Vista a to XP

[scaniavabis]

I bought a new laptop 9 months or so ago with Vista Home Premium on it. (painfully slow in comparison to my Vista PC but I know that laptops are like that) Would it be possible to replace the operating system with XP for which I already have a good disk or is the Laptop going to be Vista only as this was it's only and original installation.

Is there a way back to Vista should the installation go wrong as I don't have a Vista disk!

Also, because of the extra computing power required to run Vista, would replacing it with XP make the laptop run more quickly. It has AMD x 2 Turion 1.6 GHz and 895 MB RAM.

Any views/opinions welcome thank you

[LeMarchand]

The easiest solution would be to buy more RAM, I'd recommend at least 2GB for Vista - if your laptop can accept 3, even better (as some of the RAM will be used for graphics whereas your PC will probably have a dedicated graphics card). Visit http://www.crucial.com/ and do their scan to see what you can use (you don't need to buy from them). You may also find that turning off some of Vista's eye candy (like the Aero interface and reflective effects) speeds up the machine without recourse to a RAM upgrade.

Otherwise: using XP would probably result in a faster machine, but you would be best off checking the manufacturer's site to ensure that they provide XP drivers for all the various hardware components (many do). Check your documentation - a few laptops come with the option to downgrade to XP built in, and some mechanism to do so.

Have you no discs at all? You may find that while you do not have a "Vista" disc, you do have a "recovery disc" that contains Vista along with drivers and software for your machine. Some manufacturers provide a "recovery partition" on your hard disc that does the same thing. Again, check the documentation.

If you do not have a recovery disc or partition but do have a suitably sized external hard disc (or fancy creating your own recovery partition) you could use something like DriveImage XML (it's free) to "copy" your existing laptop data in case you need to reinstall it.

[vehelpfulguy]

I would not suggest going back to XP.

I would do as LeMarchand says and put in as much memory as you can.

AT LEAST 2Gb, maybe 3Gb, but dont bother with 4Gb.

[camioneur]

Thanks for replies

This laptop wasn't cheap so why is it lacking in RAM. It's packard Bell so not an unknown make, I'm puzzled by this.

Where would I find the option to turn off Aero Interface and reflective effects? I don't need any fancy stuff. Just used for MS Office and a little web stuff

Yes it has a "D" drive with recovery partition.

[camioneur]

Sorry if last post puzzled anyone but used mates PC to respond

[vehelpfulguy]

Did you buy it new ?

To be honest, no company should be selling a new Vista computer with less than 1Gb of ram on it.

What makes it worse is that many laptops have graphics cards without their own memory, so what they do is "borrow" some of the system memory (RAM).

So if your graphics memory is set to say 128Mb that is 128Mb LESS system RAM available. So in fact you would be running Vista on 750Mb.

I also have to say that Packard Bell are not a great brand. I think they are a "PC World" only brand (and also maybe Currys) and when anybody asks on this forum about buying Packard Bell I always try to talk them out of it.

Because Packard Bell are PC World only you have no idea how they comapre in the "real world" with other laptops or of they are good value for money or reliable.

There is also some thought that PC World employees are given a bonus for every Packard Bell laptop they sell.

[Ethel]

I don't believe it has 895mb RAM - where have you got that figure from?

[vehelpfulguy]

I searched in Google for "Improve Vista performance" and found a few sites.

Here is one:

http://techrepublic.com.com/2415-10877_11-9160 0.html

Within the article above is a section called "Performance Information And Tools".

Can you go into that window and press the Refresh Now button to get your latest "scores" and then put them in this forum.

That should give us an idea if your laptop is OK for running Vista.

[vehelpfulguy]

I searched in Google for "turn off Aero" and found this site.

http://vistafaqs.com/viewfaq.aspx?faq=88

To be honest almost every SIMPLE computer question can be answered by a quick search in Google.

If you are going to work with computers a lot then a search in Google with some keywords will often answer most basic computer questions.

[Aquagility]

Is it true, as scaniavabis suggests, that laptops are generally slower than PC's?

[Ethel]

Yes, unless you buy a hugely expensive laptop.

For general web browsing, email, playing dvds and cds, office tasks, and so on, even the cheapest of laptops should be fine.

