Have an HP zt1130 laptop, maybe 5 years old, celeron processor, only 128 ram.

It runs kind of slow, and doesn't like to do to many things at once.

Only a 20GB hd with 8.4gb left.

Will picking up a stick of 512ram help me much or should I just wait and pick up something new laptop wise a little later on?

suggestions please.

smart a** comment welcome also.

dave

 

I'd save and get a new one... save enough to avoid the celeron processor again. I've heard bad things about them and didn't listen. Bought one and had the same luck (runs slow, locks up, bad at multi-tasking, etc.) Got rid of it and now have a pentium. It was well worth the extra money.

 

My Dell Inspiron 4000 is like 8 years old. I just upgraded from 128mb to 256mb. As cheap as it was; it was a worthy investment. But I only use the laptop for web surfing. The most I do is Nascar Trackpass with live race coverage via java application

 

I use it for everything. My desktop is seldom used anymore. I am in the process of taking a class on how to use frontpage, and this thing doesn't seem to like doing this. Could be i don't know what I am doing.

 

Also keep in mind that the motherboard in that machine is only capable of holding so much ram... I'm sure you can go to 512 but, going much above that -- I'd definitely check compatibility.

This just bit me in the butt at work where I was upgrading a desktop... didn't realize that the damn mobo would only take 1gb -- go figure, I ordered a 2gb stick. Oh well... one of the other machines got it and I robbed it of it's 1gb. All turned out okay...

RP

 

Two things about front page.
1. its uses a lot of resources so if its kind of slow don't worry its not you
2. once you learn it you can do some amazing things with it.
I this with front page:
http://members.***.net/rdsii640

 

If all you do is use your laptop as a portable web termal than there is not need to spend money on a new laptop when what you have is working. Now that I have said this a mem upgrade will do you a world of good. do some research and find out how much the motherboard can support and max it out. beyond that there is isn't much you can do. depending on the form factor of your harddrive, you might be able to upgrade to a bigger one. but if all you do is websurf with it I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Craz, I have the same one, I hate it. I've had nothing but trouble with it. It is now just a slim line desktop since it wont recognize any battery and the screen went out....

But speed is not an issue, Try this

Start/run
type "prefetch"
hit "OK"
ctrl+a (to select all files in that folder)
Delete

enjoy the replinished speed and multi-tasking ability again....

It's not the computer, it's Xp's fault..........

 

Matt loves his prefetch fix.

It is true though.

Memory will help, I wouldn't spend anything else on it though.

Use a site like crucial, it will scan your system and tell you what you can add.

and yes Celerons suck

 

Good to know it is the equipment and not me that is at fault here. It is usually the other way around.

 

That is pretty nice, I am not real good with this technology thing, but hopefully I will be able to learn to do something decent with it.

I have a sportsman's club I would like to do something for also, that is one of my reasons for trying to learn.

 

Yep, how many times has it not worked?

It's got a 100% success rate anytime anyone has complained about being slow. Can't argue or compalin... at least about the fix.
The reason you have to do it occasinally... now thats grounds for complaint. I hope they don't utilize that in Vista, but we know that they likely will. Just because it's so inefficient and the common poor file and system resources managment Microsoft is known for.