Recommendation for a slow laptop - another OS maybe?...

I use my 1018 to take notes when I visit clients as I'm a Royal British Legion Welfare Case Worker. Mine has 2GB ram and a 250GB HDD.

It runs Windows 7 basic with all Windows updates, Kaspersky Internet Security2014, some Office 2010 programmes (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and has my Epson Wi-Fi printer drivers installed. The latest K-Lite codec pack is also installed and I'm able to watch all movies when I travel, irrespective of the codec used to compress them and I have no starts & stops which some people seem to have. The battery lasts for many hours by the way.

I of course, have a Win 5 3rd gen Dell laptop with 8GB RAM which I use as well and my desktop unit which is an AMD Phenom II x 6 core with a 250GB SSD drive and 8GB RAM.

If people would bear in mind the small size of the duel-core Atom cpu, then waiting the odd very few seconds for a programme to load then there is no problem.

I don't have any start-up services disabled and mine runs just fine. If people are unhappy with the 1018 then get a bigger laptop! My Dell runs better than I ever expected but then I've had computers since the days of the 8088 cpu and DOS 3.2! Yes, I build and refurbish computers for my Royal British Legion Branch members in Northumberland.

Ken Driver

Hi Moish. I realise you asked this question several years ago and you probably don't even use the Mini 10 anymore, but I thought I would answer, in case anyone else has one lying around.

I have found the mini 10 to be a robust and reliable machine. I bought mine in 2010, refurbished, from Dell and have only had to replace the battery: I bought a six cell one two years ago which has proved to be excellent, and it only cost me £40 (maybe $55).

It is not a speed machine. It has an old-style Atom processor and on-board graphics and, while it was okay with Windows XP, it never really worked with W7. Instead, I have used a variety of Linux OSs, settling upon Lubuntu. Everything works (you need an ethernet connection for the installation as you have to download and activate the WiFi driver after installing the OS) and it is a remarkably efficient writing and browsing machine. It boots in under a minute and the screen still looks amazingly good: one of the advantages of an old-style TFT screen. I'm not crazy about the touchpad, but, for its size, the keyboard is superb. With LibreOffice Writer, a cloud storage service (I use MegaSync) and a light web browser (Midori's good), it is still a useful and easy-to-transport machine. It doesn't have Bluetooth, but I carry a nice pair of headphones with me anyway, and have my music in high-quality FLAC files, so I don't have a problem with that.

I reckon that, by keeping this machine going, I have saved myself thousands of pounds as well as reducing my environmental impact. I backup everything on it, because a seven-year-old hard drive isn't going to last for ever, but I am hoping that when it does give up, I can replace it with an SSD.

Best wishes

I've installed MINT (a Debian/Ubuntu distro) and am completely satisfied. The little Atom processor cranks some pretty decent threads on this OS which is FAR BETTER suited than any Windows version.

Hi,

I have the same laptop and the same problem. I'm planning to upgrade the RAM to 2GB as that's the OS limit. The RAM is inexpensive on ebay and there's a tutorial on YouTube on how to do it. It's a relatively easy-looking job.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I have the dell 1010 and 1018. Both run win 7, 8 and 8.1 very well. With 1g ram and a 5400rpm drive the 1010 boots to 8.1 in under 40 seconds from power up to a usable desktop. THE 1018 is just as good regardless of 1 or 2g memory. With an ssd, the 1018 is even faster. The 1g memory is only an issue when running apps. My problem is the 1010 only works right with a mechanical drive and slows down horribly with an ssd. See my posted question. It's absurd when people switch to Linux or a Mac because they won't take the time to learn Windows. The best operating system is the one you understand. All the popular ones are great. The only time you need to use XP is if there is less than 750megs of ram or slower than 1gig processor.

Disable your startup services in task manager. Disable nonessential services in msconfig. Remove unwanted programs in add remove programs. Shut off Windows defender. Don't use antivirus programs. Turn off all auto update checking in apps and windows. You'll have a screamer!

Since my previous comments, all I've changed on my little Dell 1018 is I've wiped the HDD and installed Win 7 x 32-bit Professional with all MS updates plus a DVD-Rewriter. I find that the 32-bit Pro version works better and it seems faster loading, though that could just be my imagination! All the programmes mentioned in my previous comments are re-installed and the codec pack is K-Lite 1020. I've also installed my Epson DS-30 small portable scanner to scan documents when visiting clients.

Here are my Dell details: Win 7 Pro x 32 bit OS, 1 module of Crucial DDR3 x 2GB of PC3-10700 (667MHz), 250GB Seagate ST9250315AS hard drive. The CPU is an Intel Atom Duel Core N455 @ 1.66GHz.

This is giving me a Windows Experience rating of 2.4.

I'm using the FULL versions of all the programmes mentioned by the way and not the classic Media Player.

It is my intention to install a small SSD drive once I can find how to open the case without damage to it! At the moment I'm looking for a diagram + instructions on how to open the case.

There is absolutely NO reason to leave the Windows platform but please remember that Win 7 uses close to 1GB of memory to operate although using the 32-bit OS makes it work better.

Ken Driver

I recently installed SuperX (a linux variant) on my mini 10v. Works like a champ, is quick and allows me to do the things I still want to do with it (surf, email, light word processing and spreadsheet, youtube). If you are not opposed to playing with Linux, I would recommend trying this or LinuxMint.

I see that it's been acouple of years since you asked this question, but though I would throw somethings at you to try. First I never had any issues with my netbook, which is the same as your got and about around the same time as yours. Now after acouple of years I have notice browsing to be an issue and the LED which is no stop running my mine tells me that something is using up way to much resource, or the hardware is wearing out, that could be anything from the battery to the hard-drive. I would suggest placing both and since hard drives are now go Solid State Drive (SSD) you might want to go that route. Also update your OS to Windows 10 for free if you still have the Windows 7 Starter software installed. Plus once in awhile system clean you system. My choice is CCleaner, also have a good Anti-Malware soft install and uses the free built in anti-virus program in Microsoft called "Defender".

win XP must be,but enterprises like mocosoft forces buy and maintain in new products,so then must acquire also new machine,that's why some people switch to Linux the is where users must made by own the stuffs .. win are the is for lazy people or people that "not have the time" (one very few cases the true)

those guys trying to play guindows with tricks.?. swicht to a WORKING system or keep masoquis ..

win7 spends toó much RAM on stupids.. if some are disables runs only for a while and again FORMATING ja ja specially when surfing on the net or mocosoft FORCES THE UPDATES INNECESARY.

on real linux the stuffs are made by user itself , distros like winbuntu are just like another win cos makes same thins .....

so then use a real linux and those problems will go away

If you can increase the DRAM by installing bigger SIMM cards, there’s a good chance your machine will load faster and work better. I have a D630 running Lubuntu. I needed upgrade to 4 GB to run fast enough to be usable.