[devarshi84]

I will Also recommend an AMD setup. Go for one of those platforms (Vision or FUsion or something) where AMD provides the cpu, Chipset and GPU.

On the otherhand intel has better overall performance and Nvidia plays some game engines better.

[creative420]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

I will Also recommend an AMD setup. Go for one of those platforms (Vision or FUsion or something) where AMD provides the cpu, Chipset and GPU.

On the otherhand intel has better overall performance and Nvidia plays some game engines better.

Yeah. Read about that. But it'll shoot up the cost, won't it?

[ByDesign]

Originally Posted by creative420

Yeah. Read about that. But it'll shoot up the cost, won't it?

Just stick to your budget and go for it. The more research you do the more confused one gets. In the end spend the amount you decided and the games you wanted to play (and more)

[anekho]

Guys, We bought a Acer Aspire One Happy Series netbook for ultra basic use when travelling, ie, just browsing/emails. Really UN-happy with the computer. Feels extremely slow to use, requires a million updates, the screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

The specs are:

Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom Dual-Core N550
1.50GHz
SODIMM DDR3 1066 MHz - 1GB RAM
250GB SATA Hardisk
10.1 Inch LED screen (1024x600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

I want to do something about it's horrible performance. Thinking of upping the RAM to:

Kingston 2048MB DDR3 1066 MHz SODIMM

It should work right? Would changing the graphic card help improve the 'smoothness' of playback? Or Overclocking? What else can be done to the netbook? Even considering changing the hard disk to a smaller faster unit as I don't need more than 80GB MAX!

Looking forward to help from all T-BHP PC Gurus!

PS: Thank god all the other computers at home run mac

[lordavenger]

Originally Posted by anekho

Guys, We bought a Acer Aspire One Happy Series netbook for ultra basic use when travelling, ie, just browsing/emails. Really UN-happy with the computer. Feels extremely slow to use, requires a million updates, the screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

The specs are:

Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom Dual-Core N550
1.50GHz
SODIMM DDR3 1066 MHz - 1GB RAM
250GB SATA Hardisk
10.1 Inch LED screen (1024x600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

I want to do something about it's horrible performance. Thinking of upping the RAM to:

Kingston 2048MB DDR3 1066 MHz SODIMM

It should work right? Would changing the graphic card help improve the 'smoothness' of playback? Or Overclocking? What else can be done to the netbook? Even considering changing the hard disk to a smaller faster unit as I don't need more than 80GB MAX!

Looking forward to help from all T-BHP PC Gurus!

PS: Thank god all the other computers at home run mac

If you're used to Mac, some performance lag would be noticeable with Windows 7. At the same time, it should not affect the performance so much as to completely ruin your experience with a netbook.

What kind of videos keep "hacking"? If its a Blue Ray Rip or a 1080p, a netbook is ill-equipped to play those. Other AVIs should play just fine. If you want to speed up the HDD, consider going for a SSD. A 40 GB one will set you back by 5.5k.

[anekho]

Originally Posted by lordavenger

If you're used to Mac, some performance lag would be noticeable with Windows 7. At the same time, it should not affect the performance so much as to completely ruin your experience with a netbook.

What kind of videos keep "hacking"? If its a Blue Ray Rip or a 1080p, a netbook is ill-equipped to play those. Other AVIs should play just fine. If you want to speed up the HDD, consider going for a SSD. A 40 GB one will set you back by 5.5k.

The problem per say isn't with Windows 7 - I've used it on powerful computers and it works smoothly, without any problems! On my netbook it feels extremely sluggish, even running light programs like the browser Chrome or notepad take long to open, when you minimize them there is a lot of lag till it minimizes, opening new tabs in the browser take long etc. - it makes using the computer a very tiring business.

With regard to the videos, I mean even watching videos on youtube (on the lowest quality setting) keep hacking ie, the sound plays fine but the video keeps hacking - it's smooth playback. Opening downloaded movies (700mb kind) take forever and again have playback issues. I think Blu Ray rips would destroy the computer

I've been reading up on the different hard drives, and Solid State Drives seem interesting. How would the performance of a 40/80 GB SSD compare to a 7200 RPM 250 GB SATA drive?

