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slow laptop

13 years ago

older ibm thinkpad. celeron 550mghz. came with windows ME. wiped drive and put on win xp. has 160mg of ram. thats about max. pc100? anyway, it starts ok but takes a long time to access the internet and than navigate around. i am using a wireless N usb adapter but it is only usb 1.1? the old version prior to usb 2. i can run a network cable to machine. we have high speed internet at home via comcast. would it be any faster thru the cable vs wireless? has no other programs or software.

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Comments (11)

genes
13 years ago
Way short of the amount of RAM needed for XP..they say 256MB is min but I dont think anything less than 512MB will do...atleast 1GB is now recommended.
Take a look at some Linux distros...I am just starting to play around with a couple...Puppy Linux would do well on there
genes
13 years ago
Check this out....
Burn it to a cd and try it...dont have to install it

Here is a link that might be useful: Puppy linux live CD
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owbist
13 years ago
You should really try Gene's suggestion re Puppy Linux. It is quite a neat little program and as he notes it runs from the CD. Of course if you are happy with it then the option to install it is there too.

I would consider visiting flea markets or small computer stores looking for more PC100 ram for your machine. With a 550 Celeron it will never be the swiftest but adding that memory would certainly make it useable for you.
joe_mn
Original Author
13 years ago
computer can only use about 160-175mg of ram. am not going to buy more. can't even find it. pc100 sodimm? have considered linux. i do have a copy of win 2000. had another similar computer and could not find video driver for it when i loaded win2k.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
I agree that would be a good candidate for some of the light weight linux distros I run Mepis which has a light version called AntiX, I would do as genes suggested and burn an iso disc of the live version and slap it in the cd drawer and boot from it and see how it works with your specs, if you like it then you could choose to install it.
About antiX
my fave place to see screenshots of most linux distros is this one
OS Screenshots
owbist
13 years ago
If you have XP why on earth would you even consider installing W2K?
joe_mn
Original Author
13 years ago
is win2k less ram intensive? or dig up a win me copy? thats what it came with. many here thing win xp is a ram hog.
zep516
13 years ago
Windows 2000 requirements:

133 MHz or more Pentium microprocessor (or equivalent). Windows 2000 Professional supports up to two processors on a single computer.
64 megabytes (MB) of RAM recommended minimum. 32 MB of RAM is the minimum supported. 4 gigabytes (GB) of RAM is the maximum.

The minimum hardware requirements for Windows XP Home Edition are:

Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)

The minimum hardware requirements for Windows Me include:

Pentium 150-MHz processor or better
32 megabytes (MB) of RAM or better
genes
13 years ago
I would really like to see WinXP SP3 running on 64-128MBs of memory...I know what THEY say, but was only trying to be realistic
joe_mn
Original Author
13 years ago
installed winxp and have no updates installed. like i said, internet only. battery is dead so when i plug in a/c adapter, it takes a bit to wake up. i am not sure why i even have it. hate to toss a functioning unit.
zep516
13 years ago
Nothing in service pack 3 requires additional ram, only 900MB of free hard drive space would be needed during installation.

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