new laptop slower the old desktop Help please

sdp

Hi, Have bought this laptop http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-15-5558-laptop/pd?oc=cn55801&model_id=inspiron-15-5558-laptop, having major problems with it,
was using window xp on desktop, and finding this laptop slower, its running windows 8.1 (hate it) but getting the hang of it, and is so slow to move between programs or apps, is there something I should be doing?
first laptop I've ever had, and back to desktop now to try get some help, or is that the way laptops are?
any help greatly appreciated,
Thank you

sdp

Sorry should have posted in laptops,
Could a mod move it please?
Thank you

Digital Solitude

It's not a terribly fast laptop but should still be faster than anything from the XP era. Would you be willing to upgrade to Windows 10? It's more similar to Windows XP or 7 than 8.1 is, maybe easier on a laptop.

Going online on XP is a really bad idea, I'd stop doing that first off

sdp

Hi, thanks for that, have registered for windows 10, but still do not know why its so slow? is it something I'm doing? no choice but to go online at min with xp, as on laptop all I keep getting is firefox, or chrome not responding , doing my head in ,
Thanks

ED E

Check the powerplan. If its on powersaver or balanced it'll slow itself down.

Bayberry

sdp wrote: »

Hi, thanks for that, have registered for windows 10, but still do not know why its so slow? is it something I'm doing?

It definitely shouldn't be that slow.

If you open the Task Manager (right-click on a blank part of the task bar at the bottom of the screen and select Task Manager), click on the Performance tab and see if the CPU is running at 100%, or if the disk or network systems are saturated.

If the CPU is running at100%, click on the Processes tab to see what programs are hogging the CPU (you can click on the header of the CPU column to sort the list).

Bayberry

ED E wrote: »

Check the powerplan. If its on powersaver or balanced it'll slow itself down.

It won't slow it down that much!

heroics

Just as a matter of interest what is specs of old desktop?

How Old?
Processor?
Memory?
Hard drive size and type?

I know many an old desktop/laptop running xp that has been upgraded with SSD or more memory and can be quicker than newer machines.

I would agree with bayberry. Check task manager and see what's using the most resources.

ED E

Bayberry wrote: »

It won't slow it down that much!

Eh yeah, it can. I've seen 3GHz i7s locked to 800Mhz from factory due to a power plan. Nuts, but it happens.

sdp

Thank you, will try above later to day, and let you know,
Thanks again

sdp

Right its taken 4 and 1/2 mins to open task manager, at the top its says cpu 5% ! oh my god, do I start deleting programs?

ED E

sdp wrote: »

Right its taken 4 and 1/2 mins to open task manager, at the top its says cpu 5% ! oh my god, do I start deleting programs?

Somethings wrong with that machine, even the lower tier celeron based units wouldnt be that slow. Get on the blower to dell.

Bayberry

sdp wrote: »

Right its taken 4 and 1/2 mins to open task manager, at the top its says cpu 5% ! oh my god, do I start deleting programs?

No. Unless you have a specific reason to suspect a particular program of causing the problem, just deleting random stuff won't help.

What did the memory usage and disk and ethernet usage look like on Task Manager? If there a huge amount of disk usage, it can cause noticeable slowdowns (can happen if you install multiple anti-virus products that end up conflicting with one another, or if some media program is scanning and indexing the contents of the drive, but that usually stops eventually - measured in minutes, rather than hours).

Aimead

ED E wrote: »

Somethings wrong with that machine, even the lower tier celeron based units wouldnt be that slow.

Agreed, brand new laptop with almost vanilla Windows shouldn’t be that slow. I’ve seen a few Dells where the pre-installed AV/Firewall (usually McAfee) were causing everything to crawl.

OP – try turning off your AV & Firewall (disconnect the internet first though) and see if it gets more responsive. If this is the problem then you’ll need to get a different AV/Firewall, but there are plenty of good free alternatives out there.

sdp

thank you so much, going to ring dell , memory 48 % will ring know and let you know,
thank again for taking the time

goose06

If it's a dell there's a good chance McAfee is running on it, remove that and install another AV and that should speed it up

sdp

Hi, everyone, thanks so much again, spent a few hours on phone to dell, and thankfully got them to ring me, otherwise would have cost me a fortune! there is indeed something wrong with it, as I was trying all the said, it keep hanging up, finally agreed to send laptop back, Thank you all again for you help, really helped