Laptop Replacement

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SteveC83

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#222838 31-Aug-2017 07:35

Hi All

Currently have a Toshiba Satellite C665 (Specifications) that is approximately 5 years old and is running horrendously slow.

It has a Core i5 processor and 4GB RAM.

What is out there now-a-days that’s a bit of an upgrade without going into the gaming machines costing $2k? Would like to keep it asclost to $1,000, possibly below.

Main use is watching movies and streaming from Netflix/Youtube but also use Word/Project/Excel etc. extensively.

Thanks

xpd

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#1855620 31-Aug-2017 08:28

Throw a $100 SSD into the existing unit, maye another 4GB and probably find itll be perfect for your needs still.

My kids are on a 10 year old system with an SSD gaming happily, so pretty sure your i5 can do what you want :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Coil

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#1855623 31-Aug-2017 08:37

I5 2430M is a good cpu, Will keep up with the I3's today. Even then an I3 is a great processor!
Go grab a SSD, $100 for a cheapio and then get an eternal HDD caddy for your existing HDD. $135 all up.

1101

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#1855741 31-Aug-2017 10:19

In general, if getting a new laptop, make sure it has an SSD. And make sure the SSD is big enough . Some laptops come
with SSD's that are really just too low in capacity . If the laptop doesnt have an SSD, any half decent retailer will be able to
fit one for you.
The major laptop brands are pretty much as good as each other now. Every brand has a few duds & a few gems :-)
Get a business class laptop if you can .

The C665 came out with many differnet spec CPU's
So it could be the i5 in yours is just the low speed version ? whats the CPU speed ?

Often , its its either software bloat or Hard Drive running slow that causes slow speeds on recent (ie i5,i3) laptops
An SSD often will make a huge difference in speed, sometimes a wipe & reload is all thats needed (usually its a slow HD issue)
Although, Ive seen some cheap i5 (1.6Ghz) laptops that simply were painfully slow

The other thing to consider is that it may not even be a laptop issue , depending on just what you find is too slow.
Sometimes its really just slow internet/wifi , not the actual laptop .
You need b8gger all speed to run MS Word,Excel etc. How many docs etc do you have open at once ?

Im finding people are becoming less & less patient & more unrealistic with expected speeds .
Win (with auto Winupdates) & multiple cloud sync services running will have some slowdowns every now & then .

SteveC83

33 posts

Geek

#1855788 31-Aug-2017 10:57

1101:

In general, if getting a new laptop, make sure it has an SSD. And make sure the SSD is big enough . Some laptops come
with SSD's that are really just too low in capacity . If the laptop doesnt have an SSD, any half decent retailer will be able to
fit one for you.
The major laptop brands are pretty much as good as each other now. Every brand has a few duds & a few gems :-)
Get a business class laptop if you can .

The C665 came out with many differnet spec CPU's
So it could be the i5 in yours is just the low speed version ? whats the CPU speed ?

Often , its its either software bloat or Hard Drive running slow that causes slow speeds on recent (ie i5,i3) laptops
An SSD often will make a huge difference in speed, sometimes a wipe & reload is all thats needed (usually its a slow HD issue)
Although, Ive seen some cheap i5 (1.6Ghz) laptops that simply were painfully slow

The other thing to consider is that it may not even be a laptop issue , depending on just what you find is too slow.
Sometimes its really just slow internet/wifi , not the actual laptop .
You need b8gger all speed to run MS Word,Excel etc. How many docs etc do you have open at once ?

Im finding people are becoming less & less patient & more unrealistic with expected speeds .
Win (with auto Winupdates) & multiple cloud sync services running will have some slowdowns every now & then .

Thanks for all the replies so far!!

According to the model number (PSC55A-013008) the processor speed is 2.5 - 3.1GHz.

Even trying to log on can take up to 5 minutes (longest it’s been), 2-3 minutes is a regular time frame, sometimes it's slightly quicker, other times slower - I started timing it as I thought I was being impatient...I don’t think it should regularly take 3 minutes just to log on.

Trying to open a 45-minute TV episode on Windows Media or any other media player can be pretty painful as well.

As the machine became slower and slower, I made sure I wasn't using multiple applications at once (internet, media player, word, excel etc. so 99% of the time, I only have 1 application running.

The fan runs pretty loud at times and it gets pretty warm (forgot to mention this in the 1st post) so kind of assumed a new machine would be the best option?

CYaBro

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#1855934 31-Aug-2017 13:21

If it's running that slow the hard drive could be failing so make sure you have a good backup done ASAP!

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

cadman

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#1856171 31-Aug-2017 21:58

Scanned it for malware?