge. You know, a "big core" CPU.

Anyways, for those people telling me to get an i7 laptop, have you forgotten I've mentioned that Skype takes 33% CPU, on my $60 Atom quad-core tablet? That CPU has less than a 1000 Passmark score.

Your tablet has 4 cores. They may be laughably inadequate but there are 4 of them. Its 2015, a slow ass dual core won't cut it. Even for Skype. Do you still use a P4 or Pentium D? I never recommended anything slower than an i3 (full fat or low voltage) with 4GB of RAM in any product barring cheapo tablets as an absolute minimum.

 

[gdansk]

Your tablet has 4 cores. They may be laughably inadequate but there are 4 of them. Its 2015, a slow ass dual core won't cut it. Even for Skype. Do you still use a P4 or Pentium D? I never recommended anything slower than an i3 (full fat or low voltage) with 4GB of RAM in any product barring cheapo tablets as an absolute minimum.

A crappy dual core is plenty fast for Skype. Even in a call Skype only uses three threads, two of which is pretty much idle (the GUI thread and the main thread, only the call thread seems busy). Secondly, I run skype on a worse processor (1.4GHz Sandy Bridge) all the time. It's a software mess-up on Larry's side. Skype is notorious for these issues anyway. Why are we blaming the hardware? Not everything needs a quad-core Broadwell.

 

[gmaster456]

I find it baffling that so many people are actually suggesting that a Dual core Ivy Bridge (Big core) isn't enough for Skype. Good grief. Not everything needs to be a, i7 OC'd to 5Ghz

 

[AnandThenMan]

I just tried the latest Skype on an ancient processor, works fine. Didn't try video just voice but CPU usage was low it spiked at first but then settled down. The new interface is horrible though it looks childish, won't be upgrading my main system unless I have no choice.

 

[Yuriman]

I Skype with my father and have no issues. He uses a 2GHz Core2Duo, and I have a 1.5GHz Haswell Celeron in my laptop. He's on Win7 and I have Ubuntu on my laptop.

Software problem.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This is a recurring glitch of Skype, see:
http://superuser.com/questions/707204/skype-consumes-100-cpu-on-idle-unles-it-has-admin-privileges

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-archive/Getting-extremely-high-CPU-usage/td-p/1914583

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windo...high-CPU-usage-Possible-Solution/td-p/2355319

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Skype-using-high-CPU/td-p/2113581

Your processor may also be bad, but Skype is the root cause here. I suspect you've a glitch like this, which would surely mess up your voice quality. I have a 1.4GHz Sandy Bridge and it does fine with Skype + Chrome simultaneously.

Thanks.

13-11-2013 21:05 - edited ‎13-11-2013 21:09
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I have been struggling with this issue for a week now, have removed and re-installed different versions of Skype repeatedly and with every fix comes another issue. To old of a version and it doesn't work with group video or sharing screens, etc.



Finally, I realized that the only thing that had recently changed, outside of updating to Skype version 6.10.60.104, was changing Google Chrome my default browser.



I decided to give it one more shot, reinstalled Skype 6.10.60.104, opened Skype...and...got the typical CPU at 100% usage (Skype at 50%+)!



Then, I quit Skype (didn't reinstall though), reverted to the tyrannical Internet Explorer as my default browser, reopened Skype...and...



VOILÀ! Skype instantly behaved normally.



So, there's the secret; Microsoft believes in the old "YOU CAN'T QUIT ME!!!!" philosophy.



Yes, it sucks to have to revert to manually opening links in Chrome but at least my computer can do more than 1 thing at a time again!



Hope that helps!



Good luck!

14-11-2013 20:36
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Thank you for sharing this inverstigation.

I have tried the same here on a Windows-7 single CPU laptop and can confirm this behaviour: Chome+Skype = 100%CPU; IE+Skype= normal behaviour.

We have disabled Skype for now as we really prefer the Chrome browser.

We use Skype on an Android tablet to help out...



Have you filed a bug report and could you keep us posted on progress if any?



Regards.
Skype user on Windows, Android and Linux (Lubuntu)

Seems Microsoft is up to their dirty tricks again... sigh. Thanks for the links.

Edit: Interesting.

20-11-2013 12:16
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There are no such problem on Linux and Mac OS X.

So here solution would be following:

Fix this bug, or I would uninstall Windows !!!

Maybe I should break out my NanoPCs again and try them out. I don't think I tried using them with Skype and browsing, AFTER wiping Win7 and installing Linux.

 

[jacktesterson]

I have a HTPC based off the Celeron 1007U. I wanted something extremely tiny and cheap.

First thing I'd recommend, switch to Windows 8.1 and tidy it up to appear like Windows 7 if thats why your hesitating. I find 8.1 to be much quicker feeling on this Processor than Windows 7. There is also a Skype Windows 8 App that will probably work much better for you.

Its plenty fast for browsing, Email, YouTube, Netflix HD, etc.

However, I purchased it knowing it was a Single Task at a time type machine. Multitasking slows the performance of mine considerably. I do think an Ivy Bridge Dual Core Celeron should have no problems with Skype.

 

[mikeymikec]

@ VL

This 'chrome + skype' 'ie + skype' thing, is the link the 'skype click to call' extension? I always remove it. I didn't think it had a chrome extension though...