[lordavenger]

SSDs are inherently faster and more reliable than SATA HDDs. This is mainly due to the lack of movable parts and the storage medium being electronic rather than electromechanical. On the flipside, SSDs are horribly expensive. What most people do is keep a small (20-30 Gig) SSD for the OS and installs and a separate SATA for memory intensive applications. Since your memory requirement is limited, you can definitely look at an all SSD solution of around 40-50 Gigs.

At the same time, the problem does not seem to be one associated with a HDD. I have personally used Win 7 on a Samsung NC10 (1.6 N270/ DDR2) and it was pretty smooth. Youtube videos certainly never gave me any trouble! Try another install of the OS perhaps? If you have SP1 installed, it is known to affect Atom processors adversely in some cases.

[anekho]

Originally Posted by lordavenger

SSDs are inherently faster and more reliable than SATA HDDs. This is mainly due to the lack of movable parts and the storage medium being electronic rather than electromechanical. On the flipside, SSDs are horribly expensive. What most people do is keep a small (20-30 Gig) SSD for the OS and installs and a separate SATA for memory intensive applications. Since your memory requirement is limited, you can definitely look at an all SSD solution of around 40-50 Gigs.

At the same time, the problem does not seem to be one associated with a HDD. I have personally used Win 7 on a Samsung NC10 (1.6 N270/ DDR2) and it was pretty smooth. Youtube videos certainly never gave me any trouble! Try another install of the OS perhaps? If you have SP1 installed, it is known to affect Atom processors adversely in some cases.

Thanks for the reply! SSD's seem like a good choice but like you said they're expensive. I wouldn't mind settling for small capacity SSD though. Using the factory install of Windows 7, but maybe I'll try a fresh install.

It'd be awesome if I up the RAM, get a SSD and overclock it It'll be like a Sleeper, a fast car in a slow body

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by lordavenger

SSDs are inherently faster and more reliable than SATA HDDs. This is mainly due to the lack of movable parts and the storage medium being electronic rather than electromechanical.

Failure rate of SSDs is quite high specially if data changes often.

Coding Horror: The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale

[ravi_23]

Here is my laptop's configuration:

Acer Aspire 5738G, purchased in Aug 08

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 @ 2.1Ghz
Graphics: NvidiaGeforce G105M, 512 MB
RAM: 4gb ddr3
HDD: 320gb
15.6" HD LED screen
Have installed 3 O.S. in it...win XP Pro SP3, win Vista and win 7 SP1


Have also got my first PC till now(It has become pracheen(vintage) now ) Purchased in April 2002


Desktop Configuration:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4, 2Ghz
Graphics: Nvidia(dont remember the series, 64MB)
RAM: 128MB
HDD: 40GB
Display: 17" Monitor, LG
Wired keyboard and mouse
Motorola modem and Intex Lan Card for connectivity
Have installed 4 O.S. in it...win 98se, win Me, win 2000 and win XP Pro SP2

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by anekho

Guys, We bought a Acer Aspire One Happy Series netbook for ultra basic use when travelling, ie, just browsing/emails. Really UN-happy with the computer. Feels extremely slow to use, requires a million updates, the screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

The specs are:

Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom Dual-Core N550
1.50GHz
SODIMM DDR3 1066 MHz - 1GB RAM
250GB SATA Hardisk
10.1 Inch LED screen (1024x600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

I want to do something about it's horrible performance. Thinking of upping the RAM to:

Kingston 2048MB DDR3 1066 MHz SODIMM

It should work right? Would changing the graphic card help improve the 'smoothness' of playback? Or Overclocking? What else can be done to the netbook? Even considering changing the hard disk to a smaller faster unit as I don't need more than 80GB MAX!

Looking forward to help from all T-BHP PC Gurus!

PS: Thank god all the other computers at home run mac

The Atom processor has its limitations, and you have just discovered them.

The You tube video hacking could be due to slower streaming on your net connection. Happens even on my Workstation and 2MBPS line sometimes. If downloaded movies hack then it is a processor problem, else a net speed problem.

RAM rarely speeds up things, unless you have a lot of applications open.

