Notebooks & Netbooks

[gibson_guy77]

I've tried disabling certain services, which seemed to help but only for a little while. Is 5400 rpm's too slow to run Windows 8.1 just because of all the programs and services that run in the background?

[IronFly]

on heavy loads, 5400rpm can be low for sure but this is happening at startup or everytime?

if you can afford and big storage is not a problem, a SSD will be the best choice for sure.

[gibson_guy77]

It happens especially on startup but also at random times as well. I could start my computer, jump on Chrome and instantly have it spike to 100%. There is no small compartment that gives me direct access to the laptop, and I don't want to damage it just in case I want to return it. 

[IronFly]

startup and opening a program soon (like Chrome that has an high usage of cpu and ram on starting) can normally take the HDD to 100%, add also the 5400rpm factor.

Notice that HDD is also used as "vitrual memory" (ram), so you can easily understand why sometimes HDD spin to 100% usage.

If you don't open big files, you can try to disable this "virtual memory" and see if it helps a little:

press windows key logo + X

choose System

on the left side choose "advanced system settings"

click on "advanced" tab

click on "performance - settings"

click on "advanced" tab

on Virtual memory, click on "change"

untick "automatically........"

select "no paging file"

click "set"

click "ok"

reboot

you can always revert, selecting "automatically manage paging....." if any "out of memory" windows error appears 

if you want really fast boot and fast program start, only a SSD can help you.