[SOLVED] Will SSD help me ?

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Realtrooper

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Apr 6, 2020
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Hi Everyone !

My everyday usage laptop is giving me hard time, while watching video or in a video conference even scrolling through internet. It is really slow and I was wondering if ssd will help me with that.

Here is my current specs: Intel N3350- 4GB RAM- 500 GB Hard Drive- Windows 10 Pro

I just want to do everyday things not gaming or something like that. Should I get a SSD ? Thanks for the help.
 
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The N3350 CPU is your first problem. It is basically tablet CPU tucked into laptop. Don't expect acceptable system performance with this runt. medium text and spreadsheet editing, basic presentations, not very demanding internet pages, that is all which can run on this thing without noticeable slowdown.

SSD indeed will make overall system much more responsible. Tested on same CPU and even weaker N2800 CPU - it is worth to upgrade from any HDD. Acceptable 250 GB SSD cost like 30$ now. After upgrade move hibernation and page files to SSD drive.

4 GB RAM is a bit tight, however you can live with it. Upgrade to SSD in your case will speed up things much more than upgrading RAM to 8 GB. Which anyway is not possible in your laptop because...
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Herr B

Herr B

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USAFRet said:
15-30 € isn't going to get much in the way of an SSD.

Can you find one in that price range? Probably.
From a 3rd rate manufacturer, in a tiny size.
Click to expand...
I disagree. Not everyone needs 2tb ssd, especially on a tight budget.

The ssd will certainly improve you program opening times and the laptop starting times by a good margin.

You error report of video conferences and slow scrolling times/program freezes mainly indicate a lack of ram. As stated before, 4 gb really are not much. You cpu is also really, really tight.

I guess the best bet would be to get a used computer on ebay or so. For around 50 bucks you can get a great full stacked office machine here on the used market.
 
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Herr B

Herr B

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Realtrooper said:
64 GB but I think there is 10-15 GB unwanted folders so lets say 50 GB
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50 GB will not be enough for Windows updates. Hiberfile.sys and Pagefile.sys alone are making up 8 GB on your system alone (normaly twice the amount of ram)

additionally harddrives are always smaller than stated on the poackaging, because manufacturers claim 1000 byte = 1 kb while technically correct is 1024 bytes = 1kb. This is due to marketing reasons in order to write a bigger space on the package. Youll end up with 46.52 GB on a 50gb disk.
 
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Herr B

Herr B

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Yes. or you try going linux route. It might revive your system if you are willing to adapt to a new operating system - Its a great budget option.

USAFRet said:
Notice I did not mention "2TB".

A 120GB drive is very problematic with a current Windows install.
The general recommendation is 250GB or larger.

Just speaking from experience...both personal, and reading hundreds of threads here.
Click to expand...
I agree, 120 gb is problematic. Given the circumstance however, it is possible (if not much programs get installed / working through Webbrowser).
 
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Realtrooper

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Herr B said:
Yes. or you try going linux route. It might revive your system if you are willing to adapt to a new operating system - Its a great budget option.


I agree, 120 gb is problematic. Given the circumstance however, it is possible (if not much programs get installed / working through Webbrowser).
Click to expand...
Maybe I can try Linux but why 120 gb is not okay ?
 
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Herr B

Herr B

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linux / ubuntu will be totally fine with 120 gb.

120 gb is problematic in windows because windows nowadays is really bad at managing harddisk space.
Windows updates alone occupy some 30gb of disk space and there are many other disk space-eaters in windows.

Additionally a harddrive should ALWAYS have a minimum of some 20% of free space in order to function properly. More than that will greatly reduce its lifespan, especcially for ssd's and will greatly reduce its speed as the operating system needs space to shove stuff around.

Imagine you had a truck full with boxes. You need to add a box to the very beginning of the trailer.
With empty truck, no problem. Just shove the box in.
Full truck however, you might need to take many boyes out so you can put the new box to the front bottom.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Realtrooper said:
Maybe I can try Linux but why 120 gb is not okay ?
Click to expand...
An SSD needs 15-20% free space to work with, for the TRIM function.

So that leaves YOU with about 80-85GB user avaialable space.

The next semi-annual Win 10 update will need ~30GB on its own.


Page file will also suck up a goodly portion of your space. Especially with only 4GB RAM in the system.
An SSD will help with that page file thing, though. When the system does have to delve into that pagefile, it will be much faster being on the SSD.
 
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Herr B

Herr B

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USAFRet said:
Page file will also suck up a goodly portion of your space. Especially with only 4GB RAM in the system.
An SSD will help with that page file thing, though. When the system does have to delve into that pagefile, it will be much faster being on the SSD.
Click to expand...

Pagefile is an extension of your system memory (ram) Windows by default creates a file with the same size of your ram.
If the ram is full, windows starts to use your hard disks page file as additional system memories. This is most likely when you see system / program freezes and bad performance.

-> Hence a ram update would be good. This in turn also worsens your harddrive issue because the pagefile gets bigger by the amount you increase your ram.

Hiberfile in turn is something simillar except it stores the full memory for when you put the computer to sleep. It also has the same size of the ram. (Can be disabled though)


USAFRet said:
Just about every day here, we see people wondering how to manage their 120GB SSD, because it is running out of space.
Click to expand...
So would you agree, that 120gb is enough for a lightweight linux install?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Herr B said:
So would you agree, that 120gb is enough for a lightweight linux install?
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Sure. Of course, this depends on what the user wants to do with the system, and how far he is willing to dive into the Linux ecosystem.

You can even sort of make it work with Windows.
IF you're not expecting to do much with the system, and IF you're willing to spend far more time than is needed, managing the space on it.

Consider this, though....2 medium quality movies is a full 10% of the usable space on that drive.
A 120GB can be made to work if there are other storage places.
If it is the only drive...problems.
 
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