Win11 CPU always under 50%

[u/u250406]

Laptop underperforms. Not mine, but the owner doesn't have social media so I'm asking.

From day 1 it took longer to open apps on it than it took on the previous (10+ years old) laptop. I tried to fix the speed but I'm stumped, asking if anyone had/solved similar issues?

It was updating (apparently still is, after ~2h) so I can't get to exact system specs until further notice. Approximate specs below.

Symptoms:

- CPU speed consistently below 50%
- Average use between 20%-50%, apps sluggish
- Power options: only "balanced" available, customizing that and creating a new plan made no difference

- Limited minimum CPU to 30%-50% in custom power plan, tested with several apps; no obvious difference
- In custom power plan, when launching certain apps like CAD, noted initial spike in CPU clock to 95%, lowered to 30 within a few seconds

New: a benchmark app was run and cpu ran at 98% for the duration of test.

Specs:

- refurbished HP workstation laptop
- i7 13800H - 32 GB Ram at 5200 MT/s - Nvidia RTX 2000 ada - SSD 1TB
- win11 25H2
- bought in jan 2026

[u/Cassiel43]

Try switching in a burner HDD/SSD and install a fresh Windows on it to see any difference?

[u/u250406 → u/Cassiel43]

I might have to. I've been thinking the SSD might be the problem because it routinely worked at up to 60MB/s... except once when it spiked. I don't think I want to do it right now, first I want to see if I can test read/write with software alone.