Everything will depend on the use we give to our device, if we notice low performance and that it is increasingly difficult to carry out daily activities on our equipment, a thorough evaluation must be done to see if it is necessary to make the jump to new equipment or perhaps consult a technician to improve its performance.
But... how do we detect it?
Insufficient storage
If the device warns that your available space is greater than 80%, you should surely solve this.
Lack of storage on a computer can cause extreme slowness and system failures. Operating systems need at least 30% of the total free storage space to function correctly. This is due to the management of temporary files.
The most logical solution is to buy or acquire an external hard drive, it can be with a USB connection which is quite practical. In this storage you can move all the files that we do not use frequently such as photos, videos, historical documents (word, excel and other similar), in this way in the equipment's own storage we will leave only the files that are used frequently, improving performance.
Another option is to replace the hard drive with one of greater capacity, for which the technician must make a backup of all the data and then once the operating system is installed, restore the data.
Slow and inefficient performance
If the computer takes a considerable time to boot, or to load programs or execute processes, there may be several reasons.
The first, as I mentioned in the previous point, is due to lack of space, if this is not the case, let's move on to the following points.
The most common reasons from the software side may be due to too many installed programs that affect performance, in which case it is recommended to uninstall all the software that we do not use. Too many fonts (letters) installed in the operating system. If you are not dedicated to graphic design, use only basic fonts, it will significantly improve the speed of your computer. Avoid animations, videos, heavy images or too many icons on the main screen (desktop). Check with antispyware and antivirus software that your computer is clean of malicious programs. Perform disk defragments with a certain frequency, it will improve performance.
If all this does not work for you, the problem may be due to the hardware, so the computer can improve by adding more RAM memory. Something that gave me a lot of results, especially on computers that are already a few years old, is adding an SSD hard drive (solid state drive). For this you can change the disk for a new SSD type, or in my case, I chose to eliminate the CD reader that I practically did not use, buy an SSD only for the operating system, with 250 MB enough and buy a deck to put the previous hard drive as storage.
This option, apart from greatly increasing performance, in a certain way I also increased the capacity. A good practice is to keep the work files on the D drive, and as I said before, use the solid state disk only for booting the operating system.
Battery with short useful life
The battery barely lasts a few minutes without being connected to a power source, limiting mobility and flexibility.
If this is your case and your notebook needs a charger to work, it is no longer a notebook and the benefits of being able to use it anywhere. The most economical solution is to look for the same battery and buy a new one so that the technician can replace it, but if you cannot find the replacement, and your interest is to continue using it as a notebook, you should think about purchasing a new device.
Lack of support and/or updates
The manufacturer has stopped offering updates and technical support for a specific model, leaving users vulnerable to possible security problems.
On older equipment, support and/or updates depended on the brands, but currently the operating systems are in charge of solving these types of problems, so you should not have problems. In any case, a technician can make an evaluation if the operating system can be updated to obtain better support or if you should directly think about purchasing a new device.
Connectivity Issues
The ports and connections on the computer have problems or are not compatible with the latest devices.
It may happen that the network cards are affected over time, so you can purchase alternative network cards with a USB connection, which can replace the original, although it is a somewhat pragmatic solution, it serves to continue using the same equipment, but the ideal is to think about a new one, as soon as possible.
In conclusion, new equipment will allow you to work faster and more efficiently, reducing work times and increasing your productivity, but if you're not in a financial position to buy new equipment, with some of these tips you can improve your daily performance, at least for a while longer.
