Help with an underpowered laptop

[jgradyc]

A year ago, I bought a Toshiba Satellite L15W-B1303 with 11.6" screen. 

PRO

• 2 in 1... folds into a tablet
• Great display with touch screen
• Lightweight
• Fast to boot with SSD drive

CON

• SSD is too small... 32GB
• RAM is too small... 2GB. In my experience, Windows 10 needs 8GB of RAM to function adequately.
• SSD and RAM are built in to the mother board and not replaceable

The SSD and RAM limits make this laptop almost unusable. It slows to a crawl with more than one webpage or one app loaded. Any thoughts on what I can do to improve performance? 

 

 

[Hozzie]

Not sure what you paid, but I would recoup what I could by selling it and find something better.  I don't think there is much you are going to do if you can't replace RAM or the SSD yourself.

[TNWNGR]

You can add some RAM but it'll probably be more cost effective to upgrade to a more robust laptop and keep what you have now as a lesser duty tablet. I'm in just about the same boat with a Toshiba C55 which is a little older then yours. When I replace it I'll keep it as a spare.

[Capbyrd]

You will spend more than its worth to have someone solder in upgrades.  Sell it and upgrade to a better unit.  And if the new one is soldered together, then max it out at purchase.  You'll pay a fortune, but it run better for a lot longer. 

 

[analog_kidd]

A quick bit of Googleing, and I found this page: http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Other-Satellite-Laptop-Models/Satellite-E55-A5114-How-to-remove-rear-cover/m-p/566434#M22173 . Looks like it may void the warranty, but you CAN replace both the hard drive and RAM. Just need to remove 12 screws from the back and carefully pop off the cover.

If you are not up for that, I'd either sell it, or try to get Linux installed on it. Linux would probably run better with that little bit of hardware than Windows will.

 

[Sam1]

Even with more ram and a new ssd, that cpu has about as much power as a cellphone.  I would just get another laptop.

[Grand Torino]

Just sayin'.....

[Randall53]

1 hour ago, Grand Torino said:

Just sayin'.....

Yep.....I agree.

[Dane]

Dump windows and put ubuntu on it. You will be amazed at the difference in speed.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[KaNaPaPi]

I recently purchased a refurbished laptop from overstock.com (no, I don't work for them).  I-5 processor, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 15" screen with 1600x900 resolution.  Only paid $274 for it.

They sent me the first one, the keyboard was bad, J and K keys didn't work well, right speaker didn't work and machine quit running after 24 hours.  They let me return it with free shipping.  The next one I got back was flawless.  Still working great after 3 months.  

They also have free shipping to anywhere, and no sales tax in TN.

[NoBanStan]

IT guy here. Those Toshiba laptops are a prime example of "get what you pay for".

Against my advice, 4 members of my wife's family bought the same cheap Toshiba laptop. Citing that I was a computer snob and that they could get by with a cheap laptop. Not even a year later they're back at the store buying another one. Cheap plastic junk IMHO.

Personally if it's under $500(bare minimum), it won't last you long.

$200-$400 = 1-2 years

$500-$600 = 3-5 years (Stretching it nearing 5)

$700 + ???? = 3-5 years (comfortably, meaning it's starting to show its age near 5)

Edited September 29, 2016 by NoBanStan

[NoBanStan]

3 hours ago, Dane said:

Dump windows and put ubuntu on it. You will be amazed at the difference in speed.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

This is likely true if it's going to be a web surfer.

[jgradyc]

I have several cheap laptops. I may just sell this one, but I love the clarity of the screen. I really only use it when going out to coffee shops and I don't want to carry the heavier 17 or 15 inch laptops. When I bought it, I thought I'd just upgrade the RAM and store files in the cloud or on a USB. However, 32GB is not enough to handle Windows 10 updates unless I don't install any programs on it. I know, Windows 10 is supposed to use a USB drive to help in these situations, but it didn't work for me. 

(EDITED:  I would never have bought this laptop had I know the SSD and RAM were part of the motherboard. I just assumed I could buy a stick of 4GB RAM for $20 and have a decent 11", portable laptop. END EDIT )

I really like Ubuntu, but if I load it, I'll probably lose the touch screen and 2 in 1 convertibility, so that would be Plan C. Plan B would be to sell it. Chromebook is getting better. That might be a choice as well. I have Ubuntu loaded via Crouton on both my older Chromebooks. 

