Suggest me an upgrade from my old HP DM1Z

[Regk]

Hello All,

My trusty HP DM1Z w/ the E-350 processor impressed me with what it could do nearly 4 years ago, but it has grown long in the tooth. i find the system just chugs on basically any task, and struggles with flash/youtube vids. I am torn as to the benefit of possibly just throwing in an SSD and seeing if that makes a difference, or just ponying up for a new machine.

My budget is around 400-500CAD. for something new. I thoroughly enjoy the 11.6" form factor, however my budget does not allow me to go the ultrabook route. and in my heart would like to support AMD, but am open to intel if the graphics and processing power are superior. If i go this route i am hoping for something in the ballpark of a 100% performance increase from here I am now.

do you guys have any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[kommisar]

"the system just chugs on basically any task" may mean that your windows install is old and bloated or that your hard drive is going bad. I assume you are using windows 7? I would try a clean install of windows to see if that makes things run faster.

What type of tasks are you performing on this computer? Web surfing, light office duties and watching videos? If so know that people are performing these activities on chromebooks using tablet arm processors and they are apparently happy with the results so an e350 should be sufficient given a light weight os. Now I do realize that amd devices sometimes dont have the right driver software to allow hardware assisted decoding of video. If that is what you primarily do, your loyalty to amd is misplaced. It might not be their fault, but they have a small market share and a website might not want to support a thinly used piece of hardware. Can you check the cpu usage during video playback? if it is high, then you are probably hosed and need to get an upgraded machine.


Would you consider using linux? Installing a light weight linux will increase the snappiness of old hardware and this would be my second suggestion. In fact I would try to run a linux install off of a usb stick just to see if going flash would improve your situation. If linux booting off of usb seems significantly faster, then swapping out the HD for a SSD would give you the appearance of a faster computer and you could potentially use the SSD in a future laptop.

 

[sm625]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011KFQASE

$350

 

[Regk]

so i purchased this http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX58629

i have it installed and loaded win 10, and office. this is my first SSD, and i bought it with the intention that if it does not give me a measurable increase in the laptop, i can repurpouse it for my gaming rig.

So far the system has shown some improvement, but it is far from snappy. i however can now view netflix and youtube at 720P settings. processor usage is pegged at near 93%, but this was previously un-doable by the old system,

the system you posted is nice, however i want to keep the 11.6 inch from factor. I could step up to 13.3 if needed.

 

[JWade]

does Canada have a delloutlet? if so check out their sales.

 

[kommisar]

So far the system has shown some improvement, but it is far from snappy. i however can now view netflix and youtube at 720P settings. processor usage is pegged at near 93%, but this was previously un-doable by the old system,

Looks like netflix is not supporting hardware decode on that amd chip. Here is my suggestion for a browsing / netflix machine. Its not windows but it is 11.6 and it will play videos flawlessly:

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-C720-Chromebook-11-6-Inch-2GB/dp/B00FNPD1VW

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I have the same laptop! Good old DM1Z. Can't believe it's 4 years already, still the only laptop in the house (although 2 desktops). I agree it's painful to use. See you bought another PC already, but could try to put Linux mint (MATE) on the DM1Z. It made it a little faster. Although it's linux so expect some jankyness and stuff that doesn't work.

 

[hoorah]

I had a DM3z with the predecessor to the E-350 (I think mine was a K325). It gets a passmark of around 750 (dual core too) so yes, its pretty slow. Heavy websites bog it down and most video is not accelerated on that chip/gpu. I had an SSD in mine as well.


I don't have any suggestions, but I can tell you that I swapped my DM3 for someone elses discarded core2duo notebook (T6600) that had a mobility radeon 4650 (pretty old) and just the increase in CPU performance was very noticeable. Pretty much anything modern (even if cheap) will be in the 2000-3000 passmark range and be significantly faster.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Fellow Canuck, allow me to suggest a cheaper, more satisfying way:

Go on Ebay and buy a HP Elitebook 2540p or a Lenovo Thinkpad X220.
Look for a "Buy it Now" option, from sellers who have more than one unit.
The units without HDD (you're going to use a SSD, anyway) are less expensive. Look for Grade B and above.


Keep in mind, while these aren't "brand-new", they may not necessarily be "used" - they're factory-refurbished units, off-lease from large companies. Most of them see very little interaction with humans.

For CAD 300, you can get either one of these two machines above with a Core i5/i7 CPU, which will run rings around any netbook/tablet. And you're still in the 12-inch screen size range!

End of story.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Holy crap, I have a stalker...
Just before Halloween, no less!