Fix laptop

I restored my newer laptop from 2019 yesterday because it was lagging and slow. Quadcore 2.40 GHz up to 4.1 GHz with 8 Gb ram ddr4 2666MHz with dedicated Graphics with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM. It was fast after that but now after using it just for web browsing it has slowed down a little when loading newsites and videos, could it be the internet connection?

The price for the computer is 7-8000sek if you were to buy it today, I think. I mean it should be a fast computer.

I recently reinstalled a laptop that was from 2013 that came with Windows 8 originally for my father some month ago. And his partner uses it to surf the web - hilarious right? Yes, it is slow, but they use it for news media and videos. I think it had 4 Gb of Ram and is now running windows 10.

Mother's father wants a laptop also, he is almost 90 years old, he cannot spend too much money on it, but I found this laptop after searching the web: Asus. Read both positive and negative reviews. Some people had their laptops running ridiculously slow while others give it a 5-star rating.
 
Shnagfnie said:
It was fast after that but now after using it just for web browsing it has slowed down a little when loading newsites and videos, could it be the internet connection?
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Of course it can be the internet connection. Another reason is the browser history. It should be deleted every now and then. It also can help to close and restart the browser. I am now at 12 GB ram and still the browser can slow down after some time.

The Asus looks okay basically. 8 GB ram is almost a must these days. i5 processor also ok. On Windows 11 I cannot comment. I am on Linux, a super nice Chinese one, Deepin OS 20.8 which works fine and looks good.
 
broken.english said:
Further to Asus: some of their older models were a bit noisy for my taste. If noise does matter, please check the reviews.
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I think so too, I bought a small Asus (I think) maybe 13 years ago, it was very noisy, and so I returned it.

I didn't see any reviews on this laptops fan, but a website has it as listed with 'Decent cooling solution'.
 
The specs are fine for Windows 10. I didn't see the drive specs on the 2nd page but often those PCs shipped with 64GB/128GB of eMMC drive storage which has a shorter life then a SSD.

My wife uses in tablet mode a system with 2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC and a Bay Trail ATOM which is about the same CPU speed as yours. I've also used WIndows 10 on a 1GB RAM, 32GB eMMC 7" tablet. No issues for web browsing.

The issue MIGHT be the eMMC or SSD on 'the way out'. When they die you get the CPU going nuts as the OS is trying to locate drivers which are now not there. SSD also die although not as frequency - the only one I lost so far was a Samsung.

You might also have some malware on the device. This also causes those types of symptoms. You want to keep the anti-virus up-to-date and use ad blockers like Ghostery. I use Malwarebytes for the Windows and Droid devices. I avoid any registery cleaners such as CCleaner.


First, I assume you have backups off of the computer as you'll likely loose whatever is on there. Always backup regularly and use USB drives and so forth if you can. IF that system has malware remember ALL of the storage devices and other systems including IoT are likley also infected and need to be cleaned once your system is.

Second, you might want to create a boot-up SSD or USB 'thumb drive' as a test. Ask a friend to make one with (say) Linux Tails (GNOME). If it runs fine then it's your eMMC/SSD or malware. The way the keys are setup no malware can copy to it unless you've setup 'persistent storage'.

If it's a malware you'll want to do a fresh install of Windows (make sure to keep registration info if required) from a USB drive created on a CLEAN system and do a fresh Windows 10 install. Optionally you can also run Windows 10 from an external SSD off of the USB port - someone with some tech. knowledge can help you out.

If it's a fault eMMC/SSD you can just run the OS from an external drive assuming you have USB 3.x. It's about the speed of a SATA-III. I use SATA-III m.2 SSD to USB-A or C enclosures and swap them as required. It will involve using the BIOS/UEFI settings.

If you can't get it going, UPGRADE. You can find good deals during 'back to school' - last you I picked up a new educational Lenovo 100e (4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, 11.2" HD, AMD 1015e) for less then $85 US. I have a watermarked Windows 10 (no license on it) which I use about 10% of the time and 90% I run off an external SSD with MX Linux (KDE Plasma).

If you go with external drives setup (.. and have a friend there with some tech understanding to get you started) I'd suggest that even if you get Windows 10 working fine you learn to use MX Linux (KDE Plasma) or another version of Linux such as Mint. Go to Distrowatch dot com and you can look at what the most popular versions are - they are free. See what works for you.
 
broken.english said:
My compliments!

I use the Chinese Deepin OS and like it very much under all aspects, especially its user friendliness.
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Thanks!!, I'm downloading the stable version now (I'll try the Alpha too). I'll put it on one of my spare SSDs and give it a try.

Two questions - do you know if it support NTFS volumes (external drives) and the x265 CODECs?.
 
broken.english said:
That would be 23 Alpha.
As far as I saw there are no major design changes in comparison to 20.8. The main changes are under the hood. They announced more flexibility with the settings and a new software repository.
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Thanks - I'm happy x265/ NTFS on VLC work - lol, I'll sum up it's importance in just one word --> Donghua.
 
seek10 said:
You can play with ending some tasks which you know it is not needed and see how machine runs. If you don't know which program does what etc., you can google it. I am not a big fan of automatic tools to clean as they may screw up some thing else.

