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New Laptop with Basic Home Version SLOW

Forum Windows Vista : Vista General Discussion - New Laptop with Basic Home Version SLOW

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Fastboatslowcomp   05-09-2007 at 03:35:58 AM

My dad just got a new Toshiba Satellite A135 with Vista Home Basic preinstalled and it is painfully slow. Does 446 MB ram sound adequate to run Vista? I've heard it said you need 2 MB to run Vista. How about the processor, T2060 @ 1.6 GHz. Is this reasonable for Vista? Last question, is there any way to downgrade to XP through Microsoft or possibly the place he bought it? Bear in mind he just wants to use the computer. He's not going to do a lot to it and he isn't going to spend time with someone else to try to get it to work as good as what he had before.

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joke   05-09-2007 at 04:10:00 AM
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Between running on 512M, and a very slow HD, things kind of feel like molasses... You probably can't get anyone (dealer or Toshiba) to downgrade to XP as it wouldn't at all be a supported product. Return it to where you bought it. If returning it is not an option then fix the memory (it's not Vista that is making it slow).

You can probably plug another 512M into it without any problems and that would help. Another thing you can do is to get a ReadyBoost capable USB flash drive (not as a replacement for more ram, but will really help with the virtual memory). Be absolutely sure it is ReadyBoost certified, if it isn't, ReadyBoost will just kick it out and you'll get pissed again. A 2G flash drive from Newegg will cost you less than $40.

If it is just marginally slow, try the flash drive first and if that's not enough then try the memory upgrade ...you really should consider both.

good luck.

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Fastboatslowcomp   05-09-2007 at 05:01:30 AM
- 0 +

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty sure he is not going to be able to return it but it's worth a try. The memory upgrade is probably the best solution if he can't return. The USB flash drive with ReadyBoost would probably be a bit too fragile for him to keep in all the time and too much trouble to keep plugging in every time.
So the hard drive is slow too? I ran a performance check on the system using the system tools and it reported just about everything is subpar, memory, cpu, disk, and video.
Thanks again.

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pkellmey   05-09-2007 at 01:25:04 PM
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There are a lot of laptop hardware configurations out there that vendors are still trying to dump on the public because of overstock that shouldn't be running Vista. This just happens to be one of them.

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heruur   05-13-2007 at 09:00:35 PM
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I believe to best setup for Vista laptop's are at least a 2-Ghz processor, 1024MB ram, a DEDICATED (not Intel's crappy GMA or X3100) GPU and a speedy 5400 or 7200 RPM hard drive. As for a sound card, I employ the new Creative Labs XMOD external USB to do the heavylifting for hardware.

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