Sluggish computer after fresh install: Any suggestions?

Hi guys, today I have / may upgrade my laptop.
It's basically a laptop swap, so a free upgrade lets say. The upgrade isn't massive, but enough to make me want to do it. (Better graphics card and processor a newer model of an i5 2.5Ghz (Benchmark score marginally better))

Anyway, As the hard drive in my old laptop was a bigger one, I swapped it into this laptop, and then gave the laptop a fresh copy of windows 7. Installed all drivers with the latest ones, and updated windows to its most recent updates.

The only downgrade I have so far is the RAM. I've gone from 8GB to 4GB. I did swap the ram, but apparently this newer laptop wont accept that RAM (I can only assume it has something to do with the Mhz, as the one in this newer laptop is higher. So, If I decide to keep this laptop, I will buy another 4GB stick soon, but I want to see if I can figure out what is going on first.

So basically. This laptop, although supposed to be slightly quicker, seems to be considerably slower.
Quite often, when I click to do things, it takes a while to load. I know it doesn't sound a lot, but I've waited over 15 seconds for certain things to load up, which are normally instant on my old laptop.

I've noticed the fan kick in a bit more often, and puts out more heat than my old laptop, and in task manager, my memory usage is often between 3-3.7GB, even when I'm not doing anything.

Apart from adding the extra RAM, is there any other suggestions or reasons as to why it seems quite a lot slower.

Thank you

in task manager, my memory usage is often between 3-3.7GB, even when I'm not doing anything.

What is the CPU %, and when showing All Processes, which processes are using CPU and RAM? Does it happen in Safe Mode?

As of right now, I have just restarted my computer.

The only things open of note, is this single google chrome windows, and running in the background is steam.
As it stands:

CPU running between 8-14% (CPU shows everything at 00)
Memory running between 2.4-2.9GB (Chrome 41k, Chrome 31k, Chrome 25k, Steam 20k - Everything else is negligible)

To be honest, for general browsing, everything seems ok. The issue is the fan. It is just constantly going, nothing strenuous, but has an irritating constant noise.

My laptop is mostly used for Football Manager, now on my usual Laptop, it runs perfectly well, but what I have found so far is that it runs at a much slower rate

When I run this programme:
CPU running between 40-80%
Memory running between 3.5-3.8GB (FM Using 600k)

When using this programme, everything is sluggish, in and out of the game. Once the game has loaded up, loading up my last save is taking about 2minutes to load, whereas I'm used to it loading within about 10-12 seconds.
There is a page called scouting within the game, that brings up the player list. Usually an instant load time, but takes about 15-18 seconds

When the game is loaded, the fan really starts to go, giving out some heat, and making a louder, more noticeable, constant noise. The game itself has a recommendation of 2GB.

I have not tried safe mode as of yet

This is with "show processes from all users" enabled in Task Manager? If everything shown is at 0%, something hidden is running.

Is your radiator clean? Please fill in at least the basics of your system specs.

Harlem said:

As of right now, I have just restarted my computer.

The only things open of note, is this single google chrome windows, and running in the background is steam.
As it stands:

CPU running between 8-14% (CPU shows everything at 00)
Memory running between 2.4-2.9GB (Chrome 41k, Chrome 31k, Chrome 25k, Steam 20k - Everything else is negligible)

To be honest, for general browsing, everything seems ok. The issue is the fan. It is just constantly going, nothing strenuous, but has an irritating constant noise.
..........

My fan is on all the time that the machine is awake, never any variation in sound level - I don't play games. (Windows 7 Home Premium). Is this normal?

My fan is on all the time that the machine is awake, never any variation in sound level - I don't play games. (Windows 7 Home Premium). Is this normal?

The fan being on all the time is probably normal. The one on this newer laptop just seems to be quite a bit louder, and puts out a quite a bit more heat.

I guess its just how this laptop is really. My older Samsung laptop was just so quiet and cool always

Ok, so I've installed more ram, now back up to 8GB.

Laptop is running much better. My only real frustration now is, when loaded, things run fine, but loading them takes some time.

I timed how long it took Football manager to open when I clicked it. 2:36 minutes (Usually was around 20-30seconds)
With Chrome, when I open it, I get a blank white screen for around 5-10 seconds before I can usually do something.

Frustrating, but I guess, bearable

Edit: closed down FM, waited a few minutes, and opened it up again, took 15seconds. I guess this machine just needs to warm up lol.

Anyway, thanks for all help and suggestions :)