Laptop Woes!

2GB RAM is too low for running Windows 10. The Atom N450 can go up to 4GB; the problem might be to find the RAM chipset as we're talking 2010 tech.

If you were running anything but Microsoft Defender on that laptop, that might be one of the source of slowdown. McAffee is painful with low RAM and triggers a scan often, causing even more pain. Unless you have the nasty habit of browsing content from dubious servers, Windows Defender is more than sufficient.

-cb

My laptop is as Asus X-series. I quite like it. Not perfect, it's been having trouble with staying connected to the internet after only a year and change, but I don't know if it's a driver issue, Windows 10 issue, a network card issue, or an Asus issue. Its frustrating. But besides that, it has enough space for all my games, enough power to run them, and is otherwise a hardy machine.

Melanii said:

I tried to go back to Windows 7 Starter, but could never figure it out. Especially since it has no disc drive or anything. I also don't use virus protection programs, really. I find them super annoying. Usually, my BF figures out a way to destroy a virus anyway.

Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RH5I3sS6Bw

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/72229-63-inspiron-mini-dell-windows-factory-settings-restore

-cb

I would have thought that photoshop is your most processor-intensive program. That has a minimum requirement of 2Gb of RAM and windows 7, but 8Gb is recommended. Word, Excel, skype and an internet browser should run on pretty much anything. Don't know about the other programs on your list, but wouldn't expect them to be hungrier than photoshop.

So your two 2009/2010 machines are around minimum spec for what you want to do. If you have more than one program running at any time, I can see why you're slowing down. I doubt if any amount of tinkering is going to rescue them. I've been there, tried it, got the t-shirt. It's usually not worth it if you can afford to buy new.

Any of the laptops you've shortlisted should be fine. An i5 processor with 12 Gb of RAM or more will cheerfully munch through anything you care to throw at it for the foreseeable future.

Then it comes down to preferences and pragmatic issues such as favourite/ least favourite make, size, display, weight, etc. I'm not a fan of touchscreens on laptops (grubby fingerprints!), but it's a personal choice.

The only thing I would say is think about a good graphics card if you want to play graphics intensive games. My workhorse PC doesn't have a graphics card because I told myself I wouldn't be playing games on it. Naturally, I found myself fancying a bit of Fallout 4 and my PC couldn't cope even at the lowest settings.

One left-field thought. You might want to keep hold of an old laptop to do nothing but Word if you want a temptation-free machine for writing only. It's not for everyone (especially if space is a premium) but it can be a good way of ensuring BIC instead of "just one quick game..."

https://www.reddit.com/r/laptops/ has a great wiki guide to hardware, and you can post a form there with your budget and needs, and members will help you choose the best machine for you.

There are some great writing subreddits as well.

Edit: There's never anything wrong with overbuying a computer. That just ensures that you'll be able to hold on to it for a few years.