Comments on: Turn Your Cheap Laptop Into a Great Machine for Under $200

By: thehumble1

thehumble1 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:54:52 +0000

I agree that upgrading RAM is essential, but not entirely effective if your laptop tops out at 256 or 512MB. With 512 though, Ubuntu is more than happy and quick. I run Ubuntu on 2 700mhz computers just fine. One is dual boot with 256MB RAM (max) and it chugs through a slimmed down version of XP. So I think what you mean by “cheap” laptop is still $700-800 + $200 for RAM. I’m talking about a $40 computer that needed a new hard drive ($20) and is now running for 3 hours on a new battery ($15) with wireless ($12) and 256MB chip ($20).

You also didn’t talk about CCleaner, Autoruns or other programs that can drastically speed up boot time and operation speed by eliminating helpers and useless bloatware programs.

I think the great part of this article is missed though, probably because it’s unstated. Correct me if i’m wrong, but

90% of people using laptops don’t need 2ghz core duo processors with 4GB ram and 250GB of disk space and 512mb of video ram, they need internet photo editing, media playability, long battery life, and maybe office programs.

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:57:03 +0000

umm although upgrading memory and switching to ubuntu or other another linux OS will give you a modest speed boost, it will not account for lag due to low video card ram, and low ghz for gpu, and of course low rpm of your sata hard drive. The only proper fix for a laptop, and “one that will beat out the competition” is obviously buying a new one. But for those of us, like me, who don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a black hawk sr5 with dual nvidia 8800 gtxs on sli, upgrading ram is fairly easy. just remember to BE GROUNDED DURING INSTALLATION! Static electricity = loss of 100 dollar investment =(

By: ork

ork — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:07:25 +0000

Good post but thecoments are better, i do run Ubuntu7.10 on my 8 years old laptop(800 mhz AMD ,256MB ram) and it is faster tnan Vista on my new pc (AMD X2 64 4200, 2 GB DDR2 800mhz RAM) . Go figure………..

By: admin

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:14:21 +0000

@hendoc - Thanks for the comment and stopping by. I agree with you on the Linux distro, in fact you can check out one of our other posts:

31 Resources for Installing and Running Linux on Your Laptop

By: hendoc

hendoc — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:02:43 +0000

Getting rid of Windows completely and installing Ubuntu (or any Linux Distro) will give a speed boost comparable to the Ram upgrade. It’s free,too.