Improving performance on netbook

[dgreen]

I have a Samsung Netbook which to be quite honest I wish I hadn't bought.
If I'd have known how slow and frustrating it was going to be to use it, I would have reconsidered.
Having said that it does have it's advantages in that it is very portable.
But I am wondering if there is any way it's speed and performance can be upgraded so that it feels more like something from 21st century rather than the 1980's.

It's spec is :

Intel Atom CPU N450 @ 1.66GHz 
RAM 1GB
OS Windows 7 Starter 32 Bit

 

[Geek-9pm]

IMHO, it is not a candidate for speed improvement.
The only possibility is to up the ram to 2 GB.
Try this site. See if they have a recommendation for memory upgrade.
http://www.crucial.com/store/ssd.aspx

Hope that is of some help.

[dgreen]

Thanks for the advice.
Realistically, how much faster do you think it will be.
Am I likely to be satisfied with the improvement? (I know you won't be able to answer that but would you be happy)

[Geek-9pm]

With Windows 7, going from 1GB to 2GB is a large move.
I could have said 4GB, but the improvement is not as great in proportion to the cost.
One some programs you may find a 30 % or better performance when move up  to 2GB  Mostly with processing images. Or watching videos. Or action games.

For doing  things like e-mail, i more RAM does not really help. The lag in Internet stuff is mostly the connection speed. Or network load.

[dgreen]

It sounds like it may be worthwhile upgrading.
If I did bump it up to 4gb what sort of % increase could I be likely to experience?

[patio]

10%...maybe 15%

[JJ 3000]

I upgraded the RAM in my netbook with similar specs. I took it from one to two gigs of RAM, two being the most it can support. The added memory made it run 100% better. The difference was like day and night.

When buying RAM, make sure you're getting the kind that your computer can use. Not all memory modules are the same. If you go to crucial.com and run their memory advisor tool, it can tell you exactly what you have and what kind/how much your netbook will support. You don't have to buy from them, but they do have quality memory.

[JJ 3000]

I also want to mention that I disabled visual effects on my netbook to free up some of the available ram. It makes it look kind of like windows 98 but it will give you a slight gain in performance.

You may also want to unistall some of the programs that came with your computer or disable some of your startup programs. Startup programs and programs that run in the background can slow you down.

Have a look here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/optimize-windows-7-for-better-performance

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

You may also want to unistall some of the programs that came with your computer or disable some of your startup programs. Startup programs and programs that run in the background can slow you down.

I highly recommend this, especially for a new computer:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,62253.msg395335.html#msg395335

[dgreen]

Thanks JJ & Carbon. I appreciate your help.
I'm about to go through the tips you suggested so I'll get back to you on completion (it may take a while  )
I ran the crucial scan but it was unable to come up with a complete match:
The following is a list of what our scan was able to detect:
System Manufacturer: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
System Model: N145P/N250P/N260P
Motherboard Manufacturer: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
Motherboard Model: N145P/N250P/N260P

So I called Crucial. We have managed to assertain that the Model I actually have (despite what the system properties told me) is N145 PLus.
So apologies for giving the wrong info at the start but now I know it only has one slot and can only be upgraded to 2GB (according to the Crucial advisor) Would you agree.
If so, is it worth me upgrading?

[soybean]

I had an HP netbook (Windows 7 Starter) that came with 1GB of RAM.  I upgraded it to 2GB, the max, and I felt the upgrade was worthwhile. 

[dgreen]

Thanks soy, I think I'm going to take the plunge. The question now is, is it DDR2 or DDR3.
Is it true that I can only upgrade to a maximum of 2GB ?

[soybean]

I think I'd go with DDR3.  It seems like the best choice if you read articles such as http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400801,00.asp. 

I found this on crucial.com: http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=N145%20Plus%20(DDR3)&Cat=RAM

[dgreen]

That's brilliant, thanks..
I'll be buying a 2gb ram.

[dgreen]

Just found out that the Netbook only takes DDR2 which is twice the price as DDR3
I'm a bit reluctant to risk buying it if it's not going to show a marked improvement.
Do you think the DDR2 2GB ram will improve the performance significantly enough to warrant buying a it?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Have you tried Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ddr2%20laptop

I had a HP 2140 with 2GB RAM. I found an extra 1GB stick and popped it in there. I noticed a significant improvement in my internet browsing experience.
There was a lot less caching to disk, which meant lower latency when switching tabs.

Totally up to you. It all depends on how much you're going to use it.

[dgreen]

Is there a difference in performance between DDR2 & DDR3 ?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Just speed and compatibility. DDR3 RAM is faster (and newer) than DDR2.

The laptop HP 2140 I have used DDR2.

[Computer_Commando]

Is there a difference in performance between DDR2 & DDR3 ?

You cannot substitute one for the other.  Notice the physical location of the slot.

[Salmon Trout]

Is there a difference in performance between DDR2 & DDR3 ?

