Add more ram to my netbook or just buy another netbook?

[JEDI]

I have a 11.6" Dell Inspiron made last decade with an Intel SU4100 processor. It's intels first mobile dual core processor.

it only has 2gigs Ram and I upgraded it to Win7 last year.
it feels sluggish.

I use it mainly to surf the web and do light Word/Excel.

amazon has 2gigs Sodimm for $22.
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-10...=CT25664BF1339

but a new Netbook can be had for $225 if I wait for a hot deal.

Spend 10% of the cost on Ram, or get a new Netbook?

 

[Ancalagon44]

I don't think RAM will help. While web browsing, open the task manager, and view your total memory usage. Unless you are maxing out your RAM, extra RAM will not help.

Consider an SSD rather. That or a new netbook, as you said. I think if you either bay a Bay Trail netbook, or wait until AMD's new Mullins and Beema APUs are available in netbooks, you should end up with something that is both faster and has longer battery life than what you have now.

The CPU that you have now would still outperform some dual core netbook CPUs, such as many older generation Intel Atoms, AMD's C50, and even some Temash APUs.

 

[ninaholic37]

When I upgraded from Vista to 7, my Core2Duo laptop started to feel sluggish too. I think a fresh install of Windows 7 might help, and making sure you don't have too many programs/OEM junkware built-up running in the background (Anti-Virus seemed to make everything run slower for me).

Like Ancalagon44 said, it's probably not the 2GB RAM bogging you down but you can check in Task Manager, and many netbooks probably won't perform much better (some of which have only 1GB RAM). What netbooks are available for $225?

 

[TheStu]

Definitely consider the SSD. But at the same time, remember that the system probably only has a GMA950 GPU, not sure how much effective life is left in that thing.

 

[ninaholic37]

Do you use Internet Explorer? If so, I'd see if one of these alternatives helps:

Pale Moon - http://www.palemoon.org
Slimboat - http://www.slimboat.com/en/

Changing Visual Effects to "Adjust for Best Performance" might help too:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-adjust-visual-settings-windows-7-best-performance.htm

 

[Bateluer]

While I think the RAM upgrade might improve things a little, especially with Windows 7, the SSD is going to provide a little more bang. But thats a larger expense.


If it was me, I'd go with the 20 dollar RAM upgrade and try holding for Mullins/Beema/BayTrail.

 

[JWade]

does the netbook have two slots, in my experience, they tend to only have one. but if you upgraded to 2gb before then you would know I would take it.

 

[JEDI]

Do you use Internet Explorer? If so, I'd see if one of these alternatives helps:

Pale Moon - http://www.palemoon.org
Slimboat - http://www.slimboat.com/en/

Changing Visual Effects to "Adjust for Best Performance" might help too:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-adjust-visual-settings-windows-7-best-performance.htm

whoa.. setting it to Adjust for Best Performance made my fonts smaller?!

yes, I use IE. sometimes I have 10+ tabs open. Task manager says 1.8gigs ram used.

a SSD would be better because of faster page file swapping.
but then again, with more ram, the computer wouldn't have to use the hard drive as additional memory?


edit:
small fonts fixed-> enabled 'visual styles on windows and buttons'
ahh.. better

 

[Bateluer]

yes, I use IE. sometimes I have 10+ tabs open. Task manager says 1.8gigs ram used.

Um, thats probably a bigger problem. Chrome, FireFox and Opera are all lighter browsers than IE.

 

[toughtrasher]

whoa.. setting it to Adjust for Best Performance made my fonts smaller?!

yes, I use IE. sometimes I have 10+ tabs open. Task manager says 1.8gigs ram used.

a SSD would be better because of faster page file swapping.
but then again, with more ram, the computer wouldn't have to use the hard drive as additional memory?


edit:
small fonts fixed-> enabled 'visual styles on windows and buttons'
ahh.. better

1.8 gigs of RAM used.. Try the other browsers and check if your RAM is still being used up.

If so, I suggest getting the stick of RAM as it's cheaper and less risky.
Cheers

 

[gmaster456]

Netbooks are generally considered disposable machines. If you bought it "last decade" you have already gotten a solid 4 years out of it at least if not more. I would suggest looking into a chomebook if you don't need windows. If you do, Windows laptops run pretty cheap and anything you get today will be miles better than a 4+ year old netbook.

 

[Bateluer]

What did you decide to do, JEDI?

 

[toughtrasher]

Netbooks are generally considered disposable machines. If you bought it "last decade" you have already gotten a solid 4 years out of it at least if not more. I would suggest looking into a chomebook if you don't need windows. If you do, Windows laptops run pretty cheap and anything you get today will be miles better than a 4+ year old netbook.

I'm surprised people can last 4 years with the same netbook. I can't even survive with a 4 year old desktop

 

[JEDI]

What did you decide to do, JEDI?

was going to upgrade the ram for $22, then found out it's a pain in a netbook.
thought it was the same as a regular laptop.
ie: remove screws to memory compartment on the bottom of the laptop.

nope. in my netbook, the memory is underneath the keyboard.

going to try Chrome first. thx for the suggestion.

 

[JEDI]

I'm surprised people can last 4 years with the same netbook. I can't even survive with a 4 year old desktop

for my light needs, any dual core works.

and my netbook worked adequately till I (stupidly) upgraded from winXP to Win7.
there was a logical reason why I did it but I don't remember why.

 

[tsupersonic]

for my light needs, any dual core works.

and my netbook worked adequately till I (stupidly) upgraded from winXP to Win7.
there was a logical reason why I did it but I don't remember why.

Support for Windows XP did just end recently...Not to mention Windows 7 is so much better than XP.

 

[bgt]

Support for Windows XP did just end recently...Not to mention Windows 7 is so much better than XP.

And Windows 8.1.1 is so much better, and especially lighter, than 7.
I've done this on older laptops and netbooks and its amazing. 2Gb ram is enough.
But better.....buy a more modern laptop/netbook with a slightly faster CPU. 1.3Ghz is not very high. Intel CPU's work best with high clocks. If I compare my laptop/tablet(Samsung XE700/i5-3317U) to my desktop i3-4130...the i3 is much faster. There is nothing better than desktop CPU's.

 

[rsutoratosu]

I justed install windows 8 on my hp 5103 atom netbook last night.

2gb max and 60 gb ocz vertex (test) and it seems to be pretty snappy.. just hate windows 8 but i think it worked a bit better than w7

 

[toughtrasher]

I justed install windows 8 on my hp 5103 atom netbook last night.

2gb max and 60 gb ocz vertex (test) and it seems to be pretty snappy.. just hate windows 8 but i think it worked a bit better than w7

Definitely works better for me than Win7 on my laptop. Agree I don't like it as much, but I'm still adapting.