Is it the Harddrive or the RAM?

I have a 4200RPM harddrive and 512M ram running windows XP. Performance is horrible. I want to upgrade, but I'm not sure if its my ram or hard-drive.

 

I recommend XP with minimum 1 GB RAM, 2 GB recommended. Your hard drive could possibly be failing. But judging from your specs it also could be your integrated graphics. What is the CPU and speed?

 

Pentium M 1.5 (I know its old)

 

add in some RAM, im still using mine Old dell inspiron 1300 was having 512 ram too added 1GB to 1.5GB ram, its working faster now~

RAM for Multi Tasking, faster respone

HDD for bigger storage space and slight speed improve~

 

Why bother upgrading? You could get a 2-300 dollar netbook that'll be 10x faster. Adding RAM tosuch an old computer seems silly when you could get a way better one for cheap

 

sometime you have feeling attached to the notebook you have been using for years and the thing is its still live and kicking!..

save the extra bucks and get a better system.
temporary solution for current Case seems to be in need of RAM/DIMM Upgrade.

 

Definitely. I got a free Dell Inspiron E1405, yeah Core 2 Duo @ 1.6, 512 MB and hard drive is dying but it's a free working notebook. Put a few dollars into it and it's working like a charm. Though I do spend too much money on my Vostro 1500

 

i have no ideal when my HDD gonna die on my old dell, is there any software that checks it

i seriously need to back up my current Data~ but im using XP home with no back up function

 

Yeah I use PC check through my work place. Only problem is if it reads a failing hard drive you need to test with a 2nd drive as rule out the SATA controller on the motherboard.

I don't trust backup software, I want to see data backed up myself. Use unstoppable copier and verify with Windows your data has been backed up.

 

I had a toshiba satellite for 5-6 years... couldn't wait to move on =p

 

What about OS/virus? Ever consider clean installing XP?

 

This was a clean install, 512 I guess can't cut it anymore with all the updates.

 

4200 RPM HD? Must be IDE, not SATA. (Ouch!).

The order of upgrades is normally:

RAM

O/S

HD

with the O/S and HD done simutaneously (that way you always have a working system - simply swap HD's if any problems show up).

Although the RAM will make a big difference - the old, old HD will severly hamper the benefits of the added RAM imo.

I totally agree with most here to get a new system.

If you can use that system while you save up for a new one, you may want to try eBoostr (if your system has USB2 capabilities and you have a fast enough USB drive to use for the eBoostr cache) - this may give you faster overall performance increase than adding RAM will as it will be masking your slow HD's speed too.

See:
eBoostr Official Website: Accelerate your Computer! - Home


Good luck.

 

I just ordered 1 gig of ram. So basically what your telling me is that I'm screwed, and will get only a slight performance boost.

 

No, I didn't say that.

Can your system actually use 1GB sticks or is this 2 x 512MB modules?

The system will simply feel very 'un-balanced' now: when the RAM is able to make a difference, it will respond like 'normal', but... when the cpu/RAM is waiting to be supplied with the data/instructions from the HD, it will feel 'broken' - well, you know, relatively.

Even with the RAM you ordered, can you still try a fast USB2 key/drive with eBoostr in the meantime? Both together (RAM + eBoostr) will really make your system fly - compared to what you're experiencing now.

Sorry to worry you!

 

It's both the HDD and the RAM. Even a Pentium 4 based laptop can run Windows XP very well providing you don't bottleneck it with either.

Is your HDD IDE? Very likely since your laptop is likely a Pentiun M based model at best? In fact it might be a Pentium 4 in which case your HDD will be IDE. Just asking because the fastest IDE HDD you can get for laptops is a 160GB Samsung Spinpoint HM160HC. Upgrading to such a HDD will help greatly.

On the RAM front go with 1GB. Your laptop might support 2GB, in such go for 2x SO-DIMM's. As it's likely DDR you're bound to need either PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200.

 

I agree with everyone else. Buy a new laptop. The $100 you'd spend for memory and a hard drive, plus sell your old laptop for $50 and you're $150 better towards any $300 laptop you can get. I mean even those $300-$350 specials are 15" 1366x768, dual core AMD or Intel with integrated graphics, 250GB or 320GB 5400RPM SATA HDD, 2GB RAM, and Windows 7 of some variety.

 

Sometimes certain notebooks are sentimental (family hand me down, gift). Of course they shouldn't be, notebooks have an average life span of 2-3 years. My general rule of thumb for upgrading older notebooks of the lower end models is if you don't plan on keeping it for at least a year, don't spend more than 50 bucks upgrading it. If you plan on keeping it for 2-3+ years then by all means spend 100 bucks on upgrading it. Just mind you if you have a serious hardware issue down the road, usually it won't be worth repairing, so it's entirely up to you.

 

Don't spend the money unless you have specific reason to use it for another year or two. IDE and DDR are both grand father generation so you are going to pay unreasonable price for them.

The oldest notebook I would upgrade would be those using DDR2 and SATA. Even that I need to pay a price primium for the RAM.

If you don't mind linux, try the new ubuntu 10.10. I am surprised to see it run quite smoothly on my 3.5 yr old Samsung. The memory foot print(of the live-CD version booting from USB stick) is only 240M or so.

 

well with 2gb of ram it oculd be a totaly decent single core setup i had a 1.7 ghz pentium M and it was great even under window 7

that make sme think i still have 2gb of ddr1 ram and a 1.7ghz pentium m banias cpu liying around with a perfectly decent 5400rpm hdd

 

That is true and with the help of readyboost, it would still be a very decent setup.

The problem though is cost. 2GB SODIMM + W7 + 5400rpm PATA is approaching the walmart new machine price.

 

Lol, I guess I must be some sort of weirdo with this machine. I'm gonna keep using it until it dies. I'm fine with the speed, processors good enough for basic programming stuff, surfing the net, etc. The only problem is it just gets bogged down when I go over my 512M ram (which happens often). I've purchased 2 sticks of 512M I think it'll be impossible to pass 1GB in usage I'll update this when I install my sticks, for those hardcore users still sticking it old-school.

I think my X31 is never gonna die.

 

if my gpu didn't die i would never had bought a new machine i loved my old i8600

 

Just an update for those stubborn notebook users that don't ever want to upgrade, the notebook is working flawlessly the extra ram really helped. I don't experience anymore freezes or slowdowns. This notebook feels like it'll still be kicking for another 5 years. Thanks to all those that contributed to this thread.

 

When I upgrade my new laptop to 8GB of ram I'll probably put the replaced RAM into my old computer =p