Computer recommendations for inpatient AOL user

[MONKEYMAN]

I maintain a computer for a friend. She still uses AOL 9.7 browser for her email. I am not able to convince her otherwise. I have installed Chrome and Firefox browsers which she uses sometimes, but she still does searches using her AOL browser.

The main compliant is computer is slow. It is an Dell I bought her about 5 years ago that ran Vista and had upgrade to Windows 7. So the processor is old and slow by today's standards. The Sandisk SSD makes it boot fast when I use it. Things are loading fast when I use it. I check internet speed from Charter. She is usually over 100 mbps. She is ready to go online a few seconds after the desktop loads.

So does the new processor make that much of a difference? I like Dell SFF Optiplex. Would a used Windows 7 one with an i5 processor be noticeable? She does like to take pictures. So I can see downloading them would take less time, but online will it matter that much?

The newer AOL brower is something she is not going to like. I can see her having problems with Windows 10. So I am trying to keep things the way she likes them, but faster.

Thanks for your suggestions. Most of my computer knowledge comes from this forum.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: MONKEYMAN
The main compliant is computer is slow.


The computer probably needs some software to clean out junk files. I use "Tweak and Tuneup" and it seems to work good. Also keeping the browser cache emptied out frequently helps too. I might also mention that using an expired browser will slow things down quite a bit too. I suggest updating the browser to the most current addition.

 

[mazdamonky]

I am a computer technician. You have upgraded the hard disk, but something you skipped was a ram upgrade. If the pc is anything less than 3 gigabytes of ram, I would recommend to begin the upgrade there. If the operating system is a 32 bit operating system, you may be out of luck without upgrading it to a 64 bit system however. If you could post the specs of the machine listed under system properties that would also help. to do this click start, right click on computer and click properties.

Here you should see a section that says system, system rating, processor, installed ram, and system type.

At work I have been experiencing many issues with I5 and I7 PC's feeling slow and every single one of them has had a ram upgrade from 4 gigabytes to 8 gigabytes. and the user has not complained once since. It was similar with my girlfriends laptop. She is a heavy photoshop user. upgraded from 4 gigabytes to 6 and she just said wow and could have sworn i bought her an entire new computer. Also, Ram is extremely cheap.

 

[simple_gifts]

How much memory does it have.

A faster processor will do squat if you have 2 or 3Gb.

edit:i see someone beat me to it.

 

[wkcars]

There's other factors also, you'll need to look at what is the bottleneck in the system. Older computers also have older specifications with slower speeds that makes it the bottleneck, so upgrading to a newer processor usually also brings upgraded specs to the entire system, like faster usb, sata, pcie, etc. For example, using a new ssd with specs for sata 3.0 on a system with sata 1.0 will bottleneck run it at the sata 1.0 speed and won't get the full benefits. At some point, upgrading components won't help much anymore, only way to get past the bottleneck of older specs is to get a new system with newer specs.

 

[3800Series]

Boot the pc into BIOS and check the ram clock sleep. Not completely uncommon for it to be underclocked. I'm not saying this is the case but it's a free performance upgrade.

It could be low on ram but I've used PC's with Vista that ran smooth with 2gb's of ram not exactly sure how much Windows 7 recommends as I skipped that OS.

You can probably squeeze some performance out of the PC but most prebuilt systems are out dated by the time the hit the shelves. Tell her if she wants faster internet use Chrome. It is a good bit faster and I'm sure she will notice a different.

You could build a PC for her if need be you get a lot more value building yourself and you don't have to really worry about the parts quality.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

It has Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, E5200 Processor @ 2500 and 4 Gigs of Ram. I installed ASUS Radion HD 6450 video card. The power supply was bad before that upgrade so it is a 450 watt one now. Hard Drive is Sandisk Ultra Pro Plus. She uses CCleaner daily.

Charter has been doing upgrades so I have to reboot modem often recently. AOL has all kinds of junk that loads just to get to her email. She refuses to use other browser for email since she feels comfortable with AOL. It is very bloated.

