How to speed up netbook?

[iseeu1001]

Hi my sister uses a netbook and its slow what can I do about it?
Specs are as followed:
Windows 7 starter 32bit
1GB ram
Intel Atom N2600 1.6Ghz

Now if I were to upgrade the ram to lets say 2GB will it help it out or not much? Mainly what my sister does is hulu or youtube or netflix on a 50 inch tv. It is hooked up by vga and only the tv is the main screen so the laptop goes blank.

 

[maxie]

Hi there ... Ram always helps .. Read the Tutorial below in the Link that should help too ...


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

More RAM will help some but netbooks with the older Atom processors are going to be slow no matter what you do short of upgrading to a newer, more powerful machine. Some notebooks aren't much bigger and heavier than netbooks and sometimes are less expensive. My 15" Lenovo G570 actually cost me less than each of the three netbooks I used to have and the keyboard has a real numeric keypad, something I really missed on the netbooks. The graphics card in a notebook will be much better than the ones in netbooks.

Still, it's hard to beat the portability of netbooks.

 

[whs]

1GB more RAM and a SSD will help. But this netbook will never become a barnstormer. Here is a compact alternative that would be really fast and is very reasonably priced.

ASUS VivoBook 14" Windows 8 Intel Core i5 S400CA-RSI5T18 Touchscreen Ultrabook - Newegg.com

 

[iseeu1001]

1GB more RAM and a SSD will help. But this netbook will never become a barnstormer. Here is a compact alternative that would be really fast and is very reasonably priced.

ASUS VivoBook 14" Windows 8 Intel Core i5 S400CA-RSI5T18 Touchscreen Ultrabook - Newegg.com

I wish my sister would upgrade but she doesn't want to right now probably in 2 years she said so will the 2GB ram upgrade help it any at all? It only has is 1 ram slot and she doesn't want to spend much money on it so I can't buy ssd+ram. According to crucial memory finder the ram is a PC3-10600 and microcenter only has 4GB and up which will be useless because the laptop only supports 2GB of ram.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Look at this one. It looks a bit long to me for netbook RAM but your sister's may be longer than the ones in my netbooks.

Also, even if the netbook has two slots for RAM, it would be better to replace the existing RAM with a new one instead of just adding more RAM.

 

[whs]

How about this SSD. That does not break the bank. And then she can use the recovered HDD as an external disk with a cheap caddy or a Sata to USB cable.

Newegg.com - Refurbished: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G.RF 2.5" 50GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

And here are some enclosures:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=4024&IsNodeId=1&Description=hdd%20enclosure&name=%240%20-%20%2410&Order=BESTMATCH

 

[iseeu1001]

Look at this one. It looks a bit long to me for netbook RAM but your sister's may be longer than the ones in my netbooks.

Also, even if the netbook has two slots for RAM, it would be better to replace the existing RAM with a new one instead of just adding more RAM.

That looks more like a desktop ram. Here are the one I am talking about : PC3-10600 : Laptop Memory/RAM : Computer Memory : Computer Parts : Micro Center
or this one
http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/ASUS-memory/ASUS+Netbooks/Eee+PC+1025C-upgrades.html

How about this SSD. That does not break the bank. And then she can use the recovered HDD as an external disk with a cheap caddy or a Sata to USB cable.

Newegg.com - Refurbished: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G.RF 2.5" 50GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

And here are some enclosures:

Newegg.com - $0 - $10, hdd enclosure

So a SSD is going to better than a ram upgrade, if so will this be good? SanDisk ReadyCache SDSSDRC-032G-G2 32GB SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SDSSDRC-032G-G2 - Micro Center)

and do I need an enclosure to install a ssd? I thought installing a ssd is just like installing a HDD simple plug and play.

 

[whs]

You need the enclosure in any case because you have to transfer the operating system to the SSD - unless you do a completely new installation of the OS. And then the enclosure is handy to reuse the HDD that comes out of the Netbook.

But before you venture into that, check that the Netbook has a standard 2.5" HDD. Sometimes they had smaller HDDs. Then the SSD would not fit into the bay.

The RAM upgrade I would do first. It gets you away from the excessive paging of the OS and with only 1GB of RAM you probably also have a lot of page thrashing which really slows the system down.