They would be hopeless for 'gamers' games and video editing though.

[Aquagility]

Thanks, Ethel. Could I ask you and vehelpfulguy to have a look at my last post on
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Comp uters/Question610320.html
please?

[scaniavabis]

I find it hard to believe that you might think I'd tell a porky Ethel, why would I. If you meant mistake then my cheap and nasty packard bell is tell me porkies because when I right click Computer and then "properties" I get this info:

AMD Turion (tm) 64x2 Mobile tech TL-50 1.60GHz

Memory (RAM) 895 MB

32- bit operating system

Rating: 2.4 Windows Experience Index

[scaniavabis]

VHG..yes bought brand new from Curry's no more than 9 months ago!

[scaniavabis]

In response to earlier:

Processor 4.6
Memory RAM 3.9
Graphics 3.0
Gaming graphics 2.4
Primary hard Disk 4.7

Base score 2.4

[Ethel]

Apologies - I have looked in to it and it seems to be 1gb RAM but the graphics card is using the 'missing' bit.

I was doubtful because RAM is always divisible by 250.

250 - 500 - 1gb - 2gb etc

As suggested, put more RAM in. It is straightforward and will make a big difference

[vehelpfulguy]

>Is it true, as scaniavabis suggests, that laptops are generally slower than PC's?

Yes, laptops are generally slower than a desktop PC.

If you spent the same amount on a desktop PC and a laptop (say �350) then the desktop PC would probably have a faster processor, more memory, better graphics, faster hard disk, and probably a faster BUS speed (the data moves round the computer quicker).

Even if you spent MORE on the laptop than the desktop PC (say �450) then the laptop could still well be slower, with a slower CPU, poorer graphics performance, and almost certainly a slower hard disk.

Desktop PCs have better CPUs because laptops have "mobile" CPUs, and laptop hard disks spin slower than decktop PCs.

With a laptop, what you gain in portability you lose in performance.

[vehelpfulguy]

scaniavabis, thanks for your performance scores.

It seems your graphics (mainly) and memory are letting you down as they have the lowest scores.

I built a Vista desktop PC a few months ago (with 2Gb of RAM) and for comparison my scores are:

Proc: 4.7
RAM: 4.8
Graphics: 4.3
Gaming: 4.8
Hard disk: 5.7

Overall: 4.3

So to increase your RAM score I would go from 1Gb to 2Gb.

Graphics is more difficult as you cannot improve your graphics hardware, so as you have already suggested, you should turn off Aero and any other "eye candy" so your laptop is spending less time drawing the user interface.

I think more RAM, and turn off the fancy Windows interface, is about the only options you have.

[vehelpfulguy]

One other option is to perhaps reduce the number of programs that start up when your computer starts.

On the "start" menu select Run and the type msconfig then OK.

This will bring up the System Configuration window.

Select the Startup tab and this lists all the programs that start up when Windows starts. It looks like this:

http://www.maximumpcguides.com/wp-content/uplo ads/2007/07/vista-msconfig1.PNG

Some of these programs appear as little icons on your task bar, but some may not been needed.

You could try disabling some of them, or all of them, to see if it improves performance.

If you find you need some of them you could always go back in and enable the ones you want to start.

[scaniavabis]

Already did all that you sugest VHG. I am running nothing from start up except anti virus (avira pro)

Eye candy now all turned off and performance still miserable

Could you advise where to get more RAM from, is it something I could install myself bearing in mind it's a laptop. Have taken PC's apart in the past and installed new graphics cards etc but never taken a laptop to bits...

[LeMarchand]

There's a lot of new replies since I last checked here! Not much to add except use MSCONFIG with caution - look up what you are turning off, as some of it will be your anti-virus and the like. Any Adobe programs (grrrr) can be taken out, as can Quicktime. Some of the stuff isn't necessary (there will probably be a few "updater" programs) but saves you having to manually check for updates.

The reason why only 1GB of RAM was installed is that "officially" it's enough (and it's cheaper for P Bell). However, outside of MS's labs 2GB is what most would recommend for Vista. BTW, unless you have a 64-bit machine (you don't) it is unlikely that you will be able to use more than about 3GB of RAM due to various hardware limitations.