Dell Latitude 5580, unusually slow?

[Goatanizer6]

Hi,

So I have this Dell latitude 5580 on Windows 10 for almost 2 years and have been experimenting some serious issues with the computer's speed for as long as I can remember.

I have no malware as far as I can tell and I run scans daily with Malware Bytes. I also have plenty of free disk space (about 300gb more or less) and most software I use is 100% up to date. I also don't run any CPU intensive app in background..

Browsing the internet especially is a pain in the *ss, seems like if I have 2-3 tabs open and open a new tab, it may takes 2-3 minutes loading the new page.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure my internet connection has nothing to do with it, because on the same network with my other laptop I don't have any problems what so ever. An other thing that makes me think this is the fact that just resuming the computer when it is on "sleep" is also incredibly slow even if there was nothing at all opened in Windows.

Anything I should check for specifically? Is the low amount of RAM to blame? I only have 4 gb but still, it shouldn't take like 1-2 minutes to resume the laptop from sleep...

I heard some things about some Dell laptops being slow straight out of the factory... would this be the case with this one? Anything I can do to make this bearable? I don't know by what miracle I could endure this for this long haha...

Suggestions would be very appreciated!

Thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

Have you tried installing an SSD, and a fresh copy of Windows 10? Sometimes those OEM installs are rather bloated.

 

[Goatanizer6]

Thanks for your reply VirtualLarry.

I didn't think about installing an SSD, that's certainly a good idea!

As for re-installing Windows I guess it would do some good, but would this be that much better than manually removing superfluous software?

I pretty much already got rid of anything that I don't use and keep the bare minimum for this computer's functions : some audio/video editing software, microsoft office, anti-malware, data recovery/backup software and that's pretty much all. Plus, some of those audio programs are incredibly tedious to re-install and if I can avoid it then it's a huge bonus hehe!

 

[pjmssn]

As mentioned above, a SSD will likely fix your issue. I have a Dell Inspiron 11 that was extremely slow and was barely usable, it turns out the hard drive was the problem. It had a slow 500GB hard drive that I replaced with a SSD and it was like having a brand new computer. My kids use it all the time and I have not heard any complaints, it is fast and responsive.
As for reinstalling Widows, it is certainly better in case there are other issues contributing to the low speed, however, you can also try cloning your hard drive onto the SSD, I have done it many times with very good results.

 

[fire400]

up RAM to 8gb if allowed to, and install SSD

in some cases, closing to an SSD can fix the issue as well

sometimes it's failing hardware, signs of saying: backup

 

[jcb994]

How many apps/programs are running in the Notification area (lower right of screen)? If you have more than 10 running, shut down most of them. You will have to go into settings for each and turn off auto start.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I just order an Inspiron 5575 today. It's got a Ryzen 5 processor....I've not actually received the laptop yet, but have been researching why it's priced as low as it is. There have been a lot of reports of the 5575 not having proper ventilation. When the temp ramps up, the voltage is cut from the processor to keep it from melting down. You may be dealing with the same issues on the 5580?

With Dell....ALWAYS make sure you check the BIOS updates. They tune the hardware cooling, etc there. If they made changes to the fan speed, thresholds, etc....that's where they are changed.

Along those same lines, I read someone's post that they tried installing Speedfan to bring the fan speed up to 100% all the time. Google it...I'm not sure where the best source for freeware is these days...so watch out for malware when installing such programs.

I'm going to flip my new system with more RAM and a SSD...then bump up all the patches and try Speedfan to see if it can boost the speed out of the gate.

 

[Goatanizer6]

Hello again. Thanks to all that answered and excuse the late reply. Didn't get too much time to look into this lately.

@jcb994 - I don't have that many programs running in notification area. But the ones that start automatically and that I don't need on a permanent basis ie : adobe updates and OneDrive - I will deactivate from start up. Hopefully that helps a little!

I just looked at task manager though, and in the background processes, I have about 90 of them running! At the moment it says 70% of physical memory is used... the thing is just have one instance and one tab of firefox in my task bar. Insane! Got lots of cleaning up to do there I guess....and some additional RAM might be in order.

@Scarpozzi - I will definitely look into this BIOS update, you might be on to something there. Wouldn't BIOS updates install automatically with the regular windows updates though? Almost each time I shut this computer off I get some updates installing.

As for the fan, I'll definitely look into this but it doesn't seem at first sight like the comp has any problems with excessive heat or cooling off.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Hello again. Thanks to all that answered and excuse the late reply. Didn't get too much time to look into this lately.

@jcb994 - I don't have that many programs running in notification area. But the ones that start automatically and that I don't need on a permanent basis ie : adobe updates and OneDrive - I will deactivate from start up. Hopefully that helps a little!

I just looked at task manager though, and in the background processes, I have about 90 of them running! At the moment it says 70% of physical memory is used... the thing is just have one instance and one tab of firefox in my task bar. Insane! Got lots of cleaning up to do there I guess....and some additional RAM might be in order.

@Scarpozzi - I will definitely look into this BIOS update, you might be on to something there. Wouldn't BIOS updates install automatically with the regular windows updates though? Almost each time I shut this computer off I get some updates installing.

As for the fan, I'll definitely look into this but it doesn't seem at first sight like the comp has any problems with excessive heat or cooling off.

No. Unfortunately, BIOS updates are a little more manual. I just updated my laptop last week. Downloaded the exe file and got warnings to plug in the AC power. Once I did that, it ran the program and flashed the BIOS after a reboot.

Sounds like you are on to something with the memory. 70% is high. Check how much you have. I just bought 8GB of Crucial memory for $35 shipped. My new laptop came with only 4Gb and I was able to add that 8Gb to make it 12GB(plenty) for now.

My desktops at work have 16GB and I don't lot of major processing. My laptop will hit heat bottlenecks before it will run out of memory.