How to Speed up an Old Laptop?

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So, I’ve got an old laptop which I bought ~ 4-5 years ago. It has the following specs:

i7 4700MQ
8GB RAM
Intel HD 4600
GT 745M
and some SSHD drive.

Recently it has been getting very slow in responding to (any) tasks and I am trying to figure out what is the best way to fix it. I already tried a clean wipe and reinstall of OS (Win 10) and I don’t have any Antivirus software installed. Drivers are up to date but it still is very slow in responding to tasks (such as opening a program/chrome etc.). I’ve also turned down Windows animations to “best performing”.

Since I assume CPU and RAM should still be fine and I don’t need much graphic power, the best way would be to upgrade it to an actual SSD drive, eh?

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Void Linux

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Antix Linux

MX Linux

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Arch Linux with Budgie desktop
https://www.archlinux.org/

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@Ympker I was meaning to ask you if you heard 1blu. they have a $1 euro for 12 months.

Concerning your question; is it a dell/hp? maybe have to reapply thermal paste. Should never be slow with i7 and sshd.

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Install SSD.

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@Ympker Also, SSHD != SSD.

Just like @FHR said: get a real SSD.

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Just gave a new lease of life to my 6yr old Asus i7-3xxx by swapping HDD to a SSD and maxing out memory to 16GB. It now runs like new.

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Slow after reinstall of Windows, sounds like a slow disk? I mean that’s not a bad system by any means, should be doing well.

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The battery life must be horrible lol

GPU Power:

CPU Power:

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Get an SSD mate.

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As much as I agree on getting a SSD, a lack thereof doesn’t necessarily explain why performance suddenly degraded. I agree with @solo to check the thermal paste to see it it still suffices. Next thing would be to rule out bad sectors on your HDD.

Edit:
For what it’s worth, the Crucial MX500 is now down to 60 € on Amazon. https://www.amazon.de/Crucial-MX500-CT500MX500SSD1-Internes-NAND/dp/B0784SLQM6

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These are fantastic. Not the absolute best performance you can buy, but they are very reliable and affordable.

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I know that (e.g. from contabo line-up sshd and ssd) hehe :smiley: Hence my idea was to get a real ssd.

@doghouch You are correct though. Battery life is only few hours. Luckily, I mostly can charge it wherever I go so that wouldn’t be an issue :slight_smile:

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Now, I do have no problem changing drives on my computer (tower), however never have done so on my laptop. Any good guide for changing the drives from my laptop myself? Otherwhise I’d bring it to a “professional” service and pay ~50-70€ to have it changed (kinda much).

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search youtube for

brand model/type replace hd

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Will do. It’s just… compared to changing parts with my pc I’ve often heard of ppl breaking their laptop when attempting to change parts

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nah… don’t worry too much

search for the manual in pdf, and find the right videos for your exact model / type

for around $5 you can order one of these anti static wristbands :

antistatic-wristband.jpg800×800 61.8 KB

and for around $15 you can get these :

That’s only $20, still $50 cheaper than that one time tech service guy

and you can use for the rest of your life and save time and money

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Fair enough. I’d also need to check if my laptop supports avg. SSD size or another :thinking:
Will look up the model and use CPU-Z etc to check out components

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and… it’s fun to do

from doing so you will see your laptop differently, knowing what’s under the hood

09e16e97-a91d-4ab5-bb5b-acee12dcf004.jpg1200×1200 121 KB

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