Anything I can do to speed up this old laptop?

[pete6032]

Dell Precision M2800 MFG date 2014
i5-4210M processor
240 GB SSD (just upgraded this week from 7200 RPM HDD)
2x 4GB PC3 12800 DDR3
Win 10

I inherited this laptop. It is used primarily for Excel and office suite. It was originally on Win 7 and I upgraded it to 10 with a format and fresh install hoping it would run smoother but the performance gain was minimal. I then upgraded the HDD to SSD hoping that would help, and it has to some extent, but it still feels slow. I realize its a very old machine but is there anything else I can do? Not sure about the RAM, could I pick up some faster RAM or is this the fastest RAM possible? Would I benefit from 16GB or would that be overkill for my purposes? I usually don't open large datasets that often so not sure I need a lot of RAM. I generally have Chrome open, Outlook, Word, Excel, and Acrobat.

 

[Fardringle]

You have the fastest RAM that the laptop supports. It could be swapped out for 2x8GB for a total of 16GB, but unless you are doing things that use more than the existing 8GB, it probably won't affect the system speed very much.

Replacing the hard drive with an SSD is a good idea.

Unfortunately, that i5-4210M is just a slow dual core CPU. And while an i7-4810MQ would be an uprade (the fastest CPU supported in the laptop), it's not a huge difference and probably not worth the cost...assuming you can find one.

I would definitely recommend opening up thelaptop and thoroughly cleaning the dust out of the fans and the vents. Replacing the thermal paste on the CPU and heat sink(s) is also a good idea if you are comfortable doing it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would definitely recommend opening up thelaptop and thoroughly cleaning the dust out of the fans and the vents. Replacing the thermal paste on the CPU and heat sink(s) is also a good idea if you are comfortable doing it.

Yeah, that's about the only thing left to do for it. 8GB of DDR3 (?), and an SSD (hopefully, it wasn't a Sandisk SSD Plus, or WD Green, those are kind of slow), are about all that you can do, short of a CPU upgrade, and as Fardringle said, that's not really a good benefit/cost ratio.

 

[pete6032]

Yeah, that's about the only thing left to do for it. 8GB of DDR3 (?), and an SSD (hopefully, it wasn't a Sandisk SSD Plus, or WD Green, those are kind of slow), are about all that you can do, short of a CPU upgrade, and as Fardringle said, that's not really a good benefit/cost ratio.

It was a PNY SSD https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-24...0719D9YL7/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8. I figured the CPU would be such a bottleneck that I didn't need to get a speedy SSD. I will clean it out this weekend. Fan hasn't been running vigorously but taking a peek wouldn't hurt.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've used PNY CS900 120GB (older model) and 250GB (newer model), and they've been pretty decent for me, performance-wise.

 

[Steltek]

One thing that might be making a difference in your case is that the PNY CS900 SSD is a DRAMless drive.

Trying to multitask multiple applications on a DRAMless SSD can in some instances result in worse performance than even a regular hard drive provides. In your case, your laptop combines a weak CPU, marginal iGPU (for Windows 10) and slower DDR3 DRAM memory, which would present a more "worst-case" situation in which to use a DRAMless SSD.

It could be that a better class SSD that has an actual DRAM cache would increase the performance of your system and give it a "faster" feel given that it will need fewer system resources to operate.

Longer term, I'd be watching the Dell Outlet (both Home and Work) for a good deal on a more up to date laptop.

 

[richaron]

Linux?
Even though Ubuntu is considered "bloated" by some of the more nerdcore persuasion, it's still pretty lightweight compared to windows. And the latest Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Long Term Support) is damn polished and newb friendly. Easily capable of general office duties and everyday interwebbing.

 

[jpiniero]

Have you run any benchmarks on the thing / confirm the frequency is boosting correctly? I had a Dell laptop circa 2010 which from time to time complained about not correctly detecting the power supply at startup and would only run at the min frequency allowed, until I fiddled with the supply connector.

 

[accguy9009]

Have you run any benchmarks on the thing / confirm the frequency is boosting correctly? I had a Dell laptop circa 2010 which from time to time complained about not correctly detecting the power supply at startup and would only run at the min frequency allowed, until I fiddled with the supply connector.

I realize this is apples to oranges but I dusted off an old HP i3 that had an old spinner and 4 GB of ram & was painfully slow. Slapped in a cheap SSD I had never got around to using an bought a 4 GB Kingston stick off Newegg an it is considerably snappier for what it is. Not used for for gaming or production but it handles Win 10 well enough

 

[CluelessOne]

The Excel and Word is saving to the local drive right? Not to One Drive?

 

[GoodEnough]

How exactly is the laptop slow for your needs?
i5, SSD, 8GB Win10, should be plenty fast for basic laptop use.
You can buy an 8GB RAM Stick for $40 and up it to 12GB.
Should be a solid laptop that has many years of service.

 

[GoodEnough]

Unfortunately, that i5-4210M is just a slow dual core CPU. And while an i7-4810MQ would be an uprade (the fastest CPU supported in the laptop), it's not a huge difference and probably not worth the cost...assuming you can find one.

Use TaskMgr to see if you're over 8GB RAM
If so, $70 to upgrade the RAM to 16GB.

$100 to buy a used i7-4810MQ. Not a huge difference?
Sorry, but it will be TWICE as fast a CPU. Huge difference going to Quad Core

 

[Fardringle]

Use TaskMgr to see if you're over 8GB RAM
If so, $70 to upgrade the RAM to 16GB.

$100 to buy a used i7-4810MQ. Not a huge difference?
Sorry, but it will be TWICE as fast a CPU. Huge difference going to Quad Core

Actually, in real world usage it's not going to be twice as fast. Yes, it is quad core vs dual core. But for MOST uses it's around a 25-40% increase in speed, since very few things will actually make use of all 8 threads all the time. Sure, that is an upgrade, but whether it's worth the cost is questionable since the cheapest one listed anywhere online is just under $180.

Take that $180, plus $70 for the RAM upgrade, plus the cost of an SSD, and you're well on your way to purchasing a new laptop that will be orders of magnitude faster than even the upgraded M2800 laptop would be.

 

[GoodEnough]

Your search skills are poor.
Here is a CPU for $95

He already bought the SSD.

$170 to upgrade his laptop is a lot less than dropping $1200 on a new laptop.
Upgrade is a no-brainer

 

[Rameshkumar]

How to speed up a slow laptop
1.Close system tray programs
2.Stop programs running on startup
3.Update your OS, drivers, and apps
4.Delete unnecessary files
5.Find programs that eat up resources
6.Adjust your power options
7.Uninstall programs you don’t use
8.Turn Windows features on or off
9.Run a disk cleanup
10.Defragment your hard drive
11.Adjust or disable graphics and animations
12.Check for malware
13.Disable Cortana
14.Upgrade your hardware

 

[Shmee]

CPU upgrade, possible RAM upgrade, and a light Linux would be great. Doesn't have to be Ubuntu, could be something lighter like Lubuntu. (The 20.04 version is light enough to run fine on a dual-core AMD socket 939 system I have with 3GB of DDR400! It has a 128GB crucial SSD.)