I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
Over the last couple months, my laptop has been quite slow and laggy
Adding RAM wouldn't be my first thought to solve this unless you've recently started using a more resource-demanding bit of software than you did previously. Whatever is slowing your machine down will still do that with more RAM, it might just take longer to get there.
It looks like the original HDD in the picture, so it'll be a 5400RPM 500GB jobbie, and one that's anything up to 7 years old (I read the specs). Replace it with a cheap (but reliable brand) SSD and you'll see a bigger difference. Since it's an older laptop and you don't want to spend much, you can get something like a WD Green 120GB SSD for about £25. You'll need a USB-to-SATA cable for an extra fiver if you want to copy your old system across, but I'd recommend a complete re-installation of the OS to make sure it's not just going to carry over whatever's making it slow at the moment.
I use a laptop of about the same vintage as my daily machine and can't say I've felt much of an urge to replace it yet :)
Hi Ben! Thank you so much for your suggestions! Learning how to code the last couple years or so has required the use of more resource-demanding software than before so adding RAM has really helped in that aspect.
Adding RAM is enough for me for now but I will definitely keep your suggestions in mind for future reference!:)
Versatile software engineer with a background in .NET consulting and CMS development. Working on regaining my embedded development skills to get more involved with IoT opportunities.
I would caution you to learn about SMART data for your hard drive. When your hard drive makes lots of clicking noises, you will want to check the SMART attributes (generally done in the BIOS or a manufacturer utility) to see if the drive is failing. If your drive is starting to failk, you'll want to replace it and restore your data (you already have backups, right? :P )
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Adding RAM wouldn't be my first thought to solve this unless you've recently started using a more resource-demanding bit of software than you did previously. Whatever is slowing your machine down will still do that with more RAM, it might just take longer to get there.
It looks like the original HDD in the picture, so it'll be a 5400RPM 500GB jobbie, and one that's anything up to 7 years old (I read the specs). Replace it with a cheap (but reliable brand) SSD and you'll see a bigger difference. Since it's an older laptop and you don't want to spend much, you can get something like a WD Green 120GB SSD for about £25. You'll need a USB-to-SATA cable for an extra fiver if you want to copy your old system across, but I'd recommend a complete re-installation of the OS to make sure it's not just going to carry over whatever's making it slow at the moment.
I use a laptop of about the same vintage as my daily machine and can't say I've felt much of an urge to replace it yet :)
Hi Ben! Thank you so much for your suggestions! Learning how to code the last couple years or so has required the use of more resource-demanding software than before so adding RAM has really helped in that aspect.
Adding RAM is enough for me for now but I will definitely keep your suggestions in mind for future reference!:)
I would caution you to learn about SMART data for your hard drive. When your hard drive makes lots of clicking noises, you will want to check the SMART attributes (generally done in the BIOS or a manufacturer utility) to see if the drive is failing. If your drive is starting to failk, you'll want to replace it and restore your data (you already have backups, right? :P )