Lenovo Thinkpad T460 - Super Sluggish

[sdph536]

I have a Levono Thinkpad T460

It has windows 10 - 64bit , 8gb ram, processor is i5-6300U 2.4Ghz

The machine is slow to boot and when its running after boot - applications are sugglish - there are times where it lock/clocks, etc.

I am not sure where to start to troubleshoot.

I believe it has a standard disk drive so not sure if going to SSD would help any of this or not.

The applications I run on this machine are basically all of the office stuff, outlook, word, excel, power point, google, etc... nothing more than that. But I do have need to have multiple apps open at one time.

Any suggestions, help , guidance would be much appreciated.

 

[hang-the-9]

Yes an SSD will speed things up. Also a clean Windows setup.

 

[sdph536]

Yes an SSD will speed things up. Also a clean Windows setup.

Well there is nothing I can do about the os as the machine is locked down. However, if there is a way to copy the drive to a ssd and install the SSD without any need for special permissions then I would consider doing that.... the machine is a complete drag and I use it daily so if a physical hardware hack would help me I am willing/wanting to do it.

 

[Baqir Abbas]

Well there is nothing I can do about the os as the machine is locked down. However, if there is a way to copy the drive to a ssd and install the SSD without any need for special permissions then I would consider doing that.... the machine is a complete drag and I use it daily so if a physical hardware hack would help me I am willing/wanting to do it.

Hi sdph536,

Just pop the back open, replace the hard drive with your new SSD install a fresh copy of Windows. Make sure you make a bootable flash first (fresh from the Microsoft website directly). Then after the Windows have been installed, you will need to buy a SATA to USB cable and through that you can easily get all the data you want from that drive. No matter how fast your core and RAM is, in this era, an SSD is a must especially for your OS and primary applications such as Chrome, MS Office etc...

Hope that helps. Cheers! ✌✌

Edit :- DO UNPLUG THE BATTERY BEFORE REMOVING/SWAPPING ANY COMPONENT I.E. HARD DRIVE, RAM ,WIFI CARD …..

 

[sdph536]

Hi sdph536,

Just pop the back open, replace the hard drive with your new SSD install a fresh copy of Windows. Make sure you make a bootable flash first (fresh from the Microsoft website directly). Then after the Windows have been installed, you will need to buy a SATA to USB cable and through that you can easily get all the data you want from that drive. No matter how fast your core and RAM is, in this age an SSD is a must especially for your OS and primary applications such as Chrome, MS Office etc...

Hope that helps. Cheers! ✌✌

so the current drive cannot just be copied at face value onto a ssd and then placed into the laptop?

 

[Baqir Abbas]

so the current drive cannot just be copied at face value onto a ssd and then placed into the laptop?

It is doable but I wouldn't recommend doing that as it might run into some compatibility issue or I don't know I haven't tried it before. I usually install everything fresh in these kind of scenarios, each and every driver. I would just take the data (photos, docs whatever) I need from the drive then even format that one too (externally through SATA to USB).

Hope that helps. Cheers! ✌✌

 

[robert600]

so the current drive cannot just be copied at face value onto a ssd and then placed into the laptop?

Yes ... what you're wanting to do is called 'clonning'. As long as the SSD is larger than the used portion of the current HD it works great. There's lots of good instructions on here for how to do it. It's always a good idea to clean up the hard drive as much as possible first (remove programs, files etc. that you don't use). Anyways .... it works a treat and means you don't have to re-install all your software.

 

[hang-the-9]

Well there is nothing I can do about the os as the machine is locked down. However, if there is a way to copy the drive to a ssd and install the SSD without any need for special permissions then I would consider doing that.... the machine is a complete drag and I use it daily so if a physical hardware hack would help me I am willing/wanting to do it.

What do you mean it's locked down? If this is a company computer, don't touch it, contact your IT department and talk to them about the slowness. Swapping drives can run into huge issues if the system is encrypted, which many corporate laptops are. And also just taking things apart on your own is a bad idea unless your IT people tell you to do it.

 

[sdph536]

What do you mean it's locked down? If this is a company computer, don't touch it, contact your IT department and talk to them about the slowness. Swapping drives can run into huge issues if the system is encrypted, which many corporate laptops are. And also just taking things apart on your own is a bad idea unless your IT people tell you to do it.

no locked by the leasing company

 

[geofelt]

A ssd will transform the performance of your laptop.
I have done many such conversions and it is really easy.

Buy a samsung 860/870 EVO of sufficient capacity to hold at least the used capacity of your current HDD.
Also buy a usb to sata adapter cable like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Cabl...t=&hvlocphy=9011560&hvtargid=pla-822333677936

Download and install the samsung ssd migration app and instructions here:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

Run the app which will copy your C drive to the ssd.
When done, replace the HDD in the laptop with the ssd.
Here is one video on the mechanics:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrY3fajOJE4

Keep the old hdd. If you ever need to revert the pc back to original specs you can reinstall the hdd and run the reset process.


While you are at it, 8gb is not enough ram if you are going to have lots of open apps.
Go to a ram web site like kingston or crucial and access their ram upgrade app.
Enter the make/model of your laptop and you will get a list of supported ram upgrades.
CPU-Z will tell you what ram you now have installed.
If your ram is 2 x 4gb, then you will need to replace with a 2 x 8gb upgrade.
If your installed ram is a single 8gb stick, then you can add another 8gb stick.
Best to use the crucial or kingston suggested upgrade.
If they are not available, buy the exact same specs of another brand.

 

[sdph536]

All good now... laptop got replaced.