Hi everyone, my first time posting in here so I hope I'm posting in the right place.
I just bought a compaq presario m2105us that has AMD Mobile Sempron 2800, with a clock speed of 1.6 ghz and 256 mb of ram.
I noticed that my computer is a bit on the slow side, even though I just bought it, reduced the amount of applications running in the background, and adjusted the power settings to make sure that the laptop is making full use of its resources. With this in mind, I have a few questions:
1) Is my AMD mobile sempron processor a, decently speaking, a good processor and could this be contributing to the slowness of the laptop?
2) Since it is slow, and I decided to upgrade my ram, is it better to upgrade it to another 256 mb or 512 mb of ram (it only has one more slot open)? I do not intend on playing games on it, but I do plan on running 2 or more applications in the background, such as browsing on the internet and working with Office at the same time, and listening to music or watch a DVD.
3) Which memory manufacturer should I buy from? Are Corsair, Crucial, and Inifineon good brands?
Thanks a bunch everyone.
Performance issue can be several different things. However, you do not, in my opinion, have enough ram. XP requires 128mb of ram to operate (even though I have seen it run on less.. thats about all it will do.. is run) but I wouldnt run it on any less than 512.. again .. my opinion.
You need to make sure that if your going add ram, that buy the identical type as whats in there now. Say for instance your running PC2700 DDR by Corsair, then you need to buy PC2700, by whom doesnt matter.. or well.. for the point I am trying to make it doesnt. They have to be the same type.
Afterwards you need to go to BlackVipers website and read and follow his instructions on how to get your services under control.
512 MB of RAM is a great idea. The cost difference is probably not twice as much as 2 x the 256. As stated in an earlier post buying identical speed , or higher, RAM is important since the speed of the RAM gears down to the slowest speed. Buy it from a certified vendor that will honor returns on bad products! The well known compaies you listed are fine. Look online at TigerDirect or NewEGG too. Check your Sunday paper for specials in your area.
A few things you may want to try are the programs memtest for checking memory errors. This program should also tell you you memory speed. Also Pacman's start up list is an invaluable tool for startup programs. Spyware on your machine can be a Big resource hog.
At present, you shouln't have too much problem running a MS app and the internet at the same time, especially if you have cable/dsl. Video & Audio are the big CPU and Memory users but even with your system it should run reasonably well, at present, with only a few hiccups.
For the future:
Supposedly Microsoft's new Vista will REQUIRE 512 MB of memory.From Microsoft's site "Minimum system requirements for the shipping version of Windows Vista are not final. Windows Vista beta 1 runs on a majority of modern computers that can run Windows XP, carry the "Designed for Windows XP" logo, have a mainstream processor from Intel or AMD, and have at least 512 MB of RAM." (source link below)
Alright, cool. I just installed an additional 512 mb of Corsair ram (which was a helluva alot easier than I thought), and my laptop is running WAY faster now. I looked at how much memory I had available under task manager before, which was only 27 mb out of 240 mb, and now I have 330 mb out of 640 mb available.
I have one more question to ask you guys. May I post a HJT log here just to see if there are any resource hogs running in the background, just to make my laptop more faster and efficient?
well.. theres really no need for the log less you just want to post it. If you will press CNTRL+ALT+DEL and pull up the task manager you will be able to see anything killing resources under the "process" tab.
What you need to do now is go to control panel… system…then under the advanced tab click the "settings" button aside from performance.. then again under the advanced tab click on the "change" button. Now here you setting your virtual memory (pagefile).. highlight the drive that pagefile (virtual memory) is located on and you want to make it a minimum of say 2.. and the max should be 1 1/2 x (total amount of ram) 640m in your case… so just make it an even 1000mb..
Now make sure you click to SET… then Apply… then OK.. and apply etc..etc all the way out till it asks you to reboot then do so.
