lighthouseacademy Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I need to help my mom with her business... she is a pattern designer (sewing) and thus I need some graphic intense programs added to my computer... not only do I not really have enough room on the hard drive, but I only have HALF the RAM I need to run this stuff. I don't keep my drive particularly full... but sheesh. Well, I guess this 5 year old wonderful machine will be the kid computer and I will have to upgrade or no one will do my mom's computer work. GRRRR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 If your only problem is hard drive space and memory, you may be able to simply upgrade without a lot of expense. You could add another hard drive for your mom's stuff for, I think, around $70. You could also add more memory for pretty inexpensively too. You might be able to either add more if you have extra slots or swap what you have for higher RAM. If it is graphic intense, you may also need to upgrade the graphics card. Of course, if you have a proprietary system like a Gateway or an e-machine, upgrading might be a lot more expensive (you can't buy just any brand of hard drive or memory...it MUST be their brand only) or nearly impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouseacademy Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I thought of that... the problem is that I have done those things before- and they don't entirely work. I need to run the program and it interfaces with windows- unless things have changed since I did a piggyback drive years ago, I can't run a piggyback drive with the program on it as it would have to go on the main drive. I have upgraded computers before and they didn't ever work quite as well after the upgrade as before :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I found this frustrating as well! We were lucky and were able to fix up the mac for under $200.00. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 In this case, the best thing to do would be to buy a larger hard drive and do a fresh install of Windows on it. That way you'd have enough space for what you have and what you are adding. You could also clone your old drive onto the new one. Adding RAM is just adding RAM. Unless you buy the wrong kind, it won't do anything but make it run better/faster. The only time an upgrade will make the computer run slower is if you are upgrading from an older version of Windows to a newer version of Windows. And that's not because it is causing a problem, it's just that the newer version uses more system resources than the old one did so it slows it down. The solution to that is to upgrade the resources to accommodate the additional requirements. One of our desktops is 7 years old and is in no way obsolete. My husband has upgraded the memory a few times but that's it. He told me today that if he did a fresh install (wipe the hard drive clean and restall from scratch), it would run beautifully. In fact, it runs a graphics-intense program my kids use for school that my 1 1/2 year old laptop can't run due to insufficient resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) ...that my 1 1/2 year old laptop can't run due to insufficient resources. Is that code for Vista?:D Edited February 19, 2009 by dawn of ns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I feel ya. The video card went out on our computer that is only 3 years old (and was the top-of-the-line-state-of-the-art computer 3 years ago!). We called Best Buy to see if they carried that video card so my dh could replace it. The employee literally SCOFFED at us. He told us they don't make that card any more. It has only been three years!!!!! He scoffed at me I tell ya! I don't think I've ever been scoffed at before but I did not like it! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Is that code for Vista?:D Probably. I do have Vista on this laptop. I don't mind it but it drives my dh nuts. He uses Linux on his laptop. He says it doesn't have as many problems as Windows but I don't see evidence of that as the kids' laptop has Linux and is never working right. My kids rarely use their laptop anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Probably. I do have Vista on this laptop. I don't mind it but it drives my dh nuts. He uses Linux on his laptop. He says it doesn't have as many problems as Windows but I don't see evidence of that as the kids' laptop has Linux and is never working right. My kids rarely use their laptop anymore. I think the comfort of Linux for geeks is that they know how to take it apart and fix it. You can't fool around with Windows the same way. My husband is having lots of trouble with Vista on his laptop. I have XP and have absolutely NO intention of upgrading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I think the comfort of Linux for geeks is that they know how to take it apart and fix it. You can't fool around with Windows the same way. My husband is having lots of trouble with Vista on his laptop. I have XP and have absolutely NO intention of upgrading. My dh installed Vista on his new laptop and within a week had switched it out for XP. His brand new computer was crashing multiple times per day. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 My laptop rarely crashes. I only have a problem keeping my internet connection going and, in my opinion, it has nothing to do with Vista because the solution is the walk over to the router unplug it and plug it back in. DH just received a box that he said was something to make it so we don't have to reset the router all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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