- Nov 3, 2009
- 5,557
- 146
- 28,990
** specs **
Dell Vostro 1540
Windows 7 (64 bit)
i3-370M
2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
250 GB 5400 RPM HDD (90 GB used space / 145 GB free space)
Primary problem reported by my friend is that the laptop is much slower now, than in the past.
Primary use: To RDP onto company server on rare circumstances that she works from home or over the weekend.
Personal observations: I agree the laptop is so slow, as I would personally find it unusable. I disabled all items in msconfig (windows startup) but still the hard drive activity light is constantly illuminated and never stops blinking. Task manager reports 1.7 GB utilization out of 2.0 physical (single 2 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM). Also, AVG is installed. My guesses about the performance lowering: (1) AVG running in background (2) RAM too low and needs to be raised to at least 4 GB, or (3) virus or trojan infections; I play to run AdwCleaner and ComboFix, the next time it's back in my possession.
According to CPU userbenchmark, the i3-370M is approximately half the performance of a desktop Pentium G4560, which is better than I expected.
If my future uninstalling AVG, as well as scanning and removing all remnants of any possible infections doesn't solve performance problem, then I'd consider upgrading it. Laptop supports up to 8 GB (4GB x 2). It would also support an upgrade from it's current 5400 RPM HDD to a SSD, but unfortunately the laptop is only SATA 2 (3.0 Gbps), not SATA 3.
Dell Vostro 1540
Windows 7 (64 bit)
i3-370M
2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
250 GB 5400 RPM HDD (90 GB used space / 145 GB free space)
Primary problem reported by my friend is that the laptop is much slower now, than in the past.
Primary use: To RDP onto company server on rare circumstances that she works from home or over the weekend.
Personal observations: I agree the laptop is so slow, as I would personally find it unusable. I disabled all items in msconfig (windows startup) but still the hard drive activity light is constantly illuminated and never stops blinking. Task manager reports 1.7 GB utilization out of 2.0 physical (single 2 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM). Also, AVG is installed. My guesses about the performance lowering: (1) AVG running in background (2) RAM too low and needs to be raised to at least 4 GB, or (3) virus or trojan infections; I play to run AdwCleaner and ComboFix, the next time it's back in my possession.
According to CPU userbenchmark, the i3-370M is approximately half the performance of a desktop Pentium G4560, which is better than I expected.
If my future uninstalling AVG, as well as scanning and removing all remnants of any possible infections doesn't solve performance problem, then I'd consider upgrading it. Laptop supports up to 8 GB (4GB x 2). It would also support an upgrade from it's current 5400 RPM HDD to a SSD, but unfortunately the laptop is only SATA 2 (3.0 Gbps), not SATA 3.
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