Question 8 gb ram or an SSD?

[idigweeds]

I was recently gifted a low end HP Laptop 15. I am having major performance issues. After using for a short while, the system disk IO flatlines at 100% (as seen in Task Manager) and remains there for several minutes (or even tens of minutes). This problem is worst when any browser is open, even just s single tab. When this bottle neck is occurring, the system becomes unresponsive (so much so that I have to resort to rebooting the computer to get anywhere at all) or it just crashes altogether. I have run searches on the web for this problem, but the fixes are temporary at best.
I'm contemplating memory and drive upgrades to help alleviate the problem. It currently has 4 gb memory and a 500 gb standard hard drive. I can add an additional 4 gb memory or an SSD. Initially, I can only afford one upgrade. Which of the two should I select first?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

The RAM should definitely be upgraded for an overall performance boost --- 4GB is simply not enough, shame on all laptop/PC makers who only install a measly 4GB these days (though buyers are partly to blame if they keep choosing computers with that configuration).

Upgrading to an SSD, whilst a good upgrade that will speed up boot time significantly (and launch times of applications installed on it) won't help with overall performance boost like a RAM upgrade will.

 

[ficler1977]

What exactly HP laptop have you got?
So I will know what processor and graphic you have.

If you have dedicated (even old one) graphic card in this laptop you can accelerate web browser.
nvidia add firefox and change from integrated to "high performance nvidia card"
This will be very noticeable.

install EVEREST and check temperatures. as Processor slows down when it hits (in most cases) +90degree 'C
So give laptop a cleanup. change thermal paste under radiator.
or
at least try to suck with vacuum all holes. especially where CPU is.

SSD will give you ~x3 faster computer start
a bit ~x2 faster start of any program on it.
This upgrade will be significantly noticeable.
even cheapest 128gb ssd helps a lot. while you can keep current drive for storage(videos/photos etc).
Mind this will not make any program running even by 1% faster. This only helps with time that program starts. and makes copying files much faster.
Also this hard drive can be used in new laptop/pc if you but it in future.

RAM will help you manage to run more than 1 program at once.
If you normally have no more than 1 program running this upgrade will be noticeable but not that significantly.
4gb is absolutely minimum. But many system work fine depends what processor you have.

 

[jsmithepa]

A high page fault rate (constant swapfile activity) indicates ram poor, and definitely will slow things down, and your SSD should be <70% full.