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Question

Do I need more RAM, or is Windows 10 slowing my laptop dow?

Mar 31, 2017 7:17AM PDT

I have a Samsung laptop (NP350E5C), Dual core Intel, Pentium 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM. I am running 64x bit Windows 10 Pro Version 1607.
I am an online teacher, so I always have two or three apps that are open at the same time (Skype, QQ, ABC360 platform - the last two are programs similar to Skype but come from China), but of course, I only use one at a time. In addition to them, I always have four tabs open in Google Chrome (google images, online dictionary, pdf of the lesson, and the website with my schedule). In the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing serious problems in the sense that my laptop is becoming increasingly sluggish as time passes by. The Task Manger was always showing over 70% RAM usage, so I installed an extension called the Great Suspender. It did decrease the RAM usage to around 50% but the sluggish performance remains the same. I've searched the internet for the solution, tried all sorts of suggestions (registry hacks, more frequent defragging) and nothing seem to work. The only reason I ask is because I have come across some people who told me that they have 16 GB of RAM and experience the same problems. Is there any hope of turning this around? What kind of setup would you recommend considering what I need?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
HOW are you online? wifi or cable?
Apr 1, 2017 11:44AM PDT

If you are using wifi, then see if the slowness continues when online hooked by cable to the router. You must first determine if it's truly the laptop, or if it's the online connection.

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I always use a cable.
Apr 1, 2017 12:03PM PDT

I always use a cable because the internet connection with China isn't very stable, so I need all the power I can get. The problem started about a month ago while I was still using Windows 8. I thought that I would take care of the problem by reinstalling Windows (and upgrading it to Windows 10), but it couldn't have been further from the truth, the problem persisted and is becoming quite alarming as time passes by. I have to say that the people from this forum have been very constructive with their suggestions, and that I will definitely try to upgrade my RAM with 8GB (4x2) and with 250 GB SSD.

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all bets are off for W10 working right for everyone
Apr 1, 2017 1:24PM PDT
https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/is-there-any-hope-for-me-to-move-on-to-windows-10/

Since this happened under W8 your choices to check are.

1) router - does it work fast enough from another computer, or better when using a Linux LIVE DVD you booted to?

2) try another LAN cable

3) If all works well with another computer, then you are back to the laptop having the problem.

4) Check Samsung site for latest LAN/Network driver files and install them. Possible W10 replaced the driver files with generic that aren't working well on your laptop.
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At the office we moved to W10 and not going back.
Apr 2, 2017 8:47AM PDT

Less troubles over all. We consider it a good move and Microsoft's best to date.

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Answer
My oldest W10 laptop has only 2GB RAM
Mar 31, 2017 8:01AM PDT

But it has the newer SSD and it boots in 33 seconds to Firefox open and a web result. For a 2006 Dell e1505 machine that's not bad.

Most of the sluggish experience I see today is just hard drive delays.

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After more replies
Apr 1, 2017 11:45AM PDT

My nod is to replace the HDD with SSD. If you insist on a new laptop, be sure it has SSD technology as you may find it just as slow as what you have now.

A 500GB SSD is just under 150 here and is very nice. If you don't need that much space, look to the 240GB models (now under 99 bucks) and here's a kit to DIY.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA85V3R95124

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Answer
All Those Programs Are Online....
Mar 31, 2017 11:45AM PDT

You don't mention how much internet bandwidth you have. You also don't mention which antivirus you're using. If you've got more than one AV running in the background, it can slow things down. Only use one. And if the main slow down issue is with those online programs, try increasing your internet bandwidth.

Here, I'd also make sure I had 8 GB or RAM, but it needs to be dual channel, meaning 2 X 4 GB, which works faster. If your current 4 GB isn't dual channel, ( two separate sticks of 2 GB each), that might be something you can work on.

Next, we also starting shutting down unnecessary programs that run in the background. Also, it seems as though the Windows 10 "upgrade" process may not install all the files correctly, or maybe they're damaged, or maybe something else, but running Chkdsk has fixed quite a few of these minor glitches. Try running Chkdsk in "repair" mode to find any damaged files and correct them. Start by opening a command prompt as an admin. RIGHT click on the Start button, choose "Command Prompt (Admin). Once there, type chkdsk /f /r /x, leaving the appropriate spaces between the letters as shown, then press the Enter key. You should see a note that it can't be run till a restart is done, type "Y" for yes, then press the Enter key again. Close the command prompt and restart the computer. Chkdsk will run upon restart and will take quite a while to finish.. Don't panic when the progress bar stays at 10% for a long time. It's fairly normal and the Chkdsk process may take a couple of hours.

When it's finished, it will boot to your normal startup/lock screen and you can login normally and then see if things are working correctly again.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Answer
Many questions, few answers
Mar 31, 2017 9:20PM PDT

Sometimes there is a silver bullet, but usually not.
More ram is always good, but not always good enough.
I think you have a 500 MB 5400 rpm disk drive. That could be your bottleneck.
Start up Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc). If you just see a list of Apps, click on "More Details" in the lower left corner, and open the Performance tab. You can see CPU, Memory, Disc and Network performance all at once. See what's near 100% utilization.
Open the processes tab, where you can see performance by process. Click on the column headers (CPU, Memory, Disk, Network) to sort the process list by usage for each category. See who is using the most of whatever is near 100%. That may give you a clue.
I'm with Proffitt the Prophet. Probably not enough RAM aggravated by slow hard drive. But do the investigation first and look at the numbers.

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Answer
Thank you for your answers.
Apr 1, 2017 5:32AM PDT

First of all, I really appreciate your input. I am still indecisive whether I should buy a new laptop or upgrade this one. My internet bandwith is 60/4 (download/upload) mbps, and the only AV I use is the Windows Defender. Performances in the Task Manager reflect what I've said earlier, the Memory tab goes over 70%, everything else is below 30/20% most of the time (Disc below 10%, and the Network tab below 1%). The non-paged pool is also always around 90 mb, so I assume that it's not a leak. Now, since I am layman when it comes to hardware/performance issues, I am really at a loss but at the same time I have to do something fast, because it is staring to influence my work, and I can't have that. That said, I'd really like to thank you guys for your answers and I'll try to implement everything that I can right away.

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Have You Actually Tested That Bandwidth?
Apr 1, 2017 11:17AM PDT

Your ISP may say that you have 60 down and 4 up, but does it test out that way? There are a lot of test sites on the net, but one is at the link below. Give it a try:

http://www.speedtest.net/

Let us know what it says.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Yes, this is the speed
Apr 1, 2017 11:41AM PDT

I do tests every day (It is a requirement in my line of work, as proof of a stable connection). Download is usally up to 58 or 59 mbps while the upload goes to 3.8 or 3.9 mbps.

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Answer
SSD & RAM
Apr 1, 2017 6:54AM PDT

I generally think 8 GB RAM is a happy medium for a 64 bit system between cost and performance. As Grif says, dual channel makes a big difference - make sure both sticks are the same size and characteristics, preferably bought as a matched pair set. Windows does (and should) keep applications in memory until the memory is needed for something else, so it will tend to show a higher percentage "in use" than is actually BEING used. For example, your three Skype type applications would live in memory, even through you were using only one of them, unless the memory was actually needed for something else.

But as Bob P. has said on many occasions, the best bang for your buck is a Solid State Disk, which will dramatically speed up your application loading and on disk data access, compared with spinning rust. And the smaller sizes, up to 250 GB or 500 GB are becoming affordable. For example, with an SSD, you may not need to keep the two "Skypes" not in use loaded, because the load is so fast from SSD.