Why is it so slow? Is there something wrong with my Vostro 1520?

Hey guys.

I have a Dell Vostro 1520 that I've owned for 2 painful years now... I've had to deal with all it's BS and it never occurred to me until now that my laptop is pretty good on paper AFAIK but it's still slow.

Here are some specs:

Core 2 Duo P7570 2.26GHz
3GB of RAM
Mobil intel 4 series Express graphics
IDT High Definition Audio
some random built-in webcam

My problem is, while using applications like the latest Firefox, IE, uTorrent, pdf, my CPU usage is often 100% and jumps back and forth... this causes a considerable amount of lag, not to mention a painful howing noise from my CPU fan. Are other Vostros of my generation like this too? Or is my laptop faulty?

It stutters and lags considerably when watching youtube, hulu, and MKV and mp4 files that were downloaded to my computer.

Sometimes it just sits there with NOTHING going on and nothing running, just idling, and the CPU fan comes on for hours at full speed while the laptop is just resting on my desk. The fan is ALWAYS on and there is a lot of heat generated, for example like right now as I'm typing this. The palm rests are warm and there is a lot of heat coming from the vent. The fan is on, albeit at a lower speed. I wasnt using it before this.

The only thing I like about this computer is the battery life (I have a huge extended battery) and the keyboard... that's it.

The sound isnt very loud from the speakers, even with the volume turned all the way up. Sometimes it's loud enough, but most of the time it's not. It's as if I have the volume turned down... and it certainly doesnt help that the fan will turn on at HIGH speed and start howling at everyone. I cant bring this laptop to the library to study and it keeps everyone awake in my apartment.

I'm running Windows XP Pro that came with the computer, and I'm not a noob where I have tons of bloatware that's running either. Only necessary background apps.

Presently I have 4 Firefox windows open, with about 10 tabs each, 2 folders open, 2 windows media classic open, and 1 IE open with my alternate facebook account (I have 2 facebooks). I know that's a lot to ask for a computer, but damn I thought a fast C2D would be able to handle it!!! My older C2D from an hp was able to handle this type of stuff no problem, and it also had XP Pro but with only 2GB of RAM if I remember correctly. It had discrete graphics which was a battery killer and a bad heat generator but my fan was never howling like a werewolf at people trying to sleep and study. It did, however, have an annoying electronic beeping noise from the powerbrick that drove me insane.

Is there something wrong with my computer??

 

Sounds like you have malware installed. Either pave and reinstally, or at the least run some rootkit detection apps.

 

If you've had it for two years, shouldn't it have come with Windows 7? Using an OS from more than 10 years ago is bound to be problematic. Anyways, it sounds like time for some maintenance...

1. Disassemble the laptop to clean out the fan and heatsink. More dust = less airflow = more fan noise = shorter battery life. You might also get reduced performance if it's throttling to reduce heat.
2. While the heatsink is removed, clean off the old thermal grease and replace it with Arctic Silver 5. This will help with heat dissipation, and a small tube of grease should be less than $10. OEM grease isn't all that great to begin with, and after a while, it solidifies.
3. Upgrade the BIOS to the latest version from http://support.dell.com.
4. Reinstall Windows, get rid of XP for a clean install of Windows 7.

If you do all of these steps, you should have no more problems with speed or heat.

 

Thanks guys. I'll try that over the weekend.
When I ordered my computer, it came with the option for XP or for Windows 7... I think because it's a Vostro/business model.