How to Make My Laptop Faster?

Maxofdad on 09/06/2020 - 11:26

Hi OzB fam, I have a laptop called an ASUS ROG. It's pretty good, but it's starting to slow down a bit with age. About 5 or 6 years old now.

These are the specs

  • Intel® Core™ i7 4720HQ Processor
  • DDR3L 1600 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SO-DIMM socket for expansion up to 16 GB SDRAM
  • Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 4600
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 2G/4G GDDR5 VRAM
  • 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
  • 500gb 5400 rpm HDD

I don't do much gaming, more just application which are running alot of things at once. I also play a lot of online poker.
I'm wondering are there any easy upgrades I could make to this which would make it faster. Would a new SSD help much? More ram?

Thanks for any suggestions/recommendations.

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • PissLUR on 09/06/2020 - 11:29
    +13

    Yes. SSD would be your #1 priority.

  • MynyMouqe on 09/06/2020 - 11:35
    +7

    SSD, and a good format/reinstall of Windows 10.

  • SKiZO on 09/06/2020 - 11:40
    +4

    With an SSD it will feel like a brand new laptop.

  • p1 ama on 09/06/2020 - 11:40
    +2

    https://www.centrecom.com.au/samsung-860-evo-500gb-25-sata-i…

    $100 after $19 cashback. This will be the best $100 you can spend to speed up your laptop.

    • Maxofdad on 09/06/2020 - 12:08

      Thankyou, so this one or a 1tb samsung 860 should fit in my laptop? Do you reckon I should throw some better ram in it while I'm at it?
      Cheers for the help

      • p1 ama on 09/06/2020 - 12:22
        +2

        Yes, you can replace one of your hard drives with an SSD. I would toss the 500GB HDD and replace that with an SSD, then use that for your OS, you can leave the 1TB HDD for mass storage.

        How much RAM do you have now? If you have 8GB, you might want to upgrade to 16GB, this should be pretty cheap.

        • FireRunner on 09/06/2020 - 12:33
          +2

          I would chuck the 500GB HDD into a cheap external hard drive case instead of binning it.

      • FireRunner on 09/06/2020 - 12:36
        +1

        I would get the 500GB EVO instead of the 1TB QVO for the boot drive
        You could get one of each SSD to replace both HDDs but you mentioned you don't do much gaming so probably not worth replacing the 1TB HDD

  • Muzeeb on 09/06/2020 - 11:43
    +2

    Replace the 500gb hdd with a SSD. Fresh install of W10. Install W10 on the SSD and use the other for storage. A $50 256gb ssd will be fine. No reason, with those specs, why that machine should be slow.

  • serpserpserp on 09/06/2020 - 11:45
    +6

    Painting racing stripes on mine made it a lot faster.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/06/2020 - 17:11

      Yep if you already have a spoiler than stripes is nexy best option

  • datafellows on 09/06/2020 - 11:51
    +2

    My old neighbour had tens useless applications and software loaded and running. Had to uninstall a bunch because his laptop similar to this setup was very slow.

    • FireRunner on 09/06/2020 - 12:42
      +2

      Uninstall useless applications and disable all applications on startup except those you always use
      I disabled itunes, steam, one drive and a bunch of other apps from automatic startup which helps a lot

  • McSquintus on 09/06/2020 - 11:52
    +1

    I've still got a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 8GB), storage nearly full and it is just as fast as when I bought it. Make sure you use an uninstall program that removes registry entries as part of uninstalling, could be why mine feels like brand new.

    • MynyMouqe on 09/06/2020 - 12:07
      +1

      It also helps that you've got solid state storage - which is exactly what we're telling the OP to get :).

    • F1ProjectOne on 10/06/2020 - 12:40
      +1

      What program do you use?

      • McSquintus on 10/06/2020 - 16:39
        +2

        iobit uninstaller myself. Can come with a lot of junk so be careful when clicking 'Next' on the install screen.

        • patricia123 on 16/06/2020 - 22:29

          I too use IObit uninstaller. It's a great program and is very easy to use.

  • wiipantz on 09/06/2020 - 11:55
    +3

    Close the lid, disconnect any cables and throw it across the room. Watch how fast it goes!
    Seriously though get an SSD at a minimum, if it can handle a M.2 get that, reinstall on the faster drive and get rid of those pokey old spinners

  • drew442 on 09/06/2020 - 11:57
    +2

    SSD, RAM, Overclock

    For the SSD I'd go MX500.
    RAM is just go whatever is on sale or AliExpress.
    You might be able to overclock or lock in the boost multiplier on all cores with X Intel XTU.

    • So lo on 10/06/2020 - 23:11
      +2

      This, and clean all the dust out of the fans while you've got it open.

  • netjock on 09/06/2020 - 12:44
    +2

    SSD and at least 8GB of ram. If it is cost effective max it out at 16GB.

  • JIMB0 on 09/06/2020 - 20:52
    +2

    About 5 or 6 years old now.

    Open it up and clean the dust out from the fan and coolers. My old laptop was suffering from thermal throttling of the CPU due to dust build up. It was ok in performance mode as the fan will run at full speed, but in normal mode the fan speed is limited to keep the noise down.

  • catbarf on 10/06/2020 - 08:42
    +1

    I have a similar laptop and I feel your pain!

  • CodeXD on 10/06/2020 - 17:15
    -1

    Download more RAM

  • [Deactivated] on 10/06/2020 - 18:38
    +1

    Definitely agree with SSD. Very easy to do. (You should be able to find videos for your model or similar ones).
    Do you know exact rog model number? Newer ones have M2 slots where you can add ssd without replacing existing hard drives.

    If the main issue is program loading time/windows loading time SSD should speed things up.
    16GB ram is pretty good so I wouldn't rush to increase that.

    If you have noisy fans then worth trying to clean out the dust but can be bit tricky to get to them depending on your model.

    FYI. I had a ASUS mid-range laptop with i7 CPU I purchased in ~2012. Changed SSD in 2014 because my HDD died. To be honest its been working great so I think with SSD and a reboot your laptop should be good for many more years!!

  • PissLUR on 11/06/2020 - 11:36
    +2

    paint it red.

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