I've been using my Lenovo Ideapad S145, which has a Ryzen 5 3500U processor and 10GB of RAM (upgraded from 4GB), since 2020. It updated to Windows 11 about a year ago, and while it was running fine at first, it's now become incredibly slow. These past few months have been particularly bad; it lags even just logging in, moving the mouse, or opening the Task Manager takes forever. Even when no programs are running, it still lags. I'm considering dual-booting Linux to extend the laptop's life, but I'd like to troubleshoot the Windows issues first. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Keep in mind that hardware can start to show its age after about five years. It might just be time for an upgrade! But before jumping to that conclusion, verifying the hardware status with some diagnostics would be a smart move.
Windows tends to bloat over time, especially after major upgrades like from Win10 to Win11. Starting fresh with a new Windows installation can help identify if the problem lies with software or hardware. If you have a spare NVMe drive, you could also test with a fresh install there first before fully committing to resetting everything on your current system. By the way, how did you end up with 10GB of RAM? Mixing RAM sticks can cause performance issues, so make sure they’re compatible!
Thanks! I’ll probably go for the fresh install. For the RAM, my laptop initially had 4GB—with 2 on the motherboard and 2 on a stick. I upgraded to the largest compatible stick, so now I’m running 2GB + 8GB, which might be causing some issues.
I recommend doing a clean install of Windows 11. Sometimes, updates can get messed up, and a fresh start might clear out any glitches. Your laptop isn't the lowest-end model, so it should handle a fresh install pretty well.
Got it, how would I test the hardware to check for deterioration?