Laptop has become very slow and freezes: will an SSD or RAM upgrade help?

“My laptop has become really slow” is one of the complaints we hear most. Start-up takes minutes, everything stutters after a few browser tabs, programs load slowly and the mouse freezes for a moment. There is no single cause of a slowdown; to find the right fix, you first need to find the cause.

Find the cause first

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and look at the Performance tab while the laptop is slow:

• Disk constantly at 100%: the laptop may still have a mechanical hard drive (HDD), or the drive may be failing.
• Memory (RAM) full: there is not enough RAM for the open programs; the system starts writing to disk and everything slows down.
• Processor busy but clock speed low: the laptop may be throttling itself because it is hot. In that case see laptop overheating.
• One program constantly using resources: the problem is software; disabling unnecessary start-up programs or a clean install may be the answer.

SSD upgrade: the most noticeable difference

If your laptop still has an HDD, moving to an SSD usually makes the biggest difference you will feel: start-up, program loading and file operations become much faster. Your existing data can be moved to the new drive, or a clean install can be done. If the laptop already has an SSD, the drive’s health is checked; a worn or failing SSD can also cause freezes.

RAM upgrade: when does it help?

If memory is constantly full, adding RAM reduces freezes. But note: on many thin and light models the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded; some models have only one free slot. Before upgrading, the memory type and capacity your model supports must be checked.

Clean install (reinstalling the system)

Programs accumulated over the years, broken updates and malware slow the system down. If the slowdown continues even though the hardware is adequate, a clean install of the operating system after your data is backed up usually solves the problem.

What do we do at the service centre?

At Bilişim Laboratuvarı we check the drive health, memory usage and temperatures to find the real cause of the slowdown; we do not replace parts that do not need replacing. On suitable models we carry out RAM and SSD upgrades, data transfer and clean installs. You can submit a fault report for your device.