She can afford a new computer if it is needed.

 

[3800Series]

Originally Posted By: MONKEYMAN
It has Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, E5200 Processor @ 2500 and 4 Gigs of Ram. I installed ASUS Radion HD 6450 video card. The power supply was bad before that upgrade so it is a 450 watt one now. Hard Drive is Sandisk Ultra Pro Plus. She uses CCleaner daily.

Charter has been doing upgrades so I have to reboot modem often recently. AOL has all kinds of junk that loads just to get to her email. She refuses to use other browser for email since she feels comfortable with AOL. It is very bloated.

She can afford a new computer if it is needed.


Why did you add a graphics card?

 

[MONKEYMAN]

She is into photos. She bought a photo monitor. It made a difference in speed and picture quality.

 

[3800Series]

Originally Posted By: MONKEYMAN
She is into photos. She bought a photo monitor. It made a difference in speed and picture quality.


Ok so person to person does she need a new computer? No, the old one is working and even if it's slightly slow that's something she will have to live with granted she's not willing to use a faster web browser.

The question you have to ask her is does she want a new computer. I don't see you being able to squeeze much performance out of this PC. The CPU is probably the limiting factor in this case as performance does degrade over time and that CPU hit the market nearly 7 years ago. Even then it wasn't a high end CPU.

If she does not want to spend the money on a new PC she will have to live with what she has. Otherwise you can take her down to the store and pick one out for about $500. However a $500 PC does not have $500 worth of parts in it. It will have about $200 worth of parts. The other $300 is the cost to build and profit.

I've always been the type who chooses to build vs buy prebuilt. Home built gives you far better performance and quality at the same price (or even less).

If you feel up to the task of building one for her since you seem comfortable working on PC's I would say that's the best bet. If you give me a general idea of what she can afford and what parts can be scraped from the old pc (the ssd, the power supply, a working Windows key) I can make you a parts list that's completely compatible and a good value for that amount.

If you feel your up to the task it will give her the best performance for what she may need and want in a pc without going overkill on a CPU.

 

[raytseng]

If she can afford new computer. Just pick up a new computer.

Get one locally and try it for a couple days and return if it is not good or worth it.

It will be a bit of a switch
Would suggest though if you really want to turbocharge the new computer to swap in an ssd there too.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I can walk to Micro Center. That is where I bought her first computer and all the upgrades. I did build a computer for her at one time, but eventually it did not work out.

I think building a computer is something I had interest in and time for in the past, but not now. So it looks like when she is ready, I need to take her to Micro Center and ensure she gets a computer with a lot of RAM.

Almost everything I have done so far is responding to complaints and dealing with problems. I even have a HP Compaq back up computer for her for those times she has issues. It is configured just like her other computer. I tend to get yelled at a lot while trying to impart knowledge or help her.

So that may be the biggest obstacle at this point. She gets overwhelmed and frustrated with learning very simple things. She does not have a clue how some things work. Thus, she sticks with AOL Browser until the bitter end.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: MONKEYMAN
It has Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, E5200 Processor @ 2500 and 4 Gigs of Ram. I installed ASUS Radion HD 6450 video card. The power supply was bad before that upgrade so it is a 450 watt one now. Hard Drive is Sandisk Ultra Pro Plus. She uses CCleaner daily.

Charter has been doing upgrades so I have to reboot modem often recently. AOL has all kinds of junk that loads just to get to her email. She refuses to use other browser for email since she feels comfortable with AOL. It is very bloated.

She can afford a new computer if it is needed.


If the problem only occurs when she checks her e-mail and otherwise performs fine then tell her that she's S.O.L since she's using AOL... Sounds like AOL is the problem and if she isn't willing to change- to help herself, then don't bother.

 

[asand1]

Sounds like the computer is not the problem. If she wants faster she'll have to move away from AOL. Or you can stop helping a stubborn old mule that yells at you for trying to help.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I think it is more than that AOL browser. She was shopping, using Firefox. Some websites were loading slow. I checked and Charter said connection was 126 mbps. I tried to explain some websites are slow. It may be their servers. Amazon opened immediately. She just has difficulty understanding technology.