FYI, I just bought another 17" Dell Inspiron for home use for $220 during one of the Dell Outlet's flash sales. It has 6GB RAM and I didn't pay attention to the size of the hard drive (500GB or 1T) because it doesn't matter to me. I would rather buy an inexpensive laptop with last year's processor and then upgrade every 3 years or so. In my opinion, Windows is purposely designed to make older hardware obsolete, so it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on hardware, i.e, the laptop. 

Before the cloud (and Dropbox), I spent more for quality as more safety for my files, but now I see a laptop as a disposable item. 

I've had two Macs, but I was disappointed in both. I keep looking at them, but at $999 versus $220, it's a no-brainer for me.

Edited October 1, 2016 by jgradyc

[Dane]

On 10/1/2016 at 7:53 AM, jgradyc said:

I have several cheap laptops. I may just sell this one, but I love the clarity of the screen. I really only use it when going out to coffee shops and I don't want to carry the heavier 17 or 15 inch laptops. When I bought it, I thought I'd just upgrade the RAM and store files in the cloud or on a USB. However, 32GB is not enough to handle Windows 10 updates unless I don't install any programs on it. I know, Windows 10 is supposed to use a USB drive to help in these situations, but it didn't work for me. 

(EDITED:  I would never have bought this laptop had I know the SSD and RAM were part of the motherboard. I just assumed I could buy a stick of 4GB RAM for $20 and have a decent 11", portable laptop. END EDIT )

I really like Ubuntu, but if I load it, I'll probably lose the touch screen and 2 in 1 convertibility, so that would be Plan C. Plan B would be to sell it. Chromebook is getting better. That might be a choice as well. I have Ubuntu loaded via Crouton on both my older Chromebooks. 

FYI, I just bought another 17" Dell Inspiron for home use for $220 during one of the Dell Outlet's flash sales. It has 6GB RAM and I didn't pay attention to the size of the hard drive (500GB or 1T) because it doesn't matter to me. I would rather buy an inexpensive laptop with last year's processor and then upgrade every 3 years or so. In my opinion, Windows is purposely designed to make older hardware obsolete, so it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on hardware, i.e, the laptop. 

Before the cloud (and Dropbox), I spent more for quality as more safety for my files, but now I see a laptop as a disposable item. 

I've had two Macs, but I was disappointed in both. I keep looking at them, but at $999 versus $220, it's a no-brainer for me.

You can load Ubuntu from a flash drive and run it from there without affecting windows. 

[jgradyc]

10 hours ago, Dane said:

You can load Ubuntu from a flash drive and run it from there without affecting windows. 

I need to look into this. Ubuntu has evolved into a first rate alternative to Windows. 

[Dane]

2 hours ago, jgradyc said:

I need to look into this. Ubuntu has evolved into a first rate alternative to Windows. 

I use it as one of my main computers.  It runs my plex server (media server).  Utilizing Google Docs for all my office work and I can do pretty much anything a Windows machine can do for a fraction of the cost.  

[rmiddle]

On 10/1/2016 at 7:53 AM, jgradyc said:

I really like Ubuntu, but if I load it, I'll probably lose the touch screen and 2 in 1 convertibility, so that would be Plan C. Plan B would be to sell it. Chromebook is getting better. That might be a choice as well. I have Ubuntu loaded via Crouton on both my older Chromebooks. 

 

 

On my Laptop, the touch screen work fine under Linux.  As for getting it to do the 2 in 1 convertibility that can be a bit tricky.  A quick google search shows it is doable but current seems to require customisation like this.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/405628/touchscreen-input-doesnt-rotate-lenovo-yoga-13-yoga-2-pro

or 

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/08/rotate-screen-ubuntu-16-04-indicator-applet

or

https://gist.github.com/emiller/6488449

Looks more like an advanced topic and not for a Linux Novice.

 

Edited October 5, 2016 by rmiddle

[jgradyc]

Thanks, rmiddle. I so seldom use the tablet mode that it won't be missed. What version of Linux are you running? 

Edited October 8, 2016 by jgradyc