Make Old Laptop Great Again

Gadgets and Devices Laptops & AIO Desktops
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I have a Vostro/Inspiron 5415 I bought new in 2021. It’s served me well but now that I am seeing my SO’s MBA M4, I’m really itching to get one for myself. I got a battery replacement and also upgraded the RAM to 32GB (unnecessary I know).

What else can I do to make the laptop feel snappier, less laggy, and not get hot at the drop of a hat?

I downgraded back to Win 10 after wiping the SSD completely. Installed all the updated drivers and the latest BIOS. I just want this laptop to last me a few more years before I finally give in to the upgrade itch.

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You could install a lighter version of the OS or debloat to gain some improvements

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Should I install Linux on it? Will that help? How’s the battery life situation on Linux laptops these days?

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I tried debloating, didn’t really work that well. I used Chris Titus’s utility to patch the ISO and install other tweaks post install. All I got was unstability. Laptop would randomly crash during sleep, and the debloat didn’t improve general snappiness. Battery life too wasn’t much different. I think that stuff is intended more for desktops or VMs and laptops with their proprietary drivers and other assorted headaches.

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Replace the thermal paste and clean the internals as much as you can.

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6

Yep probably this is the only thing left to do. I would like the CPU utilisation to not ramp up in the first place. I know Chrome and Automatic Windows Updates are the more likely culprits. Anything I can do to tame them?

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Disable updates permanently from winaero tweaker.

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Any recommendations for what else I should and shouldn’t change given that I am on a laptop?

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Linux is definitely worthwhile if you’re planning to use it for casual or technical stuff. Maybe downclocking if doable if after this and what others suggested, it still feels too hot. Check your fans and any pre-installed thermal pads also.

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Win 11 IOT if on Windows , Linux find your flavor

Best option

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Dell is apparently a major PITA when it comes to fans. I am using a fan control script to run one fan at “max” which isn’t it’s max RPM.

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I tried the IoT and the LTSC ISOs from massgrave, it wasn’t a great experience. The most common issue was unpredictable crashes during sleep. So you would wake the laptop and find that it has essentially restarted. Checked Event Viewer and spent a bunch of time on this to no avail.

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No sleep or hibernate , always ON , just close LID

3 Devices , never ever any BSOD

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14

I suggest you start using Linux. You will never look back.

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Any distro in particular? How’s the battery life on Linux?

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This works if you are always plugged in, I would like to use my laptop as a laptop. Also, my biggest reason for closing the laptop lid is actually dust prevention. In Indian cities there is no escape from it.

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Bump

Looking for similar advice on an old Lenovo
the disk drive has stopped working, should I just use an ssd enclosure and plug it in?

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Replaced the died disk with a sata SSD if you aren’t looking to game on it

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Yeah the usecase for the laptop will only be for portability. I can always anydesk into my PC for intensive workload. SATA ssd huh? I will look into it

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Try a reviOS playbook if nothing else works. This is maintained by some very knowledgeable guys and trusted by techies.

If this doesnt make it snappy, its likely a hardware issue.

Also check the wear on your SSD. I’ve seen issues with old SSDs making the system work snoozy.

1 Like