I have two laptops that I use on a daily basis, almost identical in specs yet they run completely differently.
Laptop #1 is an HP EliteBook 8730w, Intel T9600 2.8 ghz with 4gb of DDR2-800 ram. Running Windows 10 Pro, with an SSD. Dedicated nVidia graphics. It runs absolutely flawlessly, and has for years.
Laptop #2 is a work unit, HP EliteBook 8440p. Intel Core i5 M520, 4gb ram, running Windows 7 home. No SSD. Onboard graphics with 512 meg dedicated memory, the rest is shared.
That poor 8440p can hardly get out of it's own way! I really only use it on Pro Demand to look up service information. Nothing labor intensive. The thing just lags and lags and lags.
Would upgrading to a cheap SSD make THAT much difference? I remember my 8730w having a noticeable increase after I installed one, but I don't remember it being that drastic. Maybe my memory is eluding me.
Can an SSD make this much difference?
- Thread starter 14Accent
- Start date
Yes! Your HP-8730w boots in like 5 or 6 seconds doesn't it? Your other HP-8440p has a sata, it takes 20 or 30 seconds if its not too bloated?
SSD is the new wave. Windows 10 is much faster if its in good health also.
Originally Posted by 14Accent
I have two laptops that I use on a daily basis, almost identical in specs yet they run completely differently.
Laptop #1 is an HP EliteBook 8730w, Intel T9600 2.8 ghz with 4gb of DDR2-800 ram. Running Windows 10 Pro, with an SSD. Dedicated nVidia graphics. It runs absolutely flawlessly, and has for years.
Laptop #2 is a work unit, HP EliteBook 8440p. Intel Core i5 M520, 4gb ram, running Windows 7 home. No SSD. Onboard graphics with 512 meg dedicated memory, the rest is shared.
That poor 8440p can hardly get out of it's own way! I really only use it on Pro Demand to look up service information. Nothing labor intensive. The thing just lags and lags and lags.
Would upgrading to a cheap SSD make THAT much difference? I remember my 8730w having a noticeable increase after I installed one, but I don't remember it being that drastic. Maybe my memory is eluding me.
Any SSD is a lot faster than an old 5400RPM laptop HDD, I don't know anything about Pro Demand but if it downloads a database on your computer, random seeking on a 5400rpm drive is painfully slow even compared to a bargain basement ssd.
Originally Posted by 14Accent
Laptop #2 is a work unit, HP EliteBook 8440p. Intel Core i5 M520, 4gb ram, running Windows 7 home. No SSD. Onboard graphics with 512 meg dedicated memory, the rest is shared.
That poor 8440p can hardly get out of it's own way! I really only use it on Pro Demand to look up service information. Nothing labor intensive. The thing just lags and lags and lags.
Would upgrading to a cheap SSD make THAT much difference? I remember my 8730w having a noticeable increase after I installed one, but I don't remember it being that drastic. Maybe my memory is eluding me.
I have a Lenovo t500 with a t9600 from around 2009 and it absolutely flies with an SSD. It was way slower with the HDD in it before. I couldn't believe the difference when I first put in the SSD. It's really like I got a computer that was twice as powerful. Everything works way better from YouTube videos to word documents.
My favorite place for memory...
Just ordered two 8 gig chips for my iMac...
https://www.datamemorysystems.com/
My favorite place for hard drives...
https://www.newegg.com/SSDs/Category/ID-119
How hard is it to replace a regular hard drive with a SSD drive as a non-techie? Both of our laptops are pushing eight years old. They work fine but are just so slow now. How do you get the info off of the old drive onto the SSD?
Originally Posted by Sierra048
How hard is it to replace a regular hard drive with a SSD drive as a non-techie? Both of our laptops are pushing eight years old. They work fine but are just so slow now. How do you get the info off of the old drive onto the SSD?
Yes, I will only replace HDD's in laptops with SDD's at work for this reason. Not to mention all the GPO's and other stuff that has to load on the work machine will slow down an already slow outdated machine.
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by Sierra048
How hard is it to replace a regular hard drive with a SSD drive as a non-techie? Both of our laptops are pushing eight years old. They work fine but are just so slow now. How do you get the info off of the old drive onto the SSD?
I have a similar HP model, an 8460p. I upgraded it with an SSD a few years back, and it was a rocket afterwards. I used it for a couple years, then moved to a MacBook Pro for testing work I do (alongside my Windows 10 machines). I gave it to my mom, along with a docking station. She still uses it today, and there are no complaints. I did replace the CPU cooling fan for $5 once is about all...
Very familiar with the 8440... I used one for 4 years as my work-assigned laptop. We use some thin HP laptop now, with M2 drives as standard. That old 8440 has life left, so go for it.
You i5 machine actually has a slightly better CPU.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Core2-Duo-T9600-vs-Intel-i5-520M/1012vs778
Onboard video might be dragging it down somewhat for general web browsing (loading ads) but should be fine otherwise.
I would recommend going to https://www.userbenchmark.com/ and run the free download. it will test all components of your computer and let you know if they are operating at the performance level they should be or if they are under tuned (ultra conservative timing settings) or dragged down by a old compatability mode driver.
You can run it on both laptops and compare the results. It should be very clear where you bottle necks are and which parts will make the most bang for the buck on replacing.
I use it all the time. handy program.
CPU bencmark (passmark) also had a much more extensive benchmarking program you can use on trial for 30 days to find issues. You just want to see if your machine components are performance up to their expectations. And which ones are really slowing you down.
That said, and SSD is usually a slam dunk for performance upgrade. obviously noticeable.
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Just replaced a normal hdd with a ssd on an older Toshiba Satellite that had similar issues and it made a world of a difference. You could try to see if running chkdsk and defrag on the hdd may help speed up things or even identify issues with it. Most hdd vendors have utilities to identify if hdd is on its way out.
What is a good / reliable SSD drive to get? I have read that Kingston brand seems to crash / fail.
Nowadays, upgrading from a mechanical HDD to an SSD is the most noticeable improvement people can make to their PCs. In most cases, upgrading the CPU just isn't practical and going to large amounts of RAM is often only beneficial with heavy-duty apps.
Originally Posted by diyjake
What is a good / reliable SSD drive to get? I have read that Kingston brand seems to crash / fail.