Hello
Don't laugh but ……..
I have been given an Apire one 532h-2Db for my son to use. However it just runs really slow.
Is there anything i can do to speed it up a lot? or any good at all?
It is running Windows 7, I do not have any discs, I have googled it and the specs are: 1GB Ram, 2 GB memory, 250 GB of hard drive.
The person said they had cleared it of any personal stuff so there does not seem to be heaps of files on it.
Please help, thanks for any advice.
Thank you it will try to reinstall, there is a windows sticker on the bottom with a product key on it I guess that it what I will need?
One problem being that Microsoft no longer accepts OEM keys. I ran into this when a new Acer failed making the back-up on a dodgy blank DVD, and the recovery utility only allowed one back-up to be made - with Acer wanting $100 for replacement disks.
Ask me if I will buy another Acer gee-gaw…
Install Android x86
I'm running Android 5.1 Lollipop on my little Aspire One AOA150
Even a lightweight Linux runs pretty slow on these things. Windows of any sort is pretty slow in my experience.
To install Android, I had to install Ubuntu Linux first to get the partitioning right. And then I Installed Android over the top of the Ubuntu Install.
Everything seems to work perfectly.. The one quirk I have is that after waking the machine from sleep I need to press the power button a second time to get the trackpad to work.
This sounds good!
Is it possible for you to direct me to more info on downloading or installing these or shall I just google it?
Sorry, not expecting you to walk me through it!
Thanks
I recommend Neverware instead, if you want a better notebook experience.
http://www.neverware.com/#introtext-3
If you still want to try Android though, there are specialized distibutions of Android for laptops you can use. Remix OS is one of the newer ones being developed and it features "windows", so applications you run, actually run in a window as opposed to taking up the whole screen. So unlike ordinary Android, Remix lets you run multiple apps side by side.
First you'll need to watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfsrGcLTyEs
(write down the steps if you want)
Here is the download link for Remix OS (a desktop-like variant of Android)
http://www.jide.com/en [IMPORTANT: choose the 32 bit version with legacy BIOS support)
and then you can get started with using Android on your laptop.
Thanks, I will have a look at both of these. Seem a lot better than keeping windows 7 especially as Son will only browse internet.
Scrimshaw would you mind helping me if you can? (or anyone else) I decided to install Neverware - thought it would be easier to install than Android and more like chromebook……
I created a USB installer and I think I am in the boot up screen (its a black screen with boot manager at the top) but it only gives me Windows 7 as an option not the USB……I have tried accessing the usb to see if anything is on it and I get an error saying that it requires formatting before use……
not sure what I am doing wrong, maybe the USB - its a brand new scandisc
Any ideas, thanks
Yes, you need to press F12 when you power on the laptop to access the boot menu. Then you select the USB drive. The menu looks a bit like this
http://ittrainingtips.iu.edu/images/hddproblems/asrockBootMe…
If the USB drive is not properly formatted as a bootable volume it won't work.
Try following the video tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lt3kmGfJM8
Try a different usb stick if it fails, sometimes it could be a dodgy USB drive.
Thanks, it helped so much to have the screen shot of what I should be looking for. I wasn't in the right place but have now found it, now installing cloud fingers crossed!
Have a nice weekend
keep us updated on how this goes please and what you think of not only the install but how it works day to day.
Google "Android X86"
Download an Ubuntu ISO (Ubuntu has a nice, user friendly installer, you can use any Linux, Ubuntu is just an example)
Download Unetbootin
You'll need a second computer, or 2 USB Drives…
and I'm assuming you're using Windows on the second computer.
1) Use Unetbootin to write the Ubuntu ISO to a USB Drive
2) Insert USB drive into the Laptop and Install Ubuntu
3) Use Unetbootin to write the Android x86 ISO to a USB Drive (you can format the Ubuntu USB drive)
4) Install Android x86
If it's a stock model than you have 1GB PC2-5300 installed. This can be upgraded to 2GB but the processor is a bit dated. Android or perhaps Xubuntu (minimalist desktop Ubuntu) should be okay. A $300 smartphone would be roughly twice as powerful as this net/notebook to give you an idea of what to expect.
Peptides
yep, just go down to the bombers club and get some, or visit Dank seems he's desperate for some money now.
I also had an Acer Asp. One, however it was the predecessor to that with even worse specifications — Atom N270 instead of N450.
The first thing I did was upgrade the memory — didn't spend money on the upgrade, all I did was just transfer the RAM out of an old dead laptop into the machine. The max I could have was 1.5GB on that model
Didn't help much. Video playback was still stuttery and web pages still took awhile to render. The issue was with the slow CPU and it's lack of a powerful enough GPU. It's highly recommended to disable flash and use adblock to seriously cut down on anything that might cause lag while browsing the web.
Next I stuck in a 7200RPM drive to upgrade the old 5200 RPM spinner.
Didn't help much. Laptop boots faster with it though and some complex programs also load faster, so I guess with an SSD upgrade you can shave some seconds off and make the laptop more tolerable. There are some sub $60 dollar SSD's out there you can buy, but there are sub $200 used notebooks you can buy that would kick this laptop's arse… so I wouldn't recommend buying any parts to upgrade it when you can buy a modern machine for $200-ish.
I then installed Android Kit Kat and this made the laptop much more bearable to use. However with the lack of a touchscreen and the lack of common keyboard shortcuts, it's neither a tablet nor it's a PC experience anymore. But at least your netbook won't take an age to start up or launch apps.
Just a month ago though, a company called Neverware rolled out a distro of Google's Chrome OS, which you can download for free. This is what you might want to try if Linux is too complicated and you want something that mostly works right out of the box.
Thanks for your reply, my husband has a Chromebook which I like using so I am guessing it will be much the same as Neverware. I'll check it out
Put it in a Ferrari
and drive the ferrari off a cliff
Funny you mentioned a Ferrari. Acer and Ferrari did actually partner up and they released some high end Ferrari edition laptops.
They were both fast but overpriced, if not a little geeky.
http://www.cnet.com/products/acer-ferrari-one-fo200-1799-ath…
I have an Aspire E1-521 with the AMD E-450 CPU running Win7.
Every month or so I run Auslogics BoostSpeed to spruce it up. I also use Flashblock and Noscript Firefox add ons.
One of my laptops is about twice as fast as an Atom 450 and even I find that slow as hell. Windows 7 is not fun on a 2gb Atom.
If I had to use such a machine I'd be forced to move to Linux Mint or some such.
I maintain you really need 4Gb, an SSD and a high speed dual core cpu to really run Windows 7 well.
Tried that before on my Acer. Didn't work so well on an Atom with limited RAM.
Also the specs recommend a 64 bit CPU (It recommends a core i3 being the baseline), because this Distro uses 64 bit codebase.
As such, installing this on a N450 series Atom will result in an almost unusable desktop experience.
Minimal Linux installation + LXQT/XFCE
Reinstall Windows if that wasn't done by the previous owner. You can find the key with Magic Jelly Bean Key Finder and download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft.
You could add more RAM or an SSD, but to be honest with an Atom processor it is always going to be slow and it's probably not worth it for an old laptop. Having said that you could buy an SSD then put it in any new laptop/computer you buy. They run about $100 and you could pick one up in the current eBay tech sale with 20% off.