Wants more speed

[ranger_mclaren]

So what do I need to look at to make the computer faster, Or should I just deal until I can buy new. It's a IBM thinkpad, with pentium 3 and it's got windows XP. It as a horrible time loading lots of info like say facebook, myspace, sometimes youtube. My wife loves to play games on facebook but it usually either locks up or kicks her off completely after a while. I want to be able to watch videos and movies with no issue as well as upload and down load videos. burn CDs save wallpapers, websites, etc.. what do you guys suggest? I'm on a budget or other wise I just got a new computer and not a used one.

 

[Jaymz9350]

Really not much you can do with that PIII I doubt. It probably barely has enough RAM to make XP very usable (just guessing by how much most PIII's had) and you mention youtube and facebook games which use flash which is inefficient and pretty processor intensive at times.

What type of budget are you looking at, you can find something that will kill a PIII pretty cheap (unfortunately I've cleaned out most of my older hardware or I'd give you something I'm pretty close to you.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

prolly no more than a hundred bucks right now, I want to stay under that if possible???

 

[Jaymz9350]

I'd say check around on craigslist myself and see if you can find a P4 or socket A system, you should be able to find one for less than $100 (may take some talking to get the price lower). The other option would be to try a Linux variant, probably Ubuntu as it tends to run better on older hardware than XP will.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

Ok thanks.

 

[AllanD]

So what do I need to look at to make the computer faster, Or should I just deal until I can buy new. It's a IBM thinkpad, with pentium 3 and it's got windows XP. It as a horrible time loading lots of info like say facebook, myspace, sometimes youtube. My wife loves to play games on facebook but it usually either locks up or kicks her off completely after a while. I want to be able to watch videos and movies with no issue as well as upload and down load videos. burn CDs save wallpapers, websites, etc.. what do you guys suggest? I'm on a budget or other wise I just got a new computer and not a used one.

Sounds like a T20....

Plan on a new computer.

I personally recomend either Dell or HP.

You can get a Shiny new Dell 15 direct from Dell for $398.
Dual core CPU, 250gb HDD, DVD Writer and Win7-Home 64-bit OS

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[ranger_mclaren]

That sounds like a decent price. Thanks!

 

[AllanD]

Yeah, and that's for a 15.4" "wide screen" Notebook.

If you are looking for a "desktop system Walmart is selling a Dell 560i desktop system
everything from mouse to monitor(LCD) in one box for the same $398.

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[ranger_mclaren]

Don't need anything bigger than that this screen is 15" and i'm happy with it. I'm not really sure what the wife really is into but I think we'll both stick with wanting a new laptop for now with being in a small apt. We can get a desk top later when we have a "computer room" to put it in.

 

[AllanD]

Dell probably sells as many "consumer computers" as everyone (Excluding HP-Compaq)
combined, so if you have an Dell 15 (the variants of the Dell "15" models sold for the past 4-5years are the #1 selling PC notebooks, so IF you have a problem there will be many others having the same problem and finding solutions

AND when you break something there'll be people selling parts for them for years....

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[Michigan_Redneck]

For your older machine, look for Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs - XP but built with the mobile kernel. - was only release to volume licensed business for P3 systems. 500Mhz 128MB ram - works smooth.
Another thing you can try is NOT upgrading to SP3 if you can help it.

facebook games are java or flash (can't remember which) and are CPU hogs. Not much you can do there but replace your laptop.
I run a PC shop from home and often rebuild older laptops to put up for sale. I can get P4's starting $150 P4m's for $200