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Upgrading a laptop for a friend....

S

speedy2

Golden Member
Laptop is a Toshiba X205-S9349

I downgraded this laptop for him a long time ago to XP 32 bit.

It's now acting up. I suggested maybe upgrading to windows 7 64-bit, more RAM, and possibly an SSD.

Current specs:

2GB DDR2 RAM

2 x 120GB 5400RPM Hard Drives

Windows XP Home 32-bit


I'm thinking at least upgrade the OS and RAM.

But, would it be worthwhile to spend the money on an SSD to?

He barely has used an disk space. So, maybe one of the 120GB drives could stay for data storage and use an SSD for the OS. Looking for suggestions on SSD's since I've never messed with them before. Brand/size/compatibility/etc.
 
I would get 4GB RAM W7 64-bit and a Samsung 470 series 64GB SSD


I just picked up a 64GB Samsung 470 and it is a very nice drive. My boot times are down to about 30 secs and it wakes from sleep instantly.

AS SSD score.
ssdscore1.jpg


ssdscore2.jpg
 
Ok. I've got figures up for him to see. Hoping to see more input on this though.

Like, what's the best way to keep windows from filling that drive up. Stuff like systems restore, temporary internet files, etc. Will 64GB be enough?
 
speedy2 said:
Ok. I've got figures up for him to see. Hoping to see more input on this though.

Like, what's the best way to keep windows from filling that drive up. Stuff like systems restore, temporary internet files, etc. Will 64GB be enough?
Click to expand...

Main thing would be to turn of hibernation and reduce the page file size. System restore automatically manages the sizes of its volume shadow copies; so it should never fill up the drive.
 
How is it "acting up?"

You don't really want to jump in and do an upgrade without first figuring out if there is a problem.
 
XP is slow to boot. You see nothing but the wallpaper for about 1-2 minutes. Then everything pops up all of a sudden. Internet explorer won't open. It opens a window, but completely white. And then just stops. Other than that, it seems to run ok. Nothing impressive. Maybe virus/spyware or something. He's been wanting to upgrade it or sell it anyway. Even if I fix these problems, he still wants to go to windows 7 at least.
 
Sounds like either a virus, something corrupted in XP or the OS HD is going bad. In that case, I would go ahead and upgrade the OS HD to a bigger, faster model like 320GB 7200RPM and then do a clean install of Windows 7. After that you could upgrade memory from 2G to 4G. Leave one of the 120GB HDs installed for data/backups.
 
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I had a 7 64-bit disk. I went ahead and pulled his data off and put it on an external drive. Loading 7 just fine. Some issue with the video card driver causing flickering. Turned off the PowerMizer and all is well. Runs way better with 7. I'm thinking the drives are fine, but he'll probably at least want to go with a faster drive.
 
I don't buy the virus theory. 1-2 minutes with XP is not really unusual if you have a lot of stuff running in background. Watch the notification area during the boot process. Sometimes it takes a while for the AV icon and other things to appear, including the Internet connection. After several minutes, and the system is stable, how many icons are there in the notification area, and what are they?

The main improvement is because you did a clean install with 7. Even with 7, the system will slow down as stuff is installed. The biggest slower downer is often the anti-virus program or suite. Pay attention to what shows in the Notification Area (right side of the Taskbar) and how quickly the icons appear.
 
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Before I wiped it, I removed Norton. That did help. Which was also my first thought when I saw it down there. But, still he wants to upgrade to 64 bit and at least more RAM. The biggest choice, is whether or not to spend $100+ on an SSD in addition to the other 2 upgrades.
 
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