CPU/Mobo Would adding RAM help my laptop?

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Emil

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I use a hp laptop that is i3-8130U based with 8 GB RAM. It is very slow specially when running many browser tabs. In task manager, I see typically 7.1 GB used all the time. I believe that is the reason for the slow speed but I could be wrong. Correct me if I am wrong. I see the laptop has 2 slots and only 1 is used. I plan to drop in another 8GB RAM. Would that solve the speed problem?
I also see often the drive utilization runs high and I presume it will also help if I replace the HDD with an SSD but that is far more expensive and complex to implement so I want to go with the RAM increase first if it is likely to work.
 
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Emil said:
I use a hp laptop that i3-8130U based with 8 GB RAM. It is very slow specially when running many browser tabs. In task manager, I see typically 7.1 GB used all the time. I believe that is the reason for the slow speed but I could be wrong. Correct me if I am wrong. I see the laptop has 2 slots and only 1 is used. I plan to drop in another 8GB RAM. Would that solve the speed problem?
I also see often the drive utilization runs high and I presume it will also help if I replace the HDD with an SSD but that is far more expensive and complex to implement so I want to go with the RAM increase first if it is likely to work.
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Just get an ssd for OS drive. It'll do wonders to your laptop for sure. 128gb doesn't cost too much these days, can be bought for under 1k.
 
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Update to and ssd for performance boost and add a 4gb ram stick if you can or 8 if your work requires it.
Even I use a hp laptop but its an i5 with 8gb ram. Never ever faced such memory issues even though I have around 10-12 tabs open. Btw I use only Firefox.

You might be using chrome so try shifting to firefox for test purpose for few days and observe how it goes.
 
Replacing the hdd with an ssd is not that complex if done with a similar or higher capacity. For an i3 8 GB should be adequate. Can you send a screenshot of task manager with memory eating apps by order. It seems that some app might be taking too much memory or some background process might be to blame. How ever two sticks of ram will enable dual channel which should help while launching processes. My recommendation is SSD first then RAM. Also you can just transfer only your C drive to the new ssd if you have an extra slot in your laptop and keep hdd. It depends on the model. So check that out too. Cheersz
 
Agreed, memory upgrade not really needed but an SSD is well worth the expense because it will act like Red Bull and give your laptop wings. I mean it will fly.
 
During my work, I use Chrome with 10-15 tabs, Firefox with about 5-6 tabs, Edge with 5-6 tabs and sometimes more. These browsers are used for specific different purposes. I see that the consensus opinion is not to bother with increasing RAM. I am not working today so this laptop does not have the normal load and the RAM usage is under 6 gig. No point in uploading the screenshot like this.
I get the point about the SSD and I expected I might have to upgrade. I see Task Manager shows 100% drive usage for quite a while when the computer is started up so I believe an SSD would help a great deal. The laptop has a 1TB HDD and no optical drive where I would have been able to put a caddy. The laptop actually my son-in-law's and I am using it while I am staying in Goa. Not sure if he will be OK with installing a smaller SSD since he is not too computer savvy. Ideally, I would have suggested that we could put in a 256 GB SSD and he should use an external drive for data. Any better suggestions to keep the cost down are welcome.
I have partitioned the HDD into 150GB for the system partition and the remaining for data. I am apprehensive about how to go about transferring the system to the SSD after/before installation. A good link would be most welcome.
The HP model is 15-da0414TU.
 
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Emil said:
During my work, I use Chrome with 10-15 tabs, Firefox with about 5-6 tabs, Edge with 5-6 tabs and sometimes more. These browsers are used for specific different purposes. I see that the consensus opinion is not to bother with increasing RAM. I am not working today so this laptop does not have the normal load and the RAM usage is under 6 gig. No point in uploading the screenshot like this.
I get the point about the SSD and I expected I might have to upgrade. I see Task Manager shows 100% drive usage for quite a while when the computer is started up so I believe an SSD would help a great deal. The laptop has a 1TB HDD and no optical drive where I would have been able to put a caddy. The laptop actually my son-in-law's and I am using it while I am staying in Goa. Not sure if he will be OK with installing a smaller SSD since he is not too computer savvy. Ideally, I would have suggested that we could put in a 256 GB SSD and he should use an external drive for data. Any better suggestions to keep the cost down are welcome.
I have partitioned the HDD into 150GB for the system partition and the remaining for data. I am apprehensive about how to go about transferring the system to the SSD after/before installation. A good link would be most welcome.
The HP model is 15-da0414TU.
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EVM SSDs seem to be pretty cheap on OnlySSD. A 512 GB is for Rs 2499/-. Is that OK? I know Samsung 870 EVO may be better but this would be very much better than the HDD anyway.
 
