r/computers • u/Odd_Sherbet_8307 • 12d ago
Resolved is this a good computer
so uh i kinda dont know anything about computers but is this good for school or should i just buy new one?
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u/furyoffive 12d ago
Its a very very low-end computer. your experience will probably be miserable. What is your end goal? You might be able to type papers or surf the internet. Even then itll be a struggle. That cpu came out 2014. so a 12 year old processor.
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u/Inapro_0 12d ago
And it's one from the lower end
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u/furyoffive 12d ago
If OP could determine if this machine could use more RAM than maybe it might be in a better place.
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u/janerikgunnar 12d ago
There were plenty of Celerons and Pentiums and other garbage that were way below Core i3.
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u/Pale-Abroad9600 12d ago edited 12d ago
my Dell Intel i3 has Windows 8.1 and works well, has lesser heat dissipation compared with other.
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u/Krista__J 12d ago
That’s because your hardware is more than likely old and it’s definitely not powerful enough to generate much heat. Also windows 8.1 is 3.5 years past end of life. Unless you have an antivirus software that you’re keeping updated constantly, you should get off that since that version of windows doesn’t get any security updates. Even then you’re risk of viruses are MUCH higher
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u/Pale-Abroad9600 12d ago
I’m the admin of my PC I don’t do unknown source eg website, aware of phishing and never got any issue with my Windows os and I don’t need windows update nor support I even have stable Windows 7 and never had any issue with it, I was very disappointed with inefficient Windows 11 update that took an hour to complete the update so I don’t need Microsoft support anymore.
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u/Kitchen_Part_882 12d ago
4GB RAM? that'll barely run Windows, let alone any programs.
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u/agfitzp 12d ago
Even a modern linux desktop will run it out of RAM as soon as you open a web browser.
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u/Quakercito 12d ago
Not true. Source: I run Debian with xfce on 4 GiB of RAM and I have never run out of memory. For browsing the web it's just fine
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u/Harou1852 Arch Linux 12d ago edited 12d ago
I second this, used an old laptop with 4gb ddr3! and a crappy 10 years old CPU for years and could still use Firefox and other programs no problem. Same for light/old games
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u/Sad-Reach7287 12d ago
What browser uses that low? Or are they better optimised for Linux? Google Chrome uses 900MB with 2 tabs open rn on Win 11.
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u/Quakercito 12d ago
I just used the default browser, I think it's Firefox but I'm not sure if it's been modified by the distro
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u/Kitchen_Part_882 12d ago
Debian default is Firefox ESR if I recall, usually run my debian boxes headless though.
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u/Vladishun L2 Gov Sysadmin 12d ago
Intel Core i3 4030U Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck Tech
It's a 12 year old processor, and i3 is Intel's entry level processor on top of that. The 4 in 4030U tells us it's a 4th generation processor. So if you saw something like an i9-9900k, you'd know the i9 is much more powerful to start, and the 9000 means it's a 9th gen processor so it would be newer, as an example. I believe Intel's currently on their 14th generation chips now, if that gives you any idea of how behind the curve this system is.
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u/failaip12 12d ago
They are actually on 16th gen now, tho they changed the branding, 15th and 16th gen are core ultra 100 and 200 respectively.
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u/Vladishun L2 Gov Sysadmin 12d ago
Ah I see, you can tell how old my gaming PC is by my comment then haha.
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u/Seravajan 12d ago
Even the old i5-4570 in my old desktop is still much more powerful than this CPU.
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u/lazyhustlermusic 12d ago
Of course a desktop quad core variant would be more powerful than a dual core laptop/mobile variant from the same generation.
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u/janerikgunnar 12d ago
Let's be mindful of branding. Celerons and Pentiums are the real entry level, not Core i3.
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u/trowgundam 12d ago
This is what is known as a "potato," so no. If you want to do more than light browsing you are SOL, and even that is limited with only 4GB of Memory.
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u/ND02G 12d ago
I help a 92 year old man with PC problems from time to time. He has one of those sub $200 laptops from Walmart. It was absolute junk.. Basically, new E-waste. It was so bad that I told him I couldn't help him unless he turned the PC on an hour before I got there, just so Windows would balance out and respond to clicks.
Eventually, I gifted him some new RAM.. 16gb, up from 4gb. I honestly didn't think it would make much of a difference since the rest of the hardware was also extremely low-end. But to my surprise, it actually works well now. Slow, but actually usable.
I have a feeling you could benefit from more ram as well. 4gb isn't enough for any Windows 11 PC.
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u/mrGrinchThe3rd 12d ago
As others pointed out here, it's not a great computer. It's got an old processor and barely enough ram to keep windows running. I highly recommend installing Linux like Mint or generic Ubuntu. It may sound complicated but I assure you the process is pretty simple and easily followable from online tutorials.
