Bought a new laptop, what should I do to get the most performance out of it.

[leglez]

I purchased the Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 tonight, it is supposed to come in tomorrow morning. I will mostly be using this for work. Using Citrix, and microsoft word, excel, outlook mostly. But will also use it for light web browsing, and the occasional youtube video.

I want to get the most performance out of it. I have not purchased a new computer in years, I am assuming this will most likely have a bunch of bloatware on it? If so whats the best way to go about clearing this? Install a fresh copy of windows 7? Is there anything I should install to speed anything up?

Also is it possible to buy larger batteries? I am not sure if I will need one or not, but I will be using this on the go a lot without being able to plug it in.

 

[akugami]

Look through and uninstall all the bloatware as you yourself noted. There's a lot of 3rd party software that simply isn't needed. Really, that is the main culprit. I'd dial down the fancy UI elements which can help speed things up and probably will help with battery life on a laptop.

What's killer about your post is the fact that you say you'll be going for long periods without being able to plug it in but didn't opt for a laptop with better battery life. These options cost a bit more but may be worth it since you can go about 6-8 hours without needing a charge. Notably some of the Acer Timeline notebooks or the Asus UL series.

 

[Zap]

What's killer about your post is the fact that you say you'll be going for long periods without being able to plug it in but didn't opt for a laptop with better battery life.

Yeah, it's like buying an SUV with a V8 for single person commuting, and asking how to get better gas mileage.

Couple things you can do is to keep the LCD as dim as you can stand it and keep Windows on the most aggressive battery saver power profile. Turn off anything you don't use (like Bluetooth, LAN). You can also look into whether your notebook is supported by third party utilities such as CrystalCPU and RMclock. Those utilities can help keep the CPU in a lower power state, and may even let you undervolt.

 

[akugami]

I re-read your post and noticed that you just purchased it. I think you should go back and cancel that order if it hasn't shipped. If you need the battery life, I'd recommend a laptop with a minimum 6 hours of battery life.

I don't know about the Acer Timeline but I know you can go to Best Buys and take a look at some of the Asus UL series to see if you like the screen (somewhat mediocre, same resolution as the Toshiba you ordered) and the build quality but the Asus UL series does have excellent battery life.

Some of the Asus UL notebooks are going for about $700 online. It's a little more than the Toshiba but considering it is for work and you need the battery life it may be worth it. A notebook of this nature usually lasts 3 years before being replaced barring any hardware issues since you don't need a powerhouse on the road.