I've dell Inspiron N4050. By default it was having Ubuntu but I installed Windows 7 professional x64. I perform some heavy tasks on my laptop but I am not satisfied with its performance (basically I am a desktop user). By default its SATA operation mode is AHCI. Sometimes its HDD gets too much busy and its response time gets worse.
Should I switch it to ATA mode or something else?
Any suggestions?
No it needs to be in AHCI. You might consider looking at the services that are running and the programs running in the background including disk services and AV.
For optimisation of services you won't find better advice than at Black Viper's guides.
Our very own Brink (admin and all around good guy) has an excellent tutorial for optimising
:)
Maybe look at getting a SSD to boot off of?
This laptop most likely has a 5,400RPM hard drives, which don't provide much performance...especially to boot and run the OS with.
Moving to an SSD is going to be the best bet to truly improve system performance.
Make sure you've gotten a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
If you used the Dell Recovery disks and have the preinstalled factory bloatware then Clean Up Factory Bloatware - Windows 7 Forums
Make sure to run a Clean Boot and work through these other Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums
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