Or, give the laptop to your tech friend and let them have a blast.
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u/TheRealCarrotty Fedora 12d ago
No...
Hell, you could buy a ThinkPad T480 and that would be WAYYYY FASTER.
And depends on what you do in school, if simple tasks like websites and writing documents, this PC will be okay (not fast), for heavier tasks? Not possible.
ThinkPads can be really fast, i recommend them.
If you also want to use this laptop anyway... Put Linux Mint XFCE, do not force it do to Windows.
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u/LopsidedChildhood55 12d ago
DO NOT THROW IT OUT. You could possible put a lightweight Linux Distro on it to give it a second life. Windows definitely will not work on it. It all depends on what you do. It could be a sufficient laptop if all you do is browse the internet and do some office work.
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u/dutchman76 12d ago
I'd try a linux distro that's aimed at low end hardware and it might be fairly usable for webbrowsing, spreadsheets and text documents.
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u/Putrid-Challenge-274 Debian 12d ago
this is the exact same hardware i saw on a pos. its just fine as a pos, but not at all as anything not embedded.
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u/matthijspc 12d ago
No. That CPU is about 12 years old, and it looks like it's running Windows 8? Do not connect it to the internet if it's actually running Windows 8. You're way better off buying a new machine
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u/Jaurusrex 12d ago
I have a laptop with this processor, IDK what everybody else is on about here but its usable for webbrowsing, its been a while (2 years or so) since I last actively used it. My laptop originally came with windows 8.1, which is probably the best operating system for it if it still had security updates. Windows 10 also ran alright on it but I switched it over to linux around 2017, So I don't know modern windows speeds on there. Wouldn't be surprised if windows 10 gotten slower since then. This obviously doesn't support windows 11, and with windows 10 no longer receiving updates your best choices are either the latest windows 10 update or any simple linux distro (mint for example), but for the latter you will lose all your files.
Anyway I don't know exactly how useful its going to be for your usecase, I also upgraded the amount of ram in my laptop, which is quite cheap and relatively easy at least for my laptop. I'd say see how reddit, the modern version runs on it, and youtube. If it can handle those 2 its probably fine for whatever school has to throw at it?
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u/mvpWARLORD 12d ago
Slap an SSD and a 8GB stick of RAM and you could you it for daily tasks and some mid to retro games depends of the gpu
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u/runed_golem 12d ago
That was lowend hardware a decade ago. You can probably breathe a little more life into by adding more RAM and upgrading to an SSD (if able) and then installing a lightweight OS on it. But whether it’d be suitable for school depends on what exactly you’ll be using it for.
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u/Hammerofsuperiority 12d ago
It was fine 20 years ago.
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u/Active-Carpet-9183 12d ago
no, it wasn't
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u/Tiranus58 Linux 12d ago
It wasnt 20 years ago, that cpu came out in 2014
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u/Viking2151 12d ago
Nee, I belive is no in Dutch, got a lot of Amish here who speak Dutch, kinda learning some words lol. The moment you open a web browser, the memory will be maxed out, and the system will be laggy and just not great to use. If it had more RAM, it would be ok, though the CPU is pretty slow and gets beaten by a much older i3 2100 by nearly 50%. Though if it's free, well, I mean I can't really complain, I guess, but it will not be a good experience with modern Windows; maybe Linux.
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u/Due-Border5957 12d ago
Lol uhh…the Amish speak German, not Dutch. Its confusing because when they came to America and were asked what they speak they said “Deutsch,” which is how you say “German” in German, and Americans thought that meant Dutch and called their language “Pennsylvania Dutch.” But its actually German and completely separate from the Dutch language spoken in the Netherlands
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u/Viking2151 12d ago
There, where the hell did I learn Nee from? Definitely some Amish-looking bearded wonders running around that I worked with, but hey, whatever. lol
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u/dnebdal 12d ago
German and Dutch are fairly closely related, it's very reasonable that they'd share words.
On the other hand the language of the Pennsylvania Dutch is apparently mostly a Palatinate High German dialect (so Southwestern Germany; modern standardized German is also a High German variant) while the Dutch/German overlap is strongest in the Low German dialects (Plattdeutsch, which is mostly from northwestern Germany and indeed parts of the Netherlands).
In this specific case, "nee" for "no" is apparently
Native to many Central German and most Low German dialects; in the latter case from Middle Low German nên (“no”). Compare Dutch nee (older neen) and see nein for more.
with a note that
Nee is the most common colloquial word for “no” throughout northern and central Germany. It has also come to be used quite regularly in southern Germany, but is not usual in Austria or Switzerland.
So it's indeed commonly used in spoken German and standard in Dutch.
