Fairly new Toshiba laptop (C55Dt-A5231) lacking performance. Advice?

Hello everyone,

This is my first post in the forums although I have browsed around a bit. I am not 100% sure which subsection this post does belong in but I thought this was a decent guess.

Anyway, onto my quick questions / advice request:
I am a student that received a laptop because it was very much needed for college tasks and assignments. At the time I figured the one that I had chosen was a great option and would outperform any previous PC I had owned. The laptop's specs are:

PROCESSOR*
AMD Dual-Core E1-1200 Accelerated Processor

OPERATING SYSTEM*
Windows 8 (which I downgraded to Windows 7)

GRAPHICS ENGINE*
AMD Radeon™ HD 7310
Memory and Storage

MEMORY*
6GB DDR3 1600MHz memory

HARD DRIVE*
500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)

OPTICAL DRIVE*
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)

Toshiba Satellite C55Dt-A5231 Laptop

I have used PC's for the majority of my life so I wouldn't say that I am a complete newbie to them, but I am definitely lacking in-depth knowledge of how certain systems work, and what exactly each component of the PC does. I am currently majoring in Computer Engineering, and my curiousity for exploring any and all things computers has definitely been sparked, so I am constantly learning new things (homework or non-homework related) and using my computer for things I had not initially planned on. I have noticed, especially lately, that my computer seems to run very slow and 'feels' like it's doing a lot of work. I have a CPU usage monitor gadget installed on my desktop and notice it reaching 100% often, and witnessed both of my cores reaching 100% tonight when performing fairly basic tasks. SO, I am wanting to 'beef up' my computer if you will, and also want to learn the process of adding memory, possibly an SSD, etc because it's an experience I would enjoy. But, being that I do not have an extremely extensive knowledge base, I am wondering if investing the money into these upgrades is #1) worth the money to put into this computer, or if I should do something else with it (possibly build my own piece by piece as the money is available). Or if #2) I really need to even buy these things to improve my computer to the level I want. I have malware bytes pro, constantly run scans and keep running processes to a minimum in order to keep her as healthy as I know how to, but am still not seeing the performance I want. Thank you all for listening to me ramble on, and I would really appreciate the advice on what to do or where to start on my path for the knowledge and know-how.

Also, I apologize if this is not the correct subsection for such a posting.. It seemed the most appropriate when I looked at the other sections and I hope it's in the right place! Thank you again!

Jeremy

Hey no sweat, I appreciate the help! I wouldn't have been happy if I bought more ram just to have nothing improve. Out of curiosity, how were you able to judge that it's a poor performing cpu / low end graphics card? Would like to have the knowledge for future purchases. And what do you mean by "the more they'll sting you?"

I have read that upgrading the cpu is a pain in the ass, i'm assuming that's true? Also, in addition to judging the cpu and graphics card when purchasing, what is a good range or "good" specs in comparison to what I have?

I concur with badger about the cpu and graphics. And since CPU's in laptops are often not replacable, I'd recommend upgrading to an SSD. You can pick up 120gb drives for under $100 and 240gb drives for around $150. Also most all of them come with cloning software and are a breeze to install. They won't fix the CPU, but everything will get to it much faster :)

You can look through the benchmarks here to get an idea of raw CPU horsepower:

PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts

The same site also has video card benchmarks.

It looks like that CPU scores 698; it is found on this specific list at that site:

PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Low Mid Range CPU's

Quite puny. As a comparison, the Intel i5-4200U on a $600 Acer laptop scores 3324.

I wouldn't invest money or time in upgrading what you have beyond (perhaps) an SSD. Lower your expectations and don't expect miracles, even with an SSD---on that laptop.

Laptops are notoriously difficult to upgrade. If I wanted to get up to speed on PC hardware and building in general, I'd certainly own a desktop. Much easier to upgrade, much more bang for the buck, superior in every respect except portability.

Damn.. That score looks embarrassing hahaha. I feel like we got ripped off this laptop was expensive. I'm assuming that was because of the touchscreen.. And yeah I would definitely like to have a desktop and laptop but I'm not sure if I have the physical space to own a desktop because my place is pretty small (college student), but I might be able to make it work. If there's a will... haha. Damn that sucks though. I'm definitely getting into development and in my free time have been learning Linux. So right now I have eclipse w android JDE, Virtualbox with Debian, Android Studio, and MS Visual Studio installed on this thing and they all run kind of slow and have to run one at a time. Plus, I found out my cpu supports hardware virtualization but my BIOS doesn't have the option to enable it in the menu.. also felt ripped off for that. That seems so stupid to me. Ah well, I guess I'll just ride it out and be thankful I have anything! Thank you all very much for the information, I really appreciate it! Would you guys have any recommendations for future laptops and / or desktops?? I've never built anything myself before but would definitely enjoy doing that over the summer when I have the time.

For self-built desktops, my only general recommendation would be to use an Intel processor (i3, i5, i7) unless you are very strapped for cash. Many of them have integrated graphics that you can try and see if it's sufficient for your needs. If not, add a graphics card.

I'd get an SSD in it unless I was severely constricted by budget. You can get a smallish SSD (say 80 GB) for well under $100 and put a lot of apps on it. Get an ordinary HDD for data if you need more storage space. Ideally an internal, with an external HDD for backup.

Not likely you'd need more than 8 GB of RAM.

Start a new thread when you are within a few weeks of building, with budget information and your intended tasks for the desktop.

I have no idea on laptops, but plenty of folks here can straighten you out on that.