kscanman Loc: Wisconsin

Hi everyone I am a Mac person but my wife has a pc. It is the slowest laptop in the world. Every time I try to help her with it I get frustrated. Can you recommend a pc with the fastest chip, maybe 8 gigs of ram and a terabyte of storage space because this is killing me. It takes 3 hours just to do an iTunes back up. Smh.

Najataagihe

Install CCLeaner (Free version)

Clean registry

Defrag hard drive

Do this, before jumping into the abyss.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Good advice plus a bit more information such as HW and OS about the existing laptop might help.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You can avoid spending money if you solve the slowness mystery. Asl Leo just did a video about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHo1KhHZGoI&t=881s

Lots of ideas here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=computer+is+running+slow&oq=computer+is+running+slow&aqs=edge..69i57j0i512l7.4936j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

As for a new computer, more links.

Processor -
http://gizmodo.com/dont-waste-money-on-intels-top-processor-1791426602
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i9-vs-i7-vs-i5-cpu/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/core-i5-vs-i7
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/210703-intel-core-i5-vs-core-i7-which-processor-should-you-buy

Memory -
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need-probably-less-than-you-think/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need/

Setup -
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2861858/computers/7-critical-things-to-do-immediately-with-a-new-pc.html#tk.rss_all
http://www.computershopper.com/feature/13-essential-steps-set-up-your-new-pc

therwol Loc: USA

Right. Perhaps the laptop is an older one with limited RAM, and it may not be worthwhile to do any upgrades. I'm not up on all of the latest and greatest hardware, but if I were buying a new laptop, I'd look at the Dell XPS models first. The Microsoft Surface models are said to be very good.

Red6

More details needed. In our house, we have the opposite situation. I have a PC with Windows 10 and my wife has an iMac. She brings it up and tries to go to a web page and there is enough time to go to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and make some toast. My PC has the same website up moments after hitting the last keystroke.

It is not a PC vs Apple issue. Age, configuration, ram, processor, type hard-drive, background programs running, etc, determines the speed of a computer. I own and have used both PCs and various Apple computers over the years and there is really little difference between them. Since Windows 10 came out, PCs have been as easy and in many cases easier and faster to use than Macs. I have 2 PCs, 3 Macs, and 1 Linux machine so I am not tied to or a fanboy of any system.

The other issue I see from your post is that you are running an Apple program on the PC. While this is common and I have run Apple programs on PCs (iTunes) and Microsoft programs on Apple (Word, Excel), they never seem to run as well as on their native machines. There always seems to be some type of issues such as hangups, slow, or the need to restart. While they are advertised to run just as well on their non-native machines, this has not been my experience. So I tend to run these programs on their native machines, i.e Microsoft software on PCs and Apple software on Macs.

However, a general guide today for a new capable PC would be an i5, i7, or even i9 processor, clocked at 3.0 GHz or better with at least 16GB of ram and a 500GB or better SSD. I prefer HP, Dell, Asus, or Lenovo. Good luck.

edwdickinson Loc: Ardmore PA

If you are using less than 8 gbs of ram then there is your problem and 8gigs won't cut it nowadays, I would go to 32 and 16 would be my minimum.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I had the same problem with my PC until I got BitDefender for my virus protection. Now BitDefender not only continually watches for virus attacks, and a weekly scan is optimal, but it also has a utility called a OneClickOptimizer which I also run fairly regularly. What this does is to get rid of all those things that are slowing your PC down, like cookies, unneeded files, etc. If I go too long without using it I def. can tell the difference in the speed of my computer. The first time I used it the difference was like night and day. In the past, companies would try to get you to pay $49.99 to have them do basically the same thing thing the optimizer does, and they'd have to take over control of your computer.

I just noticed that you can get a 30 day free trial of BitDefender Total Security. Just Google it. The annual price is not bad either. It costs me around $35.00

Canisdirus

8GB?

Don't buy anything today with only 8GB of ram...unless it is only for very light usage.
You can start there if you have to...just make sure the ram is NOT soldered in. No upgrading (for most folks).

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Laptops slow down from Day 1! The average laptop has more junk than Fred Stanford. Users seldom clean up cache and history. Clean up your current machine and see if that helps. The laptop you seek is far more expensive than you will want to spend The new 16" MacBook Pro signs in at $100.00 dollars short of SIX thousand dollars. Of course that includes 8 tera-bytes of HD space!

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

I have three Dell computers, one desktop and two laptops, and they're all crap. The newest laptop is only a few months old. I'm looking to get rid of it and replace it with something more reliable. Any suggestions?
The desktop is about 4 or 5 years old. I replaced it with an HP desktop earlier this year. The HP runs rings around the crappy Dell which I had to reinstall Windows 10 on it twice. The second time I left it in its virgin state so I can attempt to sell it.
The older laptop I've had for about two or three years. The hard drive died on it earlier this year, message said "hard drive not found". I replaced it with a Dell that has a SSD instead of the usual hard drive. The SSD was small but I thought I could live with it if I use an external drive to install apps (programs), files and photos but it's not working out all that well.
BTW, you're going to get all sorts of recommendations here so when it comes down to it, you're pretty much on your own.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Why don’t you replace the failed HD with an SSD on that machine, why did you buy a machine with an SSD that’s too small, and if it is too small, why not replace it with a larger SSD on the second machine? These aren’t Dell problems, these are user issues that can easily be corrected. And of course, everything being equal (which it probably isn’t) a 5 year newer desktop is very likely to be faster than the old one. I’m not a Dell fanboy, although I have probably owned a dozen and collaborated with Dell in designing, selling and implementing some number of large high performance computing clusters, but the issues you mention don’t reflect badly on Dell in my opinion - they are issues which you can easily remedy at minimal cost and a modicum of computer expertise.

Boone Loc: Groundhog Town USA

Boone.

MTDesigns Loc: Corryton,Tenn.

Just get her an Apple.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

So she can be tasked with learning a new OS (and perhaps applications) and spend unnecessary $ rather than simply diagnosing the issue? Instead, maybe the OP can share the details of her current HW, aps and OS so a realistic and cost effective answer can be provided. She may need a new PC, but with zero information, all diagnoses are merely guesses