Do I need a new computer or can this be fixed?

[bigdan]

The issue I'm having is that over the last few months I've noticed a slowdown in my computer speed. This didnt happen before 3-6 months ago, I think its just in the last 3. I'm not running any heavy duty applications, just browsing, videos, often both. And sometimes a couple pdfs are open. The most strain probably comes from my browsing, I sometimes have like 20 tabs open in Chrome. Yikes! That is indeed excessive, but does that warrant the computer becoming sooo slow?

I bought my current laptop 3 years ago. So if you go by time it does sound like I may need a new one. But when I compare the specs I actually dont see current ones in the same price range which are more powerful. This is an Acer i5-2430M 2.4 GHz with 6 GB RAM and a TB hard drive. I've attached an external 1.5 TB drive in case that's relevant. Got this for $450 in Dec 2011.

Is this not sufficient for me these days? If not, would I be able to find something significantly better in the same price range?

If it is indeed sufficient, as I suspect, what could be the cause? I scrubbed my computer recently in regards to viruses/malware/spyware so I really dont think thats the issue. However there could be other things slowing it down? I know my virus scanner Avast says it can optimize my computer, but it charges $20 for that and I dont know if it'll be worth it, ie how much of a difference it'll make.

Thanks!
Dan

 

[patonb]

Have you checked your cpu temperatures? 3yrs of dust can clog the coolers easily.

If temps are good, I would reinstall windows, though I would get a retail disk if your system has a true windows key number.

After 3 yrs, the registry and file system could be messed

 

[carnageX]

Have you checked your cpu temperatures? 3yrs of dust can clog the coolers easily.

If temps are good, I would reinstall windows, though I would get a retail disk if your system has a true windows key number.

Retail disc won't work with an OEM key - he'd need an OEM disc.

 

[PP Mguire]

20 tabs? You're probably capping your RAM at that point which will start transfering data to the pagefile which is inherently much slower than RAM. That combined with an old install, and possibly thermal throttling if it wasn't being cleaned will make a system seem much slower than it should be.

 

[patonb]

Retail disc won't work with an OEM key - he'd need an OEM disc.

The key on the COA is usually able to run a bought disk.

 

[carnageX]

Can just get a replacement ISO from here too .
[Legal Download: Windows 7 with SP1, 13 languages

 

[Norris15]

I don't know if you have tried this because it wasn't mentioned but before you go and buy a new operating system disk do the easiest option, restore to factory default! Just back up all files onto that external hard drive first! Patonb is onto something though, clean your filters and panels on your laptop to clean the dust out!

 

[carnageX]

I don't know if you have tried this because it wasn't mentioned but before you go and buy a new operating system disk do the easiest option, restore to factory default! Just back up all files onto that external hard drive first! Patonb is onto something though, clean your filters and panels on your laptop to clean the dust out!

No need to buy a disk - if you have the key from the bottom of the system, the proper ISO from the link I posted above will do fine.

 

[bigdan]

This is a legal copy of Windows, yes.

I'm hesitant to do a fresh install as I believe all files are lost. I can copy to my external drive but all the settings etc will all get changed.

I just checked the temp, my laptop seems to be 56-60. Not sure how much it should be but at the bottom of the screen it says thermal status OK so I'm guessing we're good.

Back to my original question though, is the number of tabs the problem, should that be significantly affecting a good speed computer? When I opened the task manager the CPU Usage wasnt that high but the Memory Usage was in the 80%+ region. What should I consider the max memory usage to be efficient?

 

[PP Mguire]

This is a legal copy of Windows, yes.

I'm hesitant to do a fresh install as I believe all files are lost. I can copy to my external drive but all the settings etc will all get changed.

I just checked the temp, my laptop seems to be 56-60. Not sure how much it should be but at the bottom of the screen it says thermal status OK so I'm guessing we're good.

Back to my original question though, is the number of tabs the problem, should that be significantly affecting a good speed computer? When I opened the task manager the CPU Usage wasnt that high but the Memory Usage was in the 80%+ region. What should I consider the max memory usage to be efficient?

I already answered that question.