I will help her but need to choose wisely. It is my nature to try to help even if I get a negative response.

Thanks, you have help me sort things out and realize I never want a job in Tech Support.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Max out the RAM, and install the biggest SSD she can afford. The SSD is re-usable if she ever replaces the computer; the RAM probably not (too old for modern hardware).

So it's the cost of the RAM upgrade vs a new computer cost.

Do that math and make a decision. You can leave the SSD cost out of the picture for this assessment, since it would be the same in a new computer as this one and it's easily the best speed improvement option today.

If deciding to upgrade the existing machine, get a back-compatible / newest interface SSD so that it will be usable in the future ... they work great in a portable enclosure as well).

If you decide to get a new computer, same advice ... max out the RAM and use a SSD. 8 GB minimum in my opinion for any modern OS (Win7 and above, OSX 10.8 and above), but even consider 16GB ... the cost is low and people who have never used a machine with "too much" RAM have no idea how snappy it gets with plenty; the Virtual Memory systems, used in all modern OS's, love RAM. Graphics love RAM as well.

 

[Donald]

You have two ends of the spectrum, web browsing and Photoshop. I agree with others, time for a new system. You can look up the processor to see passmarks. That will give you an idea of how fast it is compared to other processors. At a minimum is a 64 bit processor and 64 bit operating system.

 

[mazdamonky]

I am still going to put my vote on memory. 4 gb of ram just isn't enough now days. An e5200 should still be a viable processor unless she is doing some gaming or has 15 google chrome tabs open. (chrome is no longer the lightweight browser it once was) I would check to see if the copy of windows she has was a key for both 32 bit and 64 bit. if it was, i would upgrade her to 64 bit. If it isn't, I would almost just upgrade her computer to 64 bit windows 10. Windows likes as much ram as you can throw at it. It loves to cache programs for faster start times. I have 16gb of ram in my pc and it only ever has somewhere around 1 gb actually free. The other 16 gb are always cached until another program requests more. This was both with windows 7 and windows 10.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: asand1
Sounds like the computer is not the problem. If she wants faster she'll have to move away from AOL. Or you can stop helping a stubborn old mule that yells at you for trying to help.

This is the correct answer. You've already gone above and beyond. Time to send her to the Geek Squad.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

Originally Posted By: mazdamonky
I am still going to put my vote on memory. 4 gb of ram just isn't enough now days. An e5200 should still be a viable processor unless she is doing some gaming or has 15 google chrome tabs open. (chrome is no longer the lightweight browser it once was) I would check to see if the copy of windows she has was a key for both 32 bit and 64 bit. if it was, i would upgrade her to 64 bit. If it isn't, I would almost just upgrade her computer to 64 bit windows 10. Windows likes as much ram as you can throw at it. It loves to cache programs for faster start times. I have 16gb of ram in my pc and it only ever has somewhere around 1 gb actually free. The other 16 gb are always cached until another program requests more. This was both with windows 7 and windows 10.


I do have a Opitplex 755 which I was using for Linux. Bought it with 8.1 off Ebay. Hated it and that is when I started using Linux. I still have the license for 8.1. So I could upgrade to 10. The problem with memory is cost. I just bought 2 gb for my Optiplex 760 for about $11 and change on Ebay. I did not see 4 gb but read a post on Dell that it was not common and expensive. Maybe you could guide me on that one.

I like to test her programs and set it up as close as the way she likes it. It is a hobby at this point. I have 5 computers I tinker with. I have an extra solid state drive and the 755 can take two hard drives which is better for her.

As for as other comments, I hear you. This is a 20 year relationship. My nature is to go above and beyond what others would do. I am more service oriented. Just got back getting my stepfather's house ready to sell since he is in a nursing home. I have been on family medical leave 6 years, first taking care of my mom, then my stepfather. Next will be taking care of my friend. Some may call it a character defect, others a blessing. I can go both ways. I appreciate the feedback.