That netbook uses DDR2 modules. They are the only kind you can use. A DDR2 slot will only take a DDR2 memory module. There are some desktop PC motherboards out there which have slots for both DDR2 and DDR3 modules, maybe this is a source of confusion. In general, if you had such a PC with DDR2 installed it would not be worth taking it out and putting in the same amount of DDR3 - the performance increase would be tiny.

[dgreen]

Salmon,  Thanks for that. IYHO what kind of performance increase could I expect if I upgraded to 2GB in this netbook.
Is it worth spending £30.

[soybean]

Just found out that the Netbook only takes DDR2 which is twice the price as DDR3

Where did you get that info?  I believe Crucial.com is quite accurate in their info.  Are you sure your computer is a Samsung N145 Plus or is it a slightly different model?

[dgreen]

I'm pretty sure it's that model unless they've put the wrong sticker on

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[dgreen]

This is behind the RAM

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[soybean]

Well, we seem to have discrepancies in information here.  http://www.samsung.com/levant/consumer/computers-peripherals/laptops/netbook/NP-N145-JP03JO-spec says DDR3.  I suggest you remove the RAM cover, remove the memory module, and very carefully examine it and compare it to the images posted by Computer_Commando.  You should be able to visually identify which type of memory the slot holds.

[patio]

The disceprancy seems to be between the regular Model and the Plus model...
I agree matching the RAM by what he has in hand is the way to go...
Although very very accurate i have seen Crucial be off somewhat before.

[dgreen]

Ok, I think this is a DDR2 , would you agree?

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[patio]

I wouldn't say yes from that fuzzy photo...
Type the full part# in to google and see what results come up...
A better check is searching the FCC ID #

[Salmon Trout]

The photo the OP took shows the legend (in capital letters) DDR2 ONLY on the motherboard.

[patio]

Ahhh thanx...i just looked at the most recent one...of the RAM chip.

[dgreen]

So we agree its DDR2 ?

[Salmon Trout]

So we agree its DDR2 ?

This is shown large in your own photo of your netbook, that you posted. Did you actually look at it?

[dgreen]

It was a rhetorical question or didn't you realise that ?

[Salmon Trout]

It was a rhetorical question or didn't you realise that ?

We don't do rhetoric here; this is a computer help forum. Posts in question format are liable to be treated as genuine enquiries, and responded to accordingly. Do you actually know what a rhetorical question is?

[dgreen]

I'm assuming your question is a sarcastic one but if not then here goes:
Rhetorical means that you are asking but really do not want an answer. An example would be asking 'Is it raining again?', when it is clearly raining outside.
It's probably best we stick to computer issues and not get side tracked.

[Salmon Trout]

Rhetorical means that you are asking but really do not want an answer. An example would be asking 'Is it raining again?', when it is clearly raining outside.

I do understand that; such things are more suitable to a (dull) real life conversation or a web chat room than a serious help forum where, as I already said, questions are assumed to be requests for information. I was merely wondering why, when you have been told in a mind-numbingly complete and thoroughly evidenced way, that your netbook only takes DDR2 memory, you found it necessary to ask "So we agree its DDR2 ?".

[dgreen]

I think there's been a misunderstanding here, probably on my part and to be honest, I was getting a little muddled and confused.
The conflicting information from a couple of posts and the Crucial sales guy made my already inadequate brain, melt down !
I thought perhaps I was going mad.
Anyway, I really appreciate your help.
Thanks

[Salmon Trout]

Sorry if I was grouchy. Hopefully you can now buy RAm with confidence?

[dgreen]

no problem, I get like that every day...
Would you recommend going with Crucial or can you suggest somewhere cheaper.
Would cheaper RAM perform less well?

[Geek-9pm]

...
Would you recommend going with Crucial or can you suggest somewhere cheaper.
Would cheaper RAM perform less well?

Crucial is a trusted company.
If the RAM works,speed  is only a small improvement. Using eh recommend3d RAM is the wise choice. The net book does not support faster RAM.

In general, the only viable upgrade options for a net book is RAM size.

[dgreen]

Hi Geek,

I just bought the RAM from Offtek as it was cheaper than crucial. Is this a recommended make and good enough?
http://www.offtek.co.uk/ram-memory-2/samsung/samsung-netbook-memory/n145-plus-(ddr2)/mid182137

[Computer_Commando]

Offtek is not a brand, they are a retailer.  The page you linked to specifies a number of brands.

Premium Brand Chips
Not all memory is the same. Our memory is manufactured using premium brand chips from manufacturers including Samsung, NEC, Hynix (Hyundai), Transcend and Buffalo. This ensures the highest level of reliability and compatability. You may be able to buy cheaper memory but you will not be able to buy the same quality of memory cheaper. Please find below a profile of some of the major manufacturers that are used by OFFTEK.

BTW, Crucial is a Micron Company which makes the chips & modules.  They used to make computers, too.
Crucial.com is operated by a subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc., one of the largest memory manufacturers worldwide. This relationship allows us to offer our customers industry-leading technology and Micron's more than 35 years of experience.

[dgreen]

Thanks Commando.
So it looks as though Offtek are selling quality RAM and I have made the right choice. Would you agree?

[comda]

Hardware is one thing. Then again you are running an intel atom. My buddy had bought one of them asus netbooks with pretty much the same specs also running windows 7 basic. However he needed it for school and some light java coding so just last month he purchased windows 8 and gave the machine 2 gb of ram and you'd be surprised of what this little machine can do. Like the others said a RAM upgrade to at least 2gb will do you great, however a OS change will be helpful aswell if you can manage it. Many netbook users found that the old windows XP pro performance did the trick for them, however downgrading in OS I wouldn't suggest unless you absolutely have to. Due to windows 8 being shipped on a tablet basis world, the samsung series tablet PCs that have a Atom at 1.7ghz and 2gb ram and it does great in the terms of speed performance. If you dont wanna touch your current hard drive set-up try getting a 16gb or 32gb flash drive and install windows 8 or XP on that and give it a go. Using a flash drive will decrease your speed by a little however you still should see a increase in performance over your current set-up. Best of luck.

[DaveLembke]

I was able to boost my netbooks performance by editing the bios settings and power settings of windows. I set the bios to the non-green setting of maximum performance so that the CPU is always 1.66Ghz on my Atom CPU and under windows power management, I set the netbook up to be power hungry. Maximum performance setting for CPU and the only thing I did set up to get about an hour more of battery life is to set the display brightness down from max brightness. I have the Toshiba NB205 netbook. *The other thing that improved performance and battery life was replacing the slow 5400rpm 160GB HDD with a 90GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD.

My netbook runs Windows XP Home SP3 on 1GB RAM. Back when I bought it, there was an option for Windows XP Home or Windows 7 Starter edition. I figured the Windows XP Home would run far better on this Atom CPU. The bechmark of this Atom CPU places it equivilant to a Pentium 4 2.53Ghz in Passmark score. The one area that it is extremely weak is with its GPU such as trying to watch Netflix etc it struggles badly on full screen, but runs ok on non-full screen. It also plays Diablo 2 pretty good, but is crippled by newer games like Torchlight 2 as my last plane trip taught me after downloading it through steam to my laptop from airport wifi to play offline at 32,000 ft vs Diablo 2. The Integrated GPU is about as powerful as a Geforce 2 when benchmarked, which is not very powerful in todays computing hardware specs!

Regarding the Atom CPU, I have always been curious as to how it would perform in a mini ITX board with a single PCIe 16x slot and a good video card, BUT I wouldnt buy another Atom CPU system. According to benchmark figures it should run similar to a Pentium 4 2.53Ghz in CPU power, so if paired up with say a GeForce 9800GT video card, you might actually be able to play not too heavy of CPU demand, but heavy GPU demand games on it without lag.

Surprisingly there are servers out there that run the Atom CPU's, but they must not be good for anything but simple tasks like file servers, DHCP, Domain Controller, etc. I definitely wouldnt have it as a server for running a database etc with multiple users tapped into its use.

[dgreen]

Thanks Dave & Comda, some really excellent advice.. A lot to digest and try out.
With regards to changing the bios, is this simple to do? Please remind me how to get to the bios.
Also, Would you recommend upgrading to Windows 8 or 'downgrading' to XP.
I've been getting contrasting opinions.

Thanks again..

[DaveLembke]

At boot up it should give you an option to enter a key such as Delete, F2, F12, or ESC key etc. If you dont see anything but the logo and then windows boot, you can try pressing these keys listed or find the users manual for this netbook which should specifically tell you which key to enter the bios. Trying random keys wont hurt anything, the worst you could do is find a boot feature you may not have been aware of or key a keyboard error since the system thinks that a key is stuck down.

As far as OS goes. I'd stick with 7 and max out your RAM on this netbook. A few years ago I may have said to downgrade to XP, but the problem is that in favor of better performance you would be switching over to an old OS that will no longer be supported come April 2014. Even though some claim that Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7, I find it personally difficult to switch over to the new GUI without Start Menu and traditional desktop that has been with us since Windows 95. I have also heard of people running into driver issues as well as issues playing certain games on Windows 8.

To improve performance but sacrifice battery charge time, I'd set performance to the max. But to gain some battery life back out of this max performance setting, I'd pick up a low cost SSD and replace the hard drive with that SSD. *Just be sure to have 1 or 2 thumb drives available to make your system restore media set. My netboot takes 2 x 4GB thumb drives to make the system restore set. I had to boot off of one of the sticks and then place the 2nd stick into the USB port when prompted to continue with the OS install to the SSD. *And unfortunately as for my netbook you cant just use one 16GB thumb drive, if you do, you just wasted 12GB of it and still need another 4GB stick.