PS> the SSD you linked has only 32GBs - too small. You should have at least 60GB - that's why I linked the one above. And SanDisk is not really a traditional SSD company. OCZ is the oldest and one of the most reputable. I own 3 of their SSDs.

 

[iseeu1001]

Is this a good ssd? Amazon.com: Corsair 32 GB Extreme Series Indilinx Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CMFSSD-32D1: Computers & Accessories or Amazon.com: Patriot Torqx TRB 32 GB 2.5-Inch SATA Solid State Drive PT32GS25SSDR: Computers & Accessories or here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171667 even better speed

I know the read speed is quicker on the patroit but just a quick question since I am going to get a ssd since that will be more useful and I know 32GB is pretty low but like I said all my sister does in hulu+youtube so not much storage is needed and windows 7 uses like below 8GB so I am pretty good on space.

About the sandisk, they mostly make memory.

 

[whs]

This is an OK SSD. But I would really recommend against 32GBs. And I don't know how you can fit Windows into 8GB.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

What part of 32GB being too small did you miss? It's not just about the storage; the OS needs room to operate in. I don't know where you got the idea that Windows uses only 8GB.

 

[whs]

On top[ of that, the SSD should always have appr. 20% unused space for Garbage Collection to work properly.

 

[iseeu1001]

This is an OK SSD. But I would really recommend against 32GBs. And I don't know how you can fit Windows into 8GB.

I meant 16GB

What part of 32GB being too small did you miss? It's not just about the storage; the OS needs room to operate in. I don't know where you got the idea that Windows uses only 8GB.

16GB so I will have like 6GB free to operate which will be enough for my sister as I said she only uses hulu+youtube so mostly online streaming which will be enough right?

On top[ of that, the SSD should always have appr. 20% unused space for Garbage Collection to work properly.

What do you mean y Garbage collecting?

 

[whs]

Here is probably more than you want to know. Alternatively you can just trust me.

Garbage Collection and TRIM in SSDs Explained - An SSD Primer | The SSD Review

 

[iseeu1001]

Here is probably more than you want to know. Alternatively you can just trust me.

Garbage Collection and TRIM in SSDs Explained - An SSD Primer | The SSD Review

So a 32GB is not even enough for my sister usuage which is mainly hulu+youtube+netflix with windows 7 starter 32bit installed? I really don't think my sister will go for a 64GB but I will try for a 64GB what if I can only get a 32GB version of the SSD will she run out of room quick or what? I mean she has a 320GB HD in her netbook and its been with the same os for like 3 years and the room is still the same.,

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Respectfully I would do the larger and fastest supported ram the netbook will allow first. The SSD will boot. open programs and close faster but I would see if your sister notices enough speed improvement with just the ram. Use this ram/memory adviser to see what your sisters netbook will upgrade to:
DDR3, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com

 

[iseeu1001]

Respectfully I would do the larger and fastest supported ram the netbook will allow first. The SSD will boot. open programs and close faster but I would see if your sister notices enough speed improvement with just the ram. Use this ram/memory adviser to see what your sisters netbook will upgrade to:
DDR3, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com

As said I can only put 2GB in the netbook which is supported. PC3-10600 which is this one Crucial 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Memory Module - Newegg.com or G.SKILL Model F3-12800CL9S-2GBSQ Laptop Memory - Newegg.com

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Well that doubles the ram and that sounds like the limit. For me the SSD without opening heavy applications only cuts down on power, noise and heat once the net is open, up and running. Stick with the ram and then push for a upgrade later to a i5 ultrabook on sale.

 

[whs]

Respectfully I would do the larger and fastest supported ram the netbook will allow first. The SSD will boot. open programs and close faster but I would see if your sister notices enough speed improvement with just the ram. Use this ram/memory adviser to see what your sisters netbook will upgrade to:
DDR3, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com

I think this is a good approach. RAM first and see what happens. 2GB should be plenty for Starter. The problem now is that you get too much paging. That really, really slows a system down.

Regarding the SSD - recently they had 60GB OCZ SSDs on sale (at Newegg) for $38. They were refurbished but OCZ is a serious company and they are probably better than new. You just have to shop around.

But if you think your sis can live with 32GB, that's OK too. My wife lives with little disk space too. But she has all her files on 32GB USB sticks.