Slow laptop.

Hello people.
I have a problem with my laptop. When I open a psd with 20 layers for example, I have to wait for a minute for it to open. I can't open Photoshop and Flash at the same time because it gets real slow.

Are CPU and RAM the most important things to consider upgrading?
CPU is 1.6 Ghz and RAM is one gigabyte.
Should I upgrade both? Will it help my computer get better? I'm using Vista.

AND I've got another computer: CPU is 2.4 Ghz and RAM is one gigabyte again. How come it's slower than my laptop?

Thanks.

Vista = 2GB min

Yes = Upgrade Ram, see if your notebook can support 4GB of ram

No = CPU.... upgrading a CPU can be intensive. I have only seen a handfull of notebooks that allow for easily accessible CPUs.

Could be a couple of things.

1) The CPU in your laptop is definitely slower than your other computer (I am assuming a desktop).

2) Hard drives are usually a lot slower in laptops than desktops as well?

3) How fragmented are your hard drives?

4) What other software differences are there between your laptop and desktop that may be taking up precious RAM?

5) Are there any viruses/trojans, etc. running which can slow down your computer.

Recommendations would be:

1) Run defrag on your laptop (comes with Windows and is a free solution).

2) Run a good virus checker or spyware/malware removal tool (there are also some good free tools available, just google for them).

3) More RAM will always increase performance, as the computer will not have to swap to its virtual memory on the hard drive. Depending on how old your laptop and its capabilities, you may be able to add some more RAM. Older laptops could only handle 1 GByte RAM, some not quite so old would handle 2 GByte RAM and newer single and multi-core laptops could handle 4 GByte and more. If you are using a 32 bit version of Windows, remember that it can only use 3 GByte max, no matter how much you have in your computer.

4) You can always buy yourself a new laptop with a multi-core (2 or 4 core) CPU, fast RAM, 64 bit OS and a large fast hard drive.

Al

Wow, thanks for the replies.
^ "1) The CPU in your laptop is definitely slower than your other computer (I am assuming a desktop)."
My laptop is faster than my computer. Actually it was my mom's laptop and she gave it to me after she decided it was too heavy. And since I realized that it's much faster than my computer I chose to do my picture editing and such on my laptop but well... I can't get no satisfaction.
Are you telling me not to increase the CPU? Because Photoshop CS4 needs a CPU of 1.8 Ghz and mine is 1.6 so I won't be able to use it. Another question is if increasing CPU will make my laptop faster or not?
By the way does defragment really work? I always thought it was a joke... partly.

If you're waiting for PS to open a document, then I'd guess it's not the processor you're waiting for, but the limited memory: PS is opening the document, while swapping to the HDD...

cryforashadow wrote in post #7950412
Wow, thanks for the replies.
^ "1) The CPU in your laptop is definitely slower than your other computer (I am assuming a desktop)."
My laptop is faster than my computer. Actually it was my mom's laptop and she gave it to me after she decided it was too heavy. And since I realized that it's much faster than my computer I chose to do my picture editing and such on my laptop but well... I can't get no satisfaction.
Are you telling me not to increase the CPU? Because Photoshop CS4 needs a CPU of 1.8 Ghz and mine is 1.6 so I won't be able to use it. Another question is if increasing CPU will make my laptop faster or not?
By the way does defragment really work? I always thought it was a joke... partly.

Awww, crap. Had a really great reply and lost it when I tried to submit it. Oh, well. Here I go again.

In your original post, I thought the laptop had the 1.6GHz CPU and your other computer had the 2.4GHz CPU. To me, that sounds like the other computer is faster than the laptop. Unless the 1.6GHz CPU is a Core 2 Duo and the 2.4GHz CPU is a Celeron or something like that.

And yes, defragging your hard drive really does work. Over time, your files will become fragmented, especially if you do a lot of saving the same file over and over. When a program tries to load or execute a file, your hard drive has to work harder moving the heads all over the place trying to find all of the individual bits of the file. Defragging your drive will place your files in a contiguous location on your hard drive, making accessing and loading them easier and faster.

No, I am not saying you should upgrade your CPU. When I listed Item 4, it was more of 'if this were a perfect world' scenario. First, you would have to find out if your laptop can support a faster CPU, then buy the faster CPU, then usually have to strip the laptop down just to get at the CPU. It isn't really work upgrading the CPU in a laptop. If I wanted a faster CPU in a laptop, than I would just buy a new laptop. That being said, even if you bought the fastest, newest, most technologically advanced laptop on the market, it would be out of date the following week anyway with a newer, faster, more advanced laptop!!

Your best best is to try the cheapest and easiest things first (Items 1 and 2). Then if your budget can afford it (and your laptop will support it), get some more RAM in your laptop. You'll definitely notice an improvement in overall performance doing these three things. The newer RAM modules are pretty cheap nowadays. I can remember when RAM used to be over $100 per MEG of RAM. Yes, that was MEG and not GIG of RAM!!

Al

Increase your RAM to 4GB in both machines. 20 layers is a lot.