I would suggest leaving the Laptop as it is and use it for browsing while on the go. Instead of spending more on HDD/SSD, Graphics Card and RAM, get a faster machine using mainline processors.

[anekho]

Originally Posted by Aroy

The Atom processor has its limitations, and you have just discovered them.

The You tube video hacking could be due to slower streaming on your net connection. Happens even on my Workstation and 2MBPS line sometimes. If downloaded movies hack then it is a processor problem, else a net speed problem.

RAM rarely speeds up things, unless you have a lot of applications open.

I would suggest leaving the Laptop as it is and use it for browsing while on the go. Instead of spending more on HDD/SSD, Graphics Card and RAM, get a faster machine using mainline processors.

Thanks for the reply. Net speed is definitely not the problem, I'm on a 25 MBPS connection!

I'd leave the laptop alone but even browsing is a pain. :( Also just bought it recently so don't feel like selling it off. Don't mind getting new parts though

[anku94]

Originally Posted by anekho

Guys, We bought a Acer Aspire One Happy Series netbook for ultra basic use when travelling, ie, just browsing/emails. Really UN-happy with the computer. Feels extremely slow to use, requires a million updates, the screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

The specs are:

Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom Dual-Core N550
1.50GHz
SODIMM DDR3 1066 MHz - 1GB RAM
250GB SATA Hardisk
10.1 Inch LED screen (1024x600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

I want to do something about it's horrible performance. Thinking of upping the RAM to:

Kingston 2048MB DDR3 1066 MHz SODIMM

It should work right? Would changing the graphic card help improve the 'smoothness' of playback? Or Overclocking? What else can be done to the netbook? Even considering changing the hard disk to a smaller faster unit as I don't need more than 80GB MAX!

Looking forward to help from all T-BHP PC Gurus!

PS: Thank god all the other computers at home run mac

I'm surprised, to say the least. I've got a 7-year old PC with onboard graphics and AMD Athlon 2400+ 2.0 GHz single-core proccy. All these things happen smoothly on my PC (Except 720p video, I have to shut down all other programs to run that smoothly).

Well, there isn't much you can do. You can't upgrade the graphics. You won't be able to overclock most likely. The cooling capacity of the fans would be just enough to dissipate the required heat at stock settings. A SSD would boost the time required for a program to launch, but the processor sounds the culprit here.

Do consider selling it and getting a basic Inspiron-like notebook. You'll recover a significant portion of the cost (you could try online classifieds at popular tech forums in India - Erodov and TechEnclave). I doubt you can live with such poor performance.

Why don't you try, as a last resort, re-installing the OS, and giving XP a shot if drivers are available ? It might be possible that due to some kind of corruption, some useless process is hogging the resources.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by anekho

screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

This is the weakest link in the chain. This sits on CPU package itself and runs at just 200 MHz. That is why it can't keep up with Flash videos used on youtube.

And it just has hardware decoding for MPEG2. So, not much can be done about video playback. CPU would be used for pretty much everything and that slows down the system.

Though, if you add more RAM, web browsing would be smoother.

[creative420]

Originally Posted by anekho

Guys, We bought a Acer Aspire One Happy Series netbook for ultra basic use when travelling, ie, just browsing/emails. Really UN-happy with the computer. Feels extremely slow to use, requires a million updates, the screen isn't sharp and videos keep 'hacking' when played.

The specs are:

Windows 7 Starter
Intel Atom Dual-Core N550
1.50GHz
SODIMM DDR3 1066 MHz - 1GB RAM
250GB SATA Hardisk
10.1 Inch LED screen (1024x600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 Graphic Card

I want to do something about it's horrible performance. Thinking of upping the RAM to:

Kingston 2048MB DDR3 1066 MHz SODIMM

It should work right? Would changing the graphic card help improve the 'smoothness' of playback? Or Overclocking? What else can be done to the netbook? Even considering changing the hard disk to a smaller faster unit as I don't need more than 80GB MAX!

Looking forward to help from all T-BHP PC Gurus!

PS: Thank god all the other computers at home run mac

I have an Acer Aspire Netbook too for travel purpose. That too the Atom 450 one. But I'm able to watch high quality divx without any error or lagg. Thing is, it has Windows XP. Could that be the difference?