laptop / what the fuck top? (1 Viewer)

[Anthony]

Got given/leant an oldish PC laptop. Now I wouldn't know a windows machine from my arse so I have some questions.
It's a Packard Bell EasyNote LJ61 and it slow as fuck. It has windows vista on it. How can I speed this thing up or am I wasting my time because even turning this on is depressing.

 

[GO]

First of all..BEST THREAD TITLE EVER! ..I laughed

Second..its a Packard Bell..that means in ancient cos they went outta business years ago.

It would make a good home file server/torrent box
Or you could have some fun and lash Linux on it and use it for surfing the net

Or else...download it into a skip

 

[Anthony]

Or else...download it into a skip

That's what I was thinking. Pity though, it's massive and has a decent array of ports etc. It plays DVDs.

 

[GO]

That's what I was thinking. Pity though, it's massive and has a decent array of ports etc. It plays DVDs.

Then bang Linux mint onto it and it'll fucking fly along..and Mint is great

 

[Theseus Mock]

Bin it, it'll cause you more frustration than anything else.

Linux on desktop? Don't even go there, you'll have fun trying to hunt down compatible drivers for EVERYTHING (trackpad/wifi/LAN/graphics/etc). Linux on server, never on desktop (unless you're a sadomasochist.)

 

[pete]

You've nothing to lose banging Mint onto it. If it works you've a spare browsing / libre office machine. And if it doesn't work, so what?

 

[pete]

To speed it up start with extra ram. A cheap ssd would help too.

 

[Anthony]

thanks everyone. Keep an eye on freecycle.

 

[rettucs]

To speed it up start with extra ram. A cheap ssd would help too.

laptops generally don't have empty slots though. You could replace the DIMMs with bigger DIMMs though.

Delete lots of shit off it, make sure you close off all the shit that runs in the background, run the defragmenter and those other windows performance rationalisation tools that are generally good.

But yeah, mostly I agree with the others. That laptop isn't really meant for now. Its old, so don't get too ambitious with what you want or plan to do it.

 

[pete]

Crapcleaner the fuck out of it

 

[nooleen]

 

[GO]

Yeah, but what the fuck top?

 

[Theseus Mock]

run the defragmenter and those other windows performance rationalisation tools that are generally good.

That's the fatal flaw with Windows, it's so susceptible to being ravaged by junk, even you purchase a brand new windows machine it comes with free pre-installed junk so manufacturers get their financial kickbacks. And those horrible stickers plastered over PCs. Windows is fine in professional environments where sys admins have strict controls over what's running, personally OS X is a much better experience and the time you'll spend sys admining it yourself falls to nothing.

 

[Anthony]

I put a dvd in and was presented with a fucking ad for the player software?? Is this what you pc guys have dealt with for years?

 

[pete]

No.

 

[GO]

Here we go