Is this laptop good for windows 10?

[killers10333]

This laptop started running very slow soon after updating to windows 10

Amd e300 processor
300 Gb storage.. died before i could check which one
4 gb ram

Its not my laptop, so i dont know if all settings have been changed but ill tell you whats wrong and see if you can think of the problem

It is painfully slow just opening things and doing tasks, the startup apps start very slow, and chrome often crashes after a few minutes of use. It started off fine when windows ten was first downloaded, but it got much slower

I was thinking its either a settings problem or a hardware issue, most likely processor, but its above the windows 10 "minimum specs"

Any ideas?

 

[qwertyK]

What OS was the laptop running before it was updated?

 

[Commander Matt]

Is there a hard drive light on the laptop?
Looking at the specs, the processor is clocked at 1.3GHz, which is just barely above the requirements. However, I'm not sure if it is the processor or hard drive.

Double check that it isn't the hard drive; my laptop, similar to the one you described, also slowed down after Windows 10, but watching the hard drive light reveals that the hard drive is working hard.

 

[dudeman509]

Open task manager and see if the hard drive usage is stuck at 100%. Seems to be a common occurrence for people when Windows 10 is indexing stuff for the first few days or trying to install new updates.

 

[killers10333]

the laptop was running windows 7 before it was updated and ran fine

as for the hard drive light, im not sure where to look for it but i dont see any abnormal color lights anywhere on the laptop..where should i be looking?

also, i opened task manager and noticed that cpu usage and disk fluctuates between 100 and like 40%, which leads me to believe it is something to do with those two pieces

also, windows ten has been installed for nearly a month on this laptop

 

[dudeman509]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

 

[killers10333]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

 

[Commander Matt]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

Look for something similar to this: http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/2816.7520.PNG

It's possible that the system is accessing the pagefile constantly. Do you have a flash drive lying around you could plug in and use ReadyBoost on?

Edit: How long have you let it sit and do it's thing? Leave it for at least 10 minutes, then come back, and see if it's still crawling.

 

[dudeman509]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

I suspect it's trying to prepare a set of Windows Updates to be installed. Go to settings and update and see if it's trying to do anything there.

If the computer doesn't get left and idle on very much, it's possible that the BIG update recently released was never done. It was a relatively major update with several fixes rolled into one lump thing, and it did take even my SSD computers quite a while to install.

 

[killers10333]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

Look for something similar to this: http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/2816.7520.PNG

It's possible that the system is accessing the pagefile constantly. Do you have a flash drive lying around you could plug in and use ReadyBoost on?

Edit: How long have you let it sit and do it's thing? Leave it for at least 10 minutes, then come back, and see if it's still crawling.

the computer has been sitting on for the past hour and half, always the same speed more or less..

i dont have a usb here unfortunately

as for the light, it is constantly flashing, but its the same blue light as the other lights. it looks like its constantly doing something

 

[Commander Matt]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

Look for something similar to this: http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/2816.7520.PNG

It's possible that the system is accessing the pagefile constantly. Do you have a flash drive lying around you could plug in and use ReadyBoost on?

Edit: How long have you let it sit and do it's thing? Leave it for at least 10 minutes, then come back, and see if it's still crawling.

the computer has been sitting on for the past hour and half, always the same speed more or less..

i dont have a usb here unfortunately

as for the light, it is constantly flashing, but its the same blue light as the other lights. it looks like its constantly doing something

The most you can do, I think, is to just leave it until the light stops flashing so rapidly. Remember, you're upgrading to a completely new OS, not the typical update.

 

[killers10333]

Is there one offending process that seems to be eating up disk or CPU usage?

FWIW, I think that computer should be able to handle it fine - I am running W10 on an old Core 2 laptop with 2 GB of RAM. It's slow, but it works ok for the most part.

Avast goes up to 10%
.net framework runs up to 20%
modern setup host goes up to 40% and 20MB/s (most of the disk)
System takes up to 40% and 10 MB/s

other processes flip in and out, memory is at a constant 50% and disk and cpu go from 40-100

Look for something similar to this: http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/2816.7520.PNG

It's possible that the system is accessing the pagefile constantly. Do you have a flash drive lying around you could plug in and use ReadyBoost on?

Edit: How long have you let it sit and do it's thing? Leave it for at least 10 minutes, then come back, and see if it's still crawling.

the computer has been sitting on for the past hour and half, always the same speed more or less..

i dont have a usb here unfortunately

as for the light, it is constantly flashing, but its the same blue light as the other lights. it looks like its constantly doing something

The most you can do, I think, is to just leave it until the light stops flashing so rapidly. Remember, you're upgrading to a completely new OS, not the typical update.

well the owner of the laptop is planning on getting an upgrade, so the question is would a new cpu help more than a new hard drive? His friend said he will get him ram, but i told him that it would hardly help seeing as that doesnt seem to be the backup..

what new hardware would you recommend as a small boost?

 

[Commander Matt]

well the owner of the laptop is planning on getting an upgrade, so the question is would a new cpu help more than a new hard drive? His friend said he will get him ram, but i told him that it would hardly help seeing as that doesnt seem to be the backup..

what new hardware would you recommend as a small boost?

The best thing that can help is plugging in a flash drive (like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226227 ) and using it for ReadyBoost.

Since I don't know the exact laptop specs, I can't say for sure, but most of the time laptops are un-upgradable. The CPU may be directly in the laptop, unable to be taken out (I can get a picture of this later today if you'd like).
And you're right about the RAM; the RAM upgrade would only help by removing the need for the pagefile, which could be why the hard drive is working so hard (see this How-To Geek article on the pagefile). Plus, you'd have to make double-sure it is compatible. Though I can't say for sure how much that would help.

Try the flash drive ReadyBoost fix first, before thinking about disassembling the laptop to add RAM or anything. I think it's the small boost you're looking for. (My laptop is the Samsung NF410, and a 32GB flash drive that has speeds of around 4MB/s helped, so the Mushkin flash drive I linked could really help out, as it's speeds are much much higher.

 

[davewolfgang]

Also make sure you have the option where other computers can pull updates from that laptop turned OFF.

Settings (down by time) > Updates & Security > Advanced Options > Choose how updates are delivered > OFF.

(For me personally at home, I have them turned on for local network - that way when the first one updates, the others can use those and saves my bandwidth - but I have i7's with 16GB+ RAM for my most used home ones)

 

[killers10333]

well the owner of the laptop is planning on getting an upgrade, so the question is would a new cpu help more than a new hard drive? His friend said he will get him ram, but i told him that it would hardly help seeing as that doesnt seem to be the backup..

what new hardware would you recommend as a small boost?

The best thing that can help is plugging in a flash drive (like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226227 ) and using it for ReadyBoost.

Since I don't know the exact laptop specs, I can't say for sure, but most of the time laptops are un-upgradable. The CPU may be directly in the laptop, unable to be taken out (I can get a picture of this later today if you'd like).
And you're right about the RAM; the RAM upgrade would only help by removing the need for the pagefile, which could be why the hard drive is working so hard (see this How-To Geek article on the pagefile). Plus, you'd have to make double-sure it is compatible. Though I can't say for sure how much that would help.

Try the flash drive ReadyBoost fix first, before thinking about disassembling the laptop to add RAM or anything. I think it's the small boost you're looking for. (My laptop is the Samsung NF410, and a 32GB flash drive that has speeds of around 4MB/s helped, so the Mushkin flash drive I linked could really help out, as it's speeds are much much higher.

ill recommend it to him, and get back to you on what he decides to do/what works.. thanks for your help