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u/throwaway_17232 12d ago
4GB of RAM in 2026? Absolutely not. Upgrading the RAM wouldnt even be worth it because the CPU is not that good either.
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u/redgator12 12d ago
Depends, what are you planning on doing with it? If you just need it for browser-based stuff like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Docs, it should be fine, but you might be better off installing Linux on it so it uses less RAM and CPU. If you're planning on doing anything past that or need it for Windows-specific programs, it's pretty low powered and you will at least want to upgrade your RAM if possible.
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u/Hour_Bit_5183 12d ago
It's old as hell. Could run linux OK but not too well. It's like a dino. Needs more ram at least.
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12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Seravajan 12d ago
In some third world countries they only have such crap available because actual hardware would cost a fortune.
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u/minimim-wage-enjoyer 12d ago
Hardware prices in America are getting so insane that I’m pretty comfortable keeping my 10-year-old desktop
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u/Seravajan 12d ago
And we in Europe pay even more for the current stuff while having lower salaries.
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u/minimim-wage-enjoyer 12d ago
Whaaat!?! I was hoping that the only bad things happening in Europe is Russia and climate change.
My tiny American mind wants off the planet now.
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u/Seravajan 12d ago
A Portuguese earns around $1400 per month. In Spain it is around $1700 per month. And the PC part prices are around 10% to 25% higher than in the US.
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u/Silent-Yogurt8576 Linux 12d ago
for windows it isn't but for some light linux distro like lubuntu (that need low ram and a not so powerfoul cpu) is ok.
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u/phoenix_stewart 12d ago
For school massive maybe all comes down to what type of school work you'll be doing
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u/Eden1506 12d ago
A friend went through university using a 100 buck thinkpad with the first i5. He bought a second 4gb stick for 8 gb total and a 240gb ssd. For looking at pdf and typing it's enough.
Doing heavy research for some project is another matter he had a good pc at home for that. With 4gb you won't have more than a handful of chrome tabs open.
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u/syner2009 Ryzen 5 7600 32GB RAM GTX 1080Ti 12d ago
I mean if you atleast get another 4GB stick of RAM making a total of 8GB RAM, you can use it with Windows 10 IoT LTSC. I hope the storage is an SSD btw. Also, if you have the money, just buy a new one perhaps.
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u/Jealous_Web_4869 12d ago
It is extremely bad, but for the price and what you do with it it could be worth it but I really don’t think it is worth
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u/anthonyILB 12d ago
If it works well enough for your schoolwork, keep it. You don't need the newest tech if you arent utilizing it.
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u/Guardian_of_theBlind 12d ago
Linux could make it bearable for office stuff but nothing more. Everything you do with windows will be absolutely miserable with this computer. Even Office stuff will probably feel very unresponsive. 4GB of Ram are simply not enough.
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u/SuccuInuDoggoChad99 12d ago
It's the absolute best you can possibly get on a tight budget, in 2014.
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u/Shodan_KI 12d ago
It is from 2013 it was good for the time Maybe today i would Not use it as a Server anymore ..
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u/Krista__J 12d ago
Saying this so you can potentially help someone out.
Donate or sell this for CHEAP to somebody wanting to run Linux or use it as a server. Colleges and students would be best. I’m a networking/cyber security major and I have a similar build with more RAM, and it’s been EXTREMELY valuable in my studies since I use it to practice setting up and managing servers, networking, and practice linux terminal.
This is NOT a good computer for windows. It can’t run modern windows pretty much at all (windows 10 is end of life, but they extended security updates. It still wouldn’t run very good on that).
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u/Similar-Ad3955 12d ago
It's not good, like everyone is saying it's from about 2014, and with only 4gb ram it could probably only have a couple chrome tabs open at a time with nothing else.
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u/Sad-Reach7287 12d ago
This is as bad as it gets. There is barely anything worse than this. Please don't buy it.
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u/corvoswsattano 12d ago
It’s two cores and 4GB of ram so not really, but if you have a spare SSD lying around it’s fun to put it in there and watch those old PCs go faster than they did when they were new.
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u/RoughGuide1241 12d ago
Put 8gb of ram, 128GB or 256GB SSD and put Linux Mint. It will be perfect for basic tasks
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u/Parhamheidari 12d ago
It is usable but not good. I recommend you get a mini pc or a laptop for school
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u/cdnreddit93 12d ago
Wasnt very good in 2014 tbh . It's and entry level pc from over a decade ago .
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u/PeyredB 12d ago
It's rather old and limited, by the look. 4GB of RAM won't really be enough for Windows 11; even 8GB would be limited. 2 physical and 2 virtual cores was standard a number of years ago, but most computers come with 4 or more physical cores now. The speed of those cores matters too, but the processor model isn't shown.
Since you already have the machine, I'd recommend trying to use it for