Emil said:
Ideally, I would have suggested that we could put in a 256 GB SSD and he should use an external drive for data. Any better suggestions to keep the cost down are welcome.
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Your laptop doesn't seem to have a slot for m.2 SSD, so you will have to replace your HDD with a SATA SSD. So what you have mentioned is the best process.

Get a 128/256 GB SATA SSD and an external SATA enclosure for HDD/SSD sth like https://amzn.eu/d/9soOOCb. Then, use below software to clone your OS partition.
Emil said:
I have partitioned the HDD into 150GB for the system partition and the remaining for data. I am apprehensive about how to go about transferring the system to the SSD after/before installation. A good link would be most welcome.
Click to expand...
Look for Macrium Reflect.
Emil said:
EVM SSDs seem to be pretty cheap on OnlySSD. A 512 GB is for Rs 2499/-. Is that OK? I know Samsung 870 EVO may be better but this would be very much better than the HDD anyway.
Click to expand...
 
Buy cheap 256gb SSD and transfer your OS onto that. As suggested by almost everyone you will see considerable performance boost. Secondly use Brave Browser instead of Chrome as it will use less ram compared to Chrome, Its infamous for using lots of RAM. I have almost same usage as yours and you can see my RAM consumption (though at this point in time I am not using lots of tabs)

Firefox - 6 tabs
Brave - 2 tabs
Chrome - 2 tabs (one of the tab is heavy and have few formulas running in background)
Vivaldi - 6 tabs

I have 16gb RAM so almost half of them is in use.
Screenshot_1.jpg
 
bssunilreddy said:
www.guru99.com

9 Best FREE Disk Cloning Software (Clone HDD to SSD)

Looking to upgrade your HDD to a more efficient SSD without losing any data? Guru99 is your ultimate resource for finding the best HDD to SSD clone software.
www.guru99.com www.guru99.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. Any link instructing how to go about replacing the HDD with a SSD?
How is the EVM brand SSD? The 1TB is available for 4799. If that is reliable as a brand, I am inclined to go for 1TB
 
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I recently refreshed 1laptop with SSD and RAM upgrade and 1 with just SSD. Its really noticeable upgrade for a 6year old laptop (celeron). The boot and shutdown time is like 3~5seconds. MS office used to take close to a minute to open files now it just flies. Used my old Samsung 840evo for one laptop and bought a crucial Bx500 for another.
 
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As suggested by others, go with SSD replacement.

Does your laptop have a DVD drive? If yes, then you can get a caddy and put the HDD in it and put the SSD in place of the HDD. that way, you can go with 250 GB SSD and save on costs. Mostly I've seen that 250 GB is more than enough for day to day use. And you'll have the HDD for your movies and music is you store those on your laptop.

RAM upgrade will also help, but not a great deal. If you had 4 GB, then it would have been absolutely needed, but with 8 GB, it's kinda ok.

The reason SSD helps is because your OS and applications you use constantly keep accessing the disk. Their requirements will be small, but the seek time slows it down. In SSD, seek time is very low. Which is why you don't need an ultra fast SSD to see the difference, the most basic SSD in the market will also work almost the same.

I'd recommend Kingston A400 which is available on onlyssd.com for 1800 (240 GB), but EVM should be fine as well.
 
some options to help u with
caddy - https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07CJXSRKG/ <-- i am using this, no issues seen. u need to check the size of caddy that fits in ur lappy as there are 2 sizes (9.5mm and 12.7mm)
SSD - reliable options are Crucial MX series, Western Digital Blue, Samsung
RAM - Kingston / Samsung

As others already suggested, you will see immediate difference on adding 256GB SSD for OS partition, then, if you still want , upgrade with 4GB, that should suffice. check Classified section if ur OK with pre-owned route to minimize ur costs !!!
 
While searching google for my laptop model number, I came across a customer support request asking about an M.2 slot and the answer was that there is indeed an unused M.2 slot. The HP manual says:
1668411034615.png

So does it mean I can use an M.2 device with any interface? Meaning NVME or SATA
Since there is a M.2 slot, I don't need to remove the 1TB drive and can use it for data and I will need only a 256 GB M.2
 
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That's great. But before you buy, I'd recommend opening up your laptop and physically verifying the presence of M.2 slot.

Then again, it's a Dell laptop, so I'm not sure if you can check just like that.
 
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gourav said:
That's great. But before you buy, I'd recommend opening up your laptop and physically verifying the presence of M.2 slot.

Then again, it's a Dell laptop, so I'm not sure if you can check just like that.
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It's HP in this case as stated by OP at the start. As recommended by @gourav, physically verify the presence of M.2 slot and go with an NVMe SSD.
 
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