i3 2120 web browsing.

[cloudrunner14]

Hello people of tomshardware,
so my grandparents used to have this ancient amd sempron 3000+ or something until about last year. They wanted a laptop and didn't want to spend a lot of money (which was totally understandable) so we went online and found some HP pavilion 17 inch w/e. He asked whether it would be faster and I said it should be faster. Don't get me wrong, it is indeed faster but it's still pretty slow (1.2ghz IIRC) and they're not happy with it. They can't return it anymore and I feel bad since they find it very frustating that it's so slow and whenever I visit I see it too. I feel bad and want to buy them something better.

After browsing the web for a refurbished computer for myself I stumbled upon a rather cheap HP desktop small form factor with an i3 2120 processor, 4gb of ram and windows 7 (the HP Compaq pro 4300 small form factor to be exact). I was wondering whether this would still be a viable option by today's standards. How fast will it be when browsing the web and sending e-mails (since that's basically the only thing they do. My grandmother occasionally plays flash games too). Do you think it would suffice?

Thanks in advance,
-Cloudrunner14

 

[COLGeek]

For web surfing, and general internet use, the HP desktop should be fine.

Regarding the laptop, are its drivers current and up to date? As it, too, should be okay for internet use. What aspect of it is slow?

 

[InvalidError]

Even an old Core2Duo would be enough for that as long as you slap at least 4GB of RAM in it to avoid frequent swapping. Any PC quickly becomes miserable without enough RAM to keep all recently used data in memory.

If your parents' old PC/laptop has less than 4GB of RAM but is running 64bits Windows, you may want to try upgrading to 4GB if possible, it may make them far more usable.

 

[cloudrunner14]

I think they are updated but I can't check since they're a 100 minute drive away from me and they barely know how to use the computer so I can't ask them either. It's slow in the sense that it takes a while for webpages to load and apps just take a while to launch. Their internet is adequate since pages load fine on my laptop whenever I visit.

if you need any other information feel free to ask

 

[cloudrunner14]

InvalidError, their laptop has 8 GB of RAM and is currently running windows 10 64 bit

 

[InvalidError]

InvalidError, their laptop has 8 GB of RAM and is currently running windows 10 64 bit

In that case, I'd do a clean re-install using Microsoft's ISO/USB install image to completely remove all factory bloatware and any leftovers from OS upgrade/update problems before giving up on it.

 

[COLGeek]

InvalidError, their laptop has 8 GB of RAM and is currently running windows 10 64 bit

In that case, I'd do a clean re-install using Microsoft's ISO/USB install image to completely remove all factory bloatware and any leftovers from OS upgrade/update problems before giving up on it.

+1

 

[cloudrunner14]

Okay, does that mean I will need a new windows key?

(Sorry, I don't know a lot about (re)installing windows on a laptop.)

 

[COLGeek]

Since re-installing on the same hardware, a new product key is not required.

Do you know the exact model of their laptop? If it is old(er), it is possible that updated video drivers are not available.

Also, assuming they connect wirelessly to their network, do you know the ISP down/upload speeds they are paying for? The slow loads could be network related as well.

Also, has the system been scanned for malware/viruses lately?

 

[cloudrunner14]

That's good to know.
I unfortunately do not know the exact model but I know they bought it new about a year or one and a half year ago.

My grandfather's brother actually once told my grandfather to test his internet speed and it turned out he wasn't getting the speeds he was paying for so he changed his "subscribtion" (for the lack of a better word, sorry, I'm Dutch) accordingly so he actually gets the speeds he's paying for. As I said before the speeds are fine since webpages load quickly on my laptop which isn't exactly the greatest either. Sometimes he'll use an ethernet cable but it remains slow.

My grandfather scans his computer almost every day with malwarebytes and uses ccleaner almost every single day as well.

 

[COLGeek]

If the system is only a year or two old, it should be more than capable of general internet use. I suspect a driver issue. Focus of current networking and video drivers.

 

[cloudrunner14]

Okay I'll definitely try that whenever I get the chance because I don't think I can explain it to him