About Doug Becker Expertise I can answer just about all questions dealing with computer hardware in general as well as most questions dealing with the hardware/operating system interface.
Experience I have been in the computer field for almost 20 years. I have built computer from the ground up and have vast experience in troubleshooting everything from 8088 to Pentium 4 computers. I have taught Computer Repair classes for a local Technical School.
Organizations IEEE Computer Society and NUI (Novell Users Internaltional)
Education/Credentials Currently working on BS in Computer Networking (Novell) and my CNE
Question I have a 900 Mhz CPU Laptop running with 256mb RAM and 40 GB HDD. (Windows XP PRofessional)
For the work that I do I feel the PC hands for seconds or minutes and is very slow.
My major work involves using MS Visio for large network diagrams, MS Word to create 300-500 page documents with tons of images in them that lead to the doc size being almost 8-10mb. Opening 4-5 apps at the samae time (word, visio, project, explorers, outlook etc)
Do you think the CPU is overloaded or do I need memory ?
My boss says he needs a valid reason to replace the entire laptop :(
Please help.
Thanks
Luvdodo
Answer The work that you are doing sounds a lot like what I am doing. I am running a desktop with a PIII 933MHz and 128MB RAM, and my desktop is constantly locking up. I am in the process of upgrading the memory and I feel that this should fix the problem (I am adding a 512MB DIMM). I am in the same situation as you, in that my boss will gladly upgrade, but has an extremly hard time replacing machine "that are working fine."
I would recommend upping the memory to at least 512MB (1GB would probably be ideal if your laptop will hold it). If things are still slow, then the only recourse will be to replace the machine because you cannot upgrade the processors in them.
MS is a big hog of resources and since you are using all MS, then you have twice the problems. Open up your Task Manager when you have all your stuff open and take a look at the processes and see how much memory and CPU they are using. This would be a good starting point for the justification of a new machine.
