Laptop only utilizing roughly 50% of RAM?

[Selias]

I have an Acer Aspire One Netbook, and recently questioned why it's always so slow.

Specs*
1.33 Ghz dual-core AMD C-60 with Radeon HD Graphics
2.0 GB of Ram (1.73 usable)
Windows 7 64-bit.

It's the same specs it came with, I'm unsure of the rest of the specs.

But to address the issue with the RAM...
I did a little number crunching using Windows Task Manager, freezing the data (so I could record it all.
The amount of physical memory being used was only about 500MB, recorded as 71% usage

After crunching some numbers, this means my maximum memory is between 700-800MB, correct?
I did a quick ram boost (using Kingsoft PC Doctor, basically, it frees up unused RAM)

Which released about 230 MB of RAM.

I'm still looking for the other half my RAM, as I find it hard to believe my laptop can't handle it.


To clarify a few things, Often times, my CPU usage and RAM Usage will max out. (normallly separate cases respectively, it doesn't usually get to the point where they both are maxed out.)

That's why I need more RAM, what my netbook is doing is too much for the limited RAM.

I would like to point out (if it isn't obvious) that my understanding of computer tech is very limited, I know some things, but I'm still a novice.

I've ran full antivirus scans daily, so it shouldn't be a virus/malware/etc.


If anyone could help me increase the performance WITHOUT making physical repairs to the laptop, (i.e., opening it up and installing parts) I would be much happier.

Thanks in advance,
~Selias

 

[Veraster]

Well first off, that cpu isn't all that great. The cpu is why it's slow. Ram only makes it more stable. But having 2GB of ram and a low-power cpu is still better than having 1GB of ram and a low-power cpu.
As for clearing the ram, ram gets cleared every time you power off the computer so I call shenanigans on that program.
Make sure you are using the "maximum performance" power setting.

I know this isn't you want to hear but buying a 4GB ram pack isn't that expensive. It would save you a headache if you just bought more.

 

[Selias]

Well, The thing is, I literally have no money, no job :/
So I can't really afford buying new RAM or a New processor.

I was aware that my CPU was low-power, but I'm not sure how much more my netbook can handle, it tends to overheat easily. This is probably either a design flaw, or because it's 11.7"

As far as the RAM boost goes, it usually meant to release RAM without having to reboot my laptop.

Thanks for providing this information, it will be helpful in the future when I have money to upgrade parts.

 

[Yevrag35]

But to address the issue with the RAM...
I did a little number crunching using Windows Task Manager, freezing the data (so I could record it all.
The amount of physical memory being used was only about 500MB, recorded as 71% usage

After crunching some numbers, this means my maximum memory is between 700-800MB, correct?
I did a quick ram boost (using Kingsoft PC Doctor, basically, it frees up unused RAM)

The usage meter in the taskbar is not for your RAM, it's for the CPU (you were at 71% cpu usage). What you said before (1.73GB usable),means you have a total of around 1772MB. But you should still upgrade that when you can.

There's nothing probably wrong with your computer, it's just an inherently slow processor. The AMD C series processors are meant to be cheap, slow processors to hit a certain market. They use the "energy effiency" marketing ploy to make it sound like it's groundbreaking technology that was put into the making of it (something that doesn't do anything, doesn't use any energy).
It's like a smart car vs. a V8 mustang, both can get to 60mph but one makes it more enjoyable to get there versus the other.

 

[Selias]

The usage meter in the taskbar is not for your RAM, it's for the CPU (you were at 71% cpu usage). What you said before (1.73GB usable),means you have a total of around 1772MB. But you should still upgrade that when you can.

There's nothing probably wrong with your computer, it's just an inherently slow processor. The AMD C series processors are meant to be cheap, slow processors to hit a certain market. They use the "energy effiency" marketing ploy to make it sound like it's groundbreaking technology that was put into the making of it (something that doesn't do anything, doesn't use any energy).
It's like a smart car vs. a V8 mustang, both can get to 60mph but one makes it more enjoyable to get there versus the other.

Thanks for the info, but when I pulled up the number 71%, that was for Physical memory, not CPU. My CPU usage is usually a bit higher -_-
Physical Memory is RAM, correct?

So now that we have that straight.

The whole issue here was that I estimated my computer is only capable of processing half of my RAM.
I think so, because I calculated the value of the RAM usage to be around 800 MB at maximum usage The numbers were taken from observing the physical memory usage for each task (both system and non-system processes.)
With that totaling about 800 MB, my question is why is my netbook unable to use the rest of the RAM?

 

[Yevrag35]

The whole issue here was that I estimated my computer is only capable of processing half of my RAM.
I think so, because I calculated the value of the RAM usage to be around 800 MB at maximum usage The numbers were taken from observing the physical memory usage for each task (both system and non-system processes.)
With that totaling about 800 MB, my question is why is my netbook unable to use the rest of the RAM?

So, you're saying that the area highlighted in the attached picture says you only have 800MB of physical memory?

 

[Frosty is a Snowman]

I assume that you have got the Physical Memory % from the processes Tab in task manager
I would do as instructed above as this will show you how much total and available
As the processes don't show how much RAM is actually being used.

The way you have done it is to calculate that your applications within the Processes Tab are using 500MB, and seen the Physical Memory % in the bottom right corner and put 2 and 2 together and got 5.
You have not took into consideration other factors such as the RAM used by .dll files, cache for applications etc. etc.

By going to the Performance tab this will show you how much RAM you have in Total, and how much is actually being used, and how much is free.


But at the end of the day you are still in the same situation, the fact remains that you are using a low performance device that has been designed to do little more than web browsing and viewing office documents.
It will struggle to perform most tasks.
I personally would consider looking at the device, seeing what the full hardware specs are, and if it has XP driver support, I would downgrade the OS to try and get more performance out of it

Because you are near the bottom end of the system requirements for Windows 7 64Bit

Windows 7 64Bit System Requirements
CPU - 1GHz
RAM - 2GB

Windows XP System Requirements
CPU - 233Mhz
RAM - 64MB

(Personally I would say XP needs CPU 500Mhz and 512MB RAM as a minimum, but the above are the official requirements)

While you have a dual-core CPU it is still a low power, low performance processor, that I would say is actually worse than some of the CPU's in modern mobile phones.
Just to give you an indication, my mobile phone has a 2Ghz Intel Atom CPU that may be better than the CPU in your netbook.
the Specifications above are usually talking about desktop processors which benchmark a lot higher than their laptop counterparts.
So I would say while you have the minimum needed for Windows 7 64Bit, it is still not enough to get any real performance from that operating system.
I think if you had a different operating system that require less in the way of minimum specs then you may see an improvement in your performance, as you will have more CPU and RAM available

You can see by the minimum requirements that you stand a better chance of getting more performance out of XP than you will Windows 7.
You could also look at installing Ubuntu or a similar Linux based OS, as these can also be better on lower spec computers