Notebook needs improvement

[BlazingCobaltX]

I own a HP Stream 13-c100nd (specs here). Let's not beat around the bush, it's a shit laptop. I bought it on impulse when it was on sale and didn't compare it throroughly with comparable laptops, and now I regret it massively. It's slow as hell, already lags when I run two tabs on my browser, got no usable storage and it's unable to download any Windows security updates. I hate this thing, but it's the only laptop I can take with me, so I need it to be better than this.

What are some things I can do to make this thing run more smoothly? I was thinking about putting 4GB RAM on it as opposed to the 2 it has right now, but I want to know whether this is possible looking at its specs. I'm not as knowledged on laptops as I wish I was, so I would like to know what you guys would suggest. Anything is welcome (note: I do not have a big budget). Thanks in advance!

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

Thanks for the tips. Too bad about the non-upgradable RAM. I tried downloading some lightweight browsers but I actually didn't have enough space to download them on C:. Then I downloaded CCleaner, successfully, but I was unable to install it for some godawful reason. Finally I tried deinstalling Office because I had a lot of unnecessary Office programs downloaded, but clicking uninstall brought me to the install menu and then it said I didn't have enough space to install Office (again, apparently).

I was so fed up that just decided to factory reset the notebook and start all over. If it turns out to work just as slowly even after these modifications, I might throw it from my roof.

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

Excuse the double post but is bootloop a thing on laptops? Because that's where this notebook is stuck in right now.

What a piece of shit, I'm so done. All because I went to factory reset it and the thing couldn't handle it. How am I supposed to solve this?

 

[Tsutarja]

Sounds like the hard drive is bad if it's doing that on a factory reset.

 

[Mewtwolover]

If anyone recommends to you to try doing a disk defragment, DO NOT DO THAT! The type of memory you have in your system (eMMC) is a type of solid-state memory, identical to that of a USB drive. Doing a defragment on it is pointless and will only shorten its lifespan.

IIRC Windows detects that type of memory and prevents disk defragment.

Since the hard drive seems to be failing, just get rid of that crappy laptop, save some money and buy a Thinkpad.

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

You could try setting up a USB installer for Windows and try a clean installation? That, or else you can install Linux on it, Linux usually plays nicely with lower-end hardware.

Also considered Linux but I wanna see if clean installing Windows works first because I'm not really used to Linux.

IIRC Windows detects that type of memory and prevents disk defragment.

Since the hard drive seems to be failing, just get rid of that crappy laptop, save some money and buy a Thinkpad.

I think I need to do that, unfortunately. What bothers me is that I only got this thing for over a year and it failed miserably on me like this. I couldn't really expect better from a cheap notebook, but I didn't even use it for what I initially bought it for...

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

In all honesty, if you want something that works fairly similar to Windows, try Linux Mint Cinnamon. The desktop environment looks very similar to Windows, and functions in many ways the same. You can find a lot of different programs for Windows on there (Such as Chrome, Firefox, GIMP, VLC Media Player), and if you can't find it, you may be able to use Wine, a Windows program runtime, to run Windows programs right in Linux.

Thank you for the tip. I've become curious now, so I might actually try this first...

EDIT: the notebook turned alive after doing a clean install, thank god. Now if I'm getting a new laptop I can at least sell this one...