My laptop, bless its heart (battery?), is on the decline. I got the Compaq Presario 2100 for about $850 before entering college in Fall 2003, and it has served me faithfully for the past three years. Unfortunately, I am noticing more and more problems when I got back to school (Microsoft Word freezes frequently and every time I try to print, slow connection, and just general annoyances).
I think the answer is clear. I need a new computer. But I don’t want to shell out $1,000 before I have real money coming in, and real money will not come in until I start working next July. So… I need to wait 11 more months. Hopefully in a year laptop prices will drop even lower and I can get more quality for my money. I think four years is a reasonable lifespan for a middle-of-the-road laptop, don’t you?
I just have to make do until then… but it will be hard. I absolutely abhor slow computers. They drive me nuts!!
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Unless you think that the problems are hardware related, I’d see if you can get any results by reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows. If you’ve had it a long time, things just accumulate in your registries and make things run pretty slow.. plus you might have some spyware or something slowing it down. If you bought it new, it might have reinstall disks with it. So here is what I would try before buying a new one:
1. Defragment it 3 or 4 times and see if that helps, if you don’t do that regularly. (I don’t know how techie you are but it’s under Accessories – System Tools.)
2. See if your school has a site license for Windows so you can download a new copy of Windows. (BTW, what version are you running? For an older computer I would recommend Windows 2000. Not as pretty but works faster. Your school may only have XP available though.)
3. Get more RAM installed, if you can. This won’t be cheap but it will be cheaper than a new laptop.
4. If absolutely necessary (ie you don’t have the install disks, and your school doesn’t have a Microsoft license) you can buy XP Home for about $100, I think.
Your laptop should last for YEARS – I have a 7 year old laptop which works just fine, but we do reinstall windows about every 2 years.
Defragging is a good start though. If you need help on how to reformat, email me (pennyfoolish@gmail.com).
I wrote a whole post on this cause both you and Ms. MiniDucky had the same issue.
http://pennyfoolish.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-save-old-pc-computer-dont.html
Thanks Kira! 7 years seem very ambitious… but hopefully my laptop will hold on for just a couple more.
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I have a 6 year old PC, and luckily I was dating someone at the time who could:
-Safely move all my data (intact) temporarily onto one of the hard drives of his 3 networked home computers;
-Wipe my hard drive;
-Partition it so now 1 drive runs Windows, and the other holds my data. It’s easier to defrag now
-Add extra RAM.
The processor is kinda slow but I’m trying to hold out for another year or two – until I really need a new computer for B-school. Then, I plan to buy in August on the Sales Tax Holiday – in NC, tax is 7% so that’s a lot of cash – plus retailers time their sales to coincide w/ the back to school tax holiday.