Massive lag on lappy!

Hi,

Just received a Dell Inspiron 6400 Core 2 T5300 1.73GHz 1024GB RAM.

I got rid of the bloatware (as much as I could safely), installed AVG, Zone Alarm and Spybot, then set the system for performance.

Could somebody explain why on earth it seems a) to be slower than the previous 3GHz/512 RAM laptop which it superseded and b) why it keeps lagging?

To explain the latter, I mean using anything that involves text input (MS Word, Outlook Express, text field, etc) where it takes 10 or 15 seconds for 20 characters to catch up and appear. Any input during that time - backspace, return, etc - turns the system into 386/25/16!

Occasionally, it manifests as a huge global slow-down, where Win+D, Win+E, or Alt+Tab just fail to respond for 30 seconds until it all catches up in one burst.

It's bloody weird and there's nothing on here that wasn't on the previous system. If I didn't know better (?) I'd say it's running out of RAM...

Thanks in advance.

 

Recommend you follow the instructions in this post to further tweak your system.

If that doesn't improve your performance, then we might start looking for a hardware problem in either RAM or Hard Drive, as those are most likely to cause performance issues.

 

First of all,WELCOME to MG.
"I got rid of the bloatware (as much as I could safely), ".The question is,what is that you delete on your comp.

 

Duo Cores and Core 2 CPU's do not use the dual CPU's efficiently as most software can only run on one CPU at a time, so 2 x 1.73 is not better than 1 x 3ghz in most cases.

Check out CPU-Control at
http://www.koma-code.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=93

I have mine set to Automatic where it switches CPU's automatically each program that you use. It helps a bit, IMO. Bazza

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Hello again.

I searched for ages after posting this message originally, and I could find hide nor hair of it! I assumed it had been deleted for whatever reason. Stumbled back here and upon resetting my password, saw I had subscribed to the thread. Idiot.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. This wretched machine is definitely slower than its predecessor. Gimme a single core anyday. PhotoShop, InDesign and Sony Vegas are killing this PoS.

Cheers.