Solved! How can I improve my laptop to use photoshop and other Adobe programs?

Jan 13, 2019
3
0
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My PC is HP

Processor AMD A8-6410 APU with AMD Radeon R5 Graphics

Video Card AMD Radeon R7 M260

Video Card #2 AMD Radeon(TM) R5 Graphics

RAM 6.0 GB

Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 (build 15063), 64-bit

I don't know which models to buy, I'm a total noob
 
Solution


First, confirm you have sufficient FREE SPACE on your drive. Not sure what it needs but probably at least 20GB.

CLEAN INSTALL is obviously an option but you need to plan that out carefully.

*At this point I'd try a W10 In-Place Upgrade:
1) Get an 8GB+ USB stick (will lose the data)
2) Insert into your laptop
3) download and run the MS Media Creation Tool https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
- choose "W10 64-bit", and
- choose "for other PC" so you can select the USB stick

(It's possible to do the upgrade without the USB stick but then you may end up with the same problem as before. you may...

USAFRet

Illustrious
Moderator


1. Get your OS updated. Yours is 2 years out of date.

2. Get an SSD for your OS and applications.
 
Jan 13, 2019
3
0
10
I can't update. Whenever my pc tries to update the OS, it doesn't. You know what's wrong?
I have an SSD for my stuff already, cheers.
When I use Premiere, it doesnt load the footage. I think it's because of the cpu
 

USAFRet

Illustrious
Moderator


Which specific Windows 10 version are you using? Home, Pro, other?
 


First, confirm you have sufficient FREE SPACE on your drive. Not sure what it needs but probably at least 20GB.

CLEAN INSTALL is obviously an option but you need to plan that out carefully.

*At this point I'd try a W10 In-Place Upgrade:
1) Get an 8GB+ USB stick (will lose the data)
2) Insert into your laptop
3) download and run the MS Media Creation Tool https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
- choose "W10 64-bit", and
- choose "for other PC" so you can select the USB stick

(It's possible to do the upgrade without the USB stick but then you may end up with the same problem as before. you may still but this probably increases the chances it will work)

4) may take an hour or so depending on connection speed
5) once done, run "setup.exe" from the USB stick
6) "keep apps and data" (or similar) should be greyed out. That's good so it will keep your stuff.

7) Allow it to finish.

That process is very safe. It creates a W10 Install Media that's newer than yours and will try to update. It may bypass whatever glitch you have.

Other:
as for HARDWARE there's not much you can upgrade on a laptop like that. You have four, very slow CPU cores and while you may be able to add more system memory I'm not sure how much you want to spend on the laptop.

You could open it up and see if there is a spare SODIMM memory slot. The memory name looks like this:
DDR3L-1600 SODIMM

Here's an 8GB module: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/hp-notebook-(amd-a8-6410---8015)/CT9289868

If you have a spare slot maybe ask for help on finding another 6GB module. That may or may not help with some tasks in Photoshop.

*An SSD may help too, but again it's a matter of cost. You'd also want to find out if you have an M.2 SSD (and exactly what is supported), 2.5" or both... probably just the 2.5" but that's a guess.

The Crucial MX500, 500GB is a great deal at roughly $65USD:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8R66Mp/crucial-bx500-480gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct480bx500ssd1

That would speed bootup and anything in Photoshop related to reading or writing. Most of what you do again may be bottlenecked by your CPU.

If you go with the SSD then you'd need to ask someone about CLONING. You'd probably need some 2.5" USB SATA device... in this case if you had one 2.5" only then I'd get one of those inexpensive USB3.0 cases to stick your internal HDD (if that's what you have) inside then use to store a backup IMAGE of the SSD.

Sorry if this is confusing.
 
Solution