Upgrading Dell Inspiron 700m

I watch a lot of streaming sports on my laptop, especially from ESPN3.com. I am noticing that it looks fine when it is minimized, but when I go to full screen the pictures gets jumpy. What is the best way to upgrade my computer to fix this problem?

Here are the specs on my computer:

Dell Inspiron 700m
Pentium 1.7ghz processor
1Gb Ram
Graphics card - intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller.

I am not looking to dump a large amount of money into my laptop as it is fairly old, but at the same time it still works great, and if I could upgrade it for a pretty cheap price I would be more than willing.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Casey

 

Yeah, old system but there are some things you can do/try to improve its performance considerably.

Before 'upgrading' anything I have to check/ask: is the system running XP SP3 with all drivers updated, including flashing the firmware of any and all components (if firmware is available - including the BIOS)?

Have you turned off system restore? Are you using PerfectDisk 11 to setup your HD to not only reduce fragmentation but to also optimally place files to reduce future fragmentation?

Have you disabled/uninstalled any and all programs that you are not using?

Have you considered a clean install of your O/S (with no bloatware installed) - or better yet considered installing Win7?

Finally, have you uninstalled 'heavy' Anti-Virus apps like Norton, Eset, McAffe, etc. and considered installing MSE - Microsoft Security Essentials?

If all the above have (or will be) taken care of then consider also doing:


First:
upgrade the RAM to 2GB (or more) - this should be in the $40-$60 range.

Second:
upgrade the O/S to Win7 - if you're a student this could be as low as $30.

Third:
check your BIOS options to see if you're able to allow your onboard graphics to use more RAM for video purposes.


Good luck.

 

Thank you for your quick response.

I will try to answer the questions you asked as best I can:

I am running XP SP3. I do not know for sure if all drivers are updated. I am not sure on the flash firmware or BIOS as well.

I have not turned off system restore (not sure how). I am not using PerfectDisk 11. I am guessing this is something I should look into?

Yes. I try to keep my computer as "clean" as possible.

I actually just did a clean install a few weeks ago. Since it is an older computer I do it every year or so just to get it running faster. I have considered windows 7. Is it really worth it? I am definitely open to it.

I have removed all heavy Anti-Virus apps and run AVG (the free version). I am not familiar with Microsoft Security Essentials.

It looks like your first few questions are where I should get started, unfortunately I am not real familiar with that. I am fairly computer savvy and figure most stuff out by just googling the problem and going from there, but your help is greatly appreciated so if you could give me a few more pointers I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again

 

For drivers:

See:
Drivers & Downloads


For MSE:

See:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/


For a trial of PD11:

See:
Home Disk Defragmentation Software | PerfectDisk 11 Professional


For your BIOS options:
see if hitting (one of the) F1, F2, Del or F10 keys gets you into the BIOS to change any Video options while the computer is booting up.

Usually, it is easier to do a full shutdown and then power on the system and try one of the keys suggested above to get into the BIOS - trying to do it while doing a reboot (vs. a shutdown) is sometimes tricky for some systems.


One other thing you may try is make sure you have all the latest flash player updates, shockwave updates and java player updates too - these can make a difference in how smoothly a system responds.

As to Win7 I can easily recommend it - depending on the cost.

Not only does it bring an updated O/S experience - it also will give you newer drivers than the Dell's site 2005 offerings.

I would recommend you try it (without activating it right away) on a new HD (so you can simply put in your original HD without needing to re-install anything if it doesn't work on your specific notebook).

Before you do though - make sure you have updated at least the BIOS of your notebook with the existing O/S installation.

Oh, and btw - I do not recommend an 'upgrade' over your existing install - do a clean install to really get the maximum benefits it may offer.