Hello all,
My fiancée has an aging HP dm1 (AMD E-350, 2 GB RAM) that seems to be increasingly frustrating for her to use. She is a school teacher, and she uses this computer for work (word processing) as well as surfing the internet. This is the only computer she owns, and she was able to get it for $250 during some Groupon deal about 1-1.5 years ago. She has been saying that the computer has become increasingly slow over time, with increased lag during single tasks and multitasking. I understand that a majority of the problem (aside from the relatively anemic CPU) is the low amount of RAM the computer has.
I was entertaining the idea of buying more RAM, and maybe throwing in a SSD. The total upgrade cost will be a little under $200. I know that this will help improve her computing experience tremendously, but I'm concerned the system is hamstrung by its lack of CPU power. I don't just want to throw away $200 if I'm going to have to end up getting her a new computer anyway. So, I'm wondering if it might be better to just get her a new PC. She is not necessarily in the market for a new computer, but I feel that if I could find one in her price range (lowest possible) that meets her needs, I might be able to convince her that it's worth it. What makes this a bit more challenging is that she likes the sub 13" form factor, and probably won't be interested in anything bigger than that. I appreciate any help/suggestions you all can give me. Thanks!
