Making Windows 10 work with extremely limited resources

[Zarax]

Hi, I've got quite the challenge ahead:

My wife's laptop has been sent for parts replacement and the only spare I got is an ancient Packard Bell subnotebook from 2010.
The age alone would make it challenging, however we're not talking about your average 2010 laptop but the absolute bottom tier of the era, powered by a single core Atom processor and a paltry 2GB RAM.

I've successfully installed Windows 10 on it and took several days to update and shut down all non-essential services, however I'm sure there is further room for optimization.
I'm aware that at best it won't run optimally, however what I'm aiming at is the ability of opening a browser without waiting 5 minutes.

Do you guys have any suggestion?
Thank you in advance!

 

[t31os]

It's probably a pain to be thinking about this now given the time you've spent updating 10 already, but Tiny 10 might be a good consideration.

Tiny10 (version 1809, 2209 and 2303) : NTDEV : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Tiny10 by NTDEV, version 1809, 2209 and 2303Tiny10 has a new home!Based on Windows 10 LTSC, tiny10 aims to be a lightweight version of Windows 10 for low-end...

archive.org

 

[Chaos]

You might be better with a lightweight linux distro.

Lubuntu might be worth a try -

Lubuntu – The official Lubuntu home

lubuntu.me

 

[Glanza]

I'd stick ChromeOS on with the limited spec.

 

[wiiija]

Another vote for ChromeOS Flex

 

[Zarax]

Sorry but I have to stick with Windows 10, some university stuff of her needs that.
Any suggestion for a good tutorial on turning off non-essential stuff? I might have gone overboard and now the start menu isn't working lol

 

[AthlonXP1800]

What is your Packard Bell subnotebook 2010 model? Dot S with Atom N450?

 

[Armageus]

Sorry but I have to stick with Windows 10, some university stuff of her needs that.
Any suggestion for a good tutorial on turning off non-essential stuff? I might have gone overboard and now the start menu isn't working lol

ChromeOS or Linux will be far more useful than whatever you can do with windows 10 on 2gb of ram

 

[AthlonXP1800]

Sorry but I have to stick with Windows 10, some university stuff of her needs that.
Any suggestion for a good tutorial on turning off non-essential stuff? I might have gone overboard and now the start menu isn't working lol

Fix broken start menu

Start Menu does not open or Start Button not working in Windows 11/10

If the Start Menu does not open or Start Button is not working, or is broke, then here are a few troubleshooting steps you may want to try.

www.thewindowsclub.com

 

[Quartz]

however we're not talking about your average 2010 laptop but the absolute bottom tier of the era, powered by a single core Atom processor and a paltry 2GB RAM.

Why not just put Windows 7 on it?

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Is your time money ? If so, buy your way around the problem - its cheaper in the long run*. Go buy a used laptop from ebay for about £100 and use that instead and get on with the work you need to do. £110 will buy you an i5, 8Gb ram, SSD Thinkpad T440 like this which will do everything you need with no real performance issues and stop your waiting times. ( There are many other laptops out there, but I have a preference for Thinkpads )

*At minimum wage of £10/hr, waiting a whole day for a machine to complete something costs £240 ... or £110 to buy a machine that will work quickly.

 

[AthlonXP1800]

ChromeOS will not work on old Atom CPU with GMA GPU

Prepare for installation - ChromeOS Flex Help

As an admin, you can install ChromeOS Flex on Windows, Mac, or Linux devices so your users can get many of the features that are available on ChromeOS devices. Before you begin Check to see if

support.google.com

Installation fails on Atom N450 / ASUS Eee PC · Issue #267 · sebanc/brunch

For some days I am searching for a way to get Chrome OS runnning on this old Netbook. With your work I am closer than ever. After solving the issues to get a USB stick prepared with a bootable imag...

github.com

ChromeOS alternative is Android x86 but people reported Android 9.0 will not worked with old Atom CPU with GMA GPU so try old Android versions below 9.0.

Android-x86 - Porting Android to x86

Android-x86 is an Android Open Source Project licensed under Apache Public License 2.0. Some components are licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL) 2.0 or later.

www.android-x86.org

Linux are terrible with Atom N450 CPU with GMA GPU. CPU run at 100% load with 188 too many background process when open 1 app, ran worse than Android x86, stock Windows 10 and Tiny10.

Windows 10 run fine on Atom N450 CPU with GMA 3150.

 

[throwaway4372]

suggestion: throw laptop in sea.

 

[darael]

If the laptop doesn't have an SSD, install one. You can probably a 120GB drive up on Member's Market for under £20. If you haven't removed the bloatware modern apps, you can remove most of them in PowerShell.

I still keep a netbook, which also has 2GB of RAM and an Atom CPU - but the biggest difference was seen when I installed an SSD. Just don't expect to play YouTube videos above 720p.