Web browsers performing poorly on netbook

[kinix]

I recently found my old netbook, which I took the liberty to upgrade to Windows 8.1. It's running with an older Samsung 120GB SSD, and this particular netbook has an NVIDIA ION 2 graphics chip to augment the onboard graphics. However, onboard or not, graphical performance is pretty awful on any web browser I've tried. I've given the big 3 (IE/Chrome/FF) a run, as well as Comodo's two dragons, which I was told were less resource-heavy, in case that was causing the issue. (I ended up liking IceDragon better than anything else I've used so far and am now using that as my main browser in other setups!)

Regardless of the GPU or browser used, browsing the web on this device is far from an easy experience. Web pages are hard to scroll through, and don't load quickly- I frequently have to wait for a web page to fully render for it to even be remotely scrollable, which is difficult on web pages that have content beyond what originally loads (think Facebook or Twitter). Is there something I should be looking for that I can do to remedy the situation short of finally getting myself a better mobile computer?

 

[rgd1101]

web browser need a good cpu too. what the make and model on this old netbook?

 

[kinix]

This is an Asus Eee PC 1215n.
CPU: Intel® Atom™ D525 (Dual Core; 1.8GHz) Processor

I know personally that it has 8GB of RAM in it, as well. Old may have not been the right term, since it's more old to me than an outdated piece of tech.

 

[kinix]

I find that I don't use Tom's very often, my apologies for not replying to your answer!

 

[rgd1101]

did you install drivers for windows 8.1, didn't see it from their website.

 

[kinix]

did you install drivers for windows 8.1, didn't see it from their website.

They don't have any- the ones I've installed so far (GPU, networking, etc) haven't had any issues, but I'm considering installing Windows 7 to see if anything works better there.

 

[rgd1101]

did the system resource said it have 2 cores running at 1.8?

 

[kinix]

did the system resource said it have 2 cores running at 1.8?

System Resource acknowledges that there are 2 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. I can't get details per-core like I could in older copies of Windows, sadly. I could try something like Prime95 to see if there's an issue with the cores, if it would help.

 

[rgd1101]

did the system resource said it have 2 cores running at 1.8?

System Resource acknowledges that there are 2 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. I can't get details per-core like I could in older copies of Windows, sadly. I could try something like Prime95 to see if there's an issue with the cores, if it would help.

that should be ok. check the power options, it might be running on power saving mode.

 

[kinix]

did the system resource said it have 2 cores running at 1.8?

System Resource acknowledges that there are 2 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. I can't get details per-core like I could in older copies of Windows, sadly. I could try something like Prime95 to see if there's an issue with the cores, if it would help.

that should be ok. check the power options, it might be running on power saving mode.

Sorry, got caught up at work! No, the laptop wasn't on power-saving mode, and I've made sure all the advanced power settings are reflecting maximum power to the GPU/CPU while it's running. No change in quality.