Laptop needs functionan update

[Munk]

Laptop needs an update

I recently came across a compaq presario c300 that somoene had just thrown away. It still turned on and loaded win XP, but had a ton of problems. Seeing how my macbook pro crapped out on me a few months back and i am too broke to shell out for a new laptop, I decided to see if I could fix it. After a complete wipe of the system and installing a copy of win 7 32, it is up and running, but it is really slow. Being that it is an older model it is not suprising, but i would like to know what I can do to remedy this to have a free, and functioning laptop. I am already planning on getting some more RAM to get it to 1 GB, but do you think that I should install a new processor as well? I do not really intend to do much more than use it for school and internet surf. But it takes this thing so long to do anything. Thanks for the advice!

 

[strollin]

You might consider ditching Win 7 and installing Linux instead. Linux would probably run better than Win 7 on that laptop as is, without the need to upgrade the hardware at all. The only issue would most likely be be whether you could get Linux drivers for it, especially the built-in wifi. If not, there are ways to use the Windows drivers.

If you installed the latest version of Ubuntu, for instance, everything except the laptop's built-in wifi would most likely work from the get go (including the LAN port). It would come with FireFox browser and OpenOffice already installed which would take care of your web surfing and your school work. Best of all, since it's OpenSource, it's free.

 

[Theory5]

You are running Windows 7 with less than 1 GB RAM? There's your problem. The minimum requirement is like 1 GB RAM, but it usually sucks running that much. 2 GB's RAM will work much better for Windows Vista and 7. Does that laptop allow you to install a new processor? Some older ones don't.
If you don't have any problem learning linux, then that would probably be your best choice. Either that or re-install windows XP.