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I have 3 year old Dell 5520 Mobile Workstation; with 16GB RAM i7-7820HQ Processor. 256 SSD. Windows 10 Pro.

It is getting old (I've had it for three years, getting it as a refurbished model from a reliable source). It has been used heavily. However, it is starting to slow down, as if it cannot manage day-to-day activities, even just surfing the web. I have since had to move to a more recent model in the Mobile Workstation range. Regularly, I do return to this laptop for other tasks. I was surprised at its slowing down.

I have deleted 95% of stored information from the SSD. I have deleted several apps that are no longer required on the laptop. I frequently run Dell's optimization processes/ Dell SupportAssist. Am just surprised that it feels this slow. I know there will be questions as to what I mean by slow, but I feel there is a lag that shouldn't be there, given memory isn't stacked out and that I have 16GB to play with and a fairly recent i7 processor.

Is it just getting 'old'? (as said, I've had it for three years, but I got it refurbished, so perhaps this item is upwards of 4 years old?)? Has the Laptop/ the parts reached the end of their life?

Just to add, I think the Laptop could be of value to others (if I sell on/ give it away), as its slowness is prohibitive for me, as I work quickly, moving through tasks and activities rapidly and so it won't do for me but may be of value to others who are not using it in high work volume contexts.

Ramhound
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James T C
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    Check CPU temperatures, clean fans and heatsinks, potentially replace thermal pastes. That should not be a "bad" machine even by today's standard. – Mokubai Feb 14 '21 at 08:55
  • Also check the SSD is still up to speed. They can slow over time especially if they get too full. Look into how you can force it to manually trim. – Tetsujin Feb 14 '21 at 09:09
  • When it's slow, run from an admin prompt: wpr.exe -start GeneralProfile Leave that running for around 30 seconds to capture the issue and then run wpr.exe -stop C:\gp.etl. You can then download Windows Performance Analyzer from the MS Store and take a look at the trace. Maybe zip and share if it you need help. – HelpingHand Feb 14 '21 at 11:35
  • Check the SMART data of the system disk. – harrymc Feb 14 '21 at 11:38
  • Haven't read the whole thing just the title, but my response would be that Computers aren't like people, they don't get old and slow. Just put a new hard drive in there new windows installation. – barlop Feb 14 '21 at 11:46
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    My workhorse laptop is older than your computer and remains very fast. My X230 laptop (8 years old and HDD in addition) running next year's Windows 10 is decently fast. Maybe just backup your computer and reinstall Windows . – John Feb 14 '21 at 13:53
  • @harrymc SSDs don't typically support S.M.A.R.T in the same way mechanical HDDs do. – JW0914 Feb 14 '21 at 15:58
  • Windows slowing over time can occur for a variety of reasons from malware/adware to Component Store or %WinDir% corruption. To troubleshoot: Run a full system scan with Windows Defender → Follow steps in this answer → If not resolved, perform a Repair Install by downloading the Windows install ISO (covered in linked answer), then open Setup.exe while booted to Windows, choosing to Keep all files. Once the Repair Install finishes, if you're still experiencing the issue, it's going to be more efficient to perform a Clean Install of Windows 10. – JW0914 Feb 14 '21 at 16:03
  • Reinstall the OS. It will clean all the bloat – CodePanda Jan 07 '23 at 13:43

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Your laptop spec is good and should last you another 3 years once the performance issue is resolved.

in my experience this usually happens when the dell charger goes bad. Modern chargers communicate their power, current, voltage ratings to the laptop. if the charger is faulty and is not communicating that information to the laptop then the laptop will throttle the CPU to a very slow speed.

if this is the case then you will have seen a "AC adapter unknown" boot up message at some point. you should be able check by following these steps:

  1. Reboot the laptop
  2. When the Dell logo appears, tap F2 key until the message Entering Setup appears
  3. Under "POST Behaviour" ensure the "enable adapter errors" option is checked.
  4. Save your settings and restart with the AC adapter plugged in.

if you get an "AC adapter unknown" message on start up this will be the reason the laptop is running slow.

if not then the other most likely reason is as mentioned by Mokubai in the comments that the heatsink thermal paste needs to be replaced.

SR3142
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  • This is only applicable if the CPU will not exceed ~930MHz. and has nothing to do with the charger per se, but the data ID line for the DC jack's center pin, whose wire is ~26awg and prone to breakage within the power adapter's cord from regular use. The permanent fix is to remove the power supply ID chip from the power brick's motherboard and solder it to the laptop's motherboard. There is a guide on how exactly to do so, however I lost the bookmark - google around a bit and you'll find it. – JW0914 Feb 14 '21 at 15:17