By looking at the screen shot and comparing it with my machine, you can stop the following programs and see how it behaves.
Microsoft Content, Microsoft windows search indexer , search etc.

Even though you end these tasks, they may be back when you restart. So once you identify which program to end, you can go to control panel and uninstall it.

Just like any thing else, machine also needs occasional cleanup. I have a tendency to expect every thing should run immediately and can get frustrated when they didn't. So wait few seconds or few min to see CPU is stabilizing or not.
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seek10 has an excellent point. There's certain functions like updates (if it hasn't been updated in a while), photo updates and so forth which take a-lot of CPU time to update.

Windows 10 sometimes prompts (for example) for updating to the cloud (which I never, ever do - anything sent to the cloud is NOT yours and they keep it forever) - you'll see something like Onedrive. If you're not careful they trick you into uploading to the cloud for data mining.

I usually go with a fresh install to get rid of OEM crapware (Windows 10 itself is pretty lean). The second thing you want to ALWAYS do is go to settings - privacy and lock down your security. ALWAYS lock down security first. Get rid of location, global ID, mics, turn off background apps unless you need them and so forth - only keep things open where you need to. The default is always fully open, not a good idea from a privacy POV.

If you have apps from outside the MS Store (can't be locked down in privacy) then use task manager and if it's running (often looking for updates..) consider removing them from startup - they all steal CPU time and leak data.

Also be careful with major data thieves like DARPA Lifelog (aka Facebook aka Meta). Run them in containers in Firefox or LibreWolf. Browser isolate things in addition to containers. Use something like Ghostery (ad blocks) to stop ads from stealing CPU time or installing malware.



As for that laptop - seems pricey. It's 10th gen, the current ones are 12th gen. The passmark benchmark is about 7,200 which is low for that price point. Also it's a G1 which is the old UHD graphics, passmark maybe 320 which is really low. It will handle browsing but not much more. The SSD might be a SATA-3 and not NVMe, I'm not sure which it is.

If he doesn't need a laptop you might consider a mini-PC. Similar specs are much lower cost - the new 12th gen N95/100 are running about 5,600 on the benchmark for a lot less cash - but it's a mini pc and not a laptop and you'll need a monitor, keyboard, mouse.
 
ericw33 said:
As for that laptop - seems pricey. It's 10th gen, the current ones are 12th gen. The passmark benchmark is about 7,200 which is low for that price point. Also it's a G1 which is the old UHD graphics, passmark maybe 320 which is really low. It will handle browsing but not much more. The SSD might be a SATA-3 and not NVMe, I'm not sure which it is.

If he doesn't need a laptop you might consider a mini-PC. Similar specs are much lower cost - the new 12th gen N95/100 are running about 5,600 on the benchmark for a lot less cash - but it's a mini pc and not a laptop and you'll need a monitor, keyboard, mouse.
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Okay. He wants a laptop, I think. And I also think a laptop is better for him. I just found this laptop: Acer Laptop. It is a 12 Gen. How do I tell if a laptop is G1 or not? Also, it is 1000 sek cheaper than the Asus laptop.

ericw33 said:
You might also have some malware on the device. This also causes those types of symptoms. You want to keep the anti-virus up-to-date and use ad blockers like Ghostery. I use Malwarebytes for the Windows and Droid devices. I avoid any registery cleaners such as CCleaner.
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I have restored that laptop many times as well as keeping it fully updated along with a Mcafee subscription, fully scanned the laptop.

ericw33 said:
The specs are fine for Windows 10. I didn't see the drive specs on the 2nd page but often those PCs shipped with 64GB/128GB of eMMC drive storage which has a shorter life then a SSD.
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It is eMMC.

ericw33 said:
If it's a fault eMMC/SSD you can just run the OS from an external drive assuming you have USB 3.x. It's about the speed of a SATA-III. I use SATA-III m.2 SSD to USB-A or C enclosures and swap them as required. It will involve using the BIOS/UEFI settings.
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I'll have to check that out. I did boot into Linux with a USB, I wrote about it earlier in this thread. The mousepad didn't work and some of the keyboard didn't work either, so I didn't think any more of it.

There is definitely something wrong with that laptop, it doesn't work for browsing the web at all, it is that slow, even when just clicking around in settings or opening files on the system itself. When it was functional it was decent, fast enough for my needs.
 
These are all I can find for my grandfather so far all with 12 Gen. Which one of these is better? The MSI right? It has Intel Iris Xe Graphics (the Acer Aspire 5 do as well) and looking at this YouTube video, assuming it is the same, it can play games.

MSI Modern 14 - 14" | i7 | 16GB | 512GB 6 990 SEK

Acer Aspire 5 - 14" | i5 | 8GB | 512GB - 6 490 SEK

Acer Extensa 15 EX215-55 15,6" FHD Core i3-1215U, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro - 6 990 SEK

Acer Aspire 3 15,6" laptop med 12:e Gen. Intel Core i3 och 256 GB SSD - 4 990 SEK
 
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