Latitude C610 - Lab Needs Help w/ Graphics Crashes

Hi there. I'm teaching in a computer lab at an elementary school and we have 3 Del Latitude C610s that are having a difficult time keeping up with the rest of the class. As far as I can tell they are pretty much stock. They are running a 1 Gig Pentium 3 w/ 256 MB RAM.

My main problem occurs when running Google Earth, but they freeze on other graphics-heavy applications as well. Google Earth seems to freeze regularly. I have just a few hundred dollars in the budget and would like to put it toward upgrading these machines so they can better keep up. Where am I best going to get the most bang for my buck on upgrades? Video Card/RAM? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

These are the basic Google Earth requirements and recommendations:
Minimum:

* Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista
* CPU: Pentium 3, 500Mhz
* System Memory (RAM): 256MB
* Hard Disk: 400MB free space
* Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
* Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM
* Screen: 1024x768, "16-bit High Color" - DirectX 9 (to run in Direct X mode)

Recommended:

* Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista
* CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
* System Memory (RAM): 512MB
* Hard Disk: 2GB free space
* Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
* Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM
* Screen: 1280x1024, "32-bit True Color"



Thanks!

 

Ram.... if you can find the modules for these Dinosaurs.

 

RAM is not too bad, I wouldn't spend any money on these old systems. It would make a lot more sense to pick up some D-series laptops if the budget allows.

What OS are these systems running? Have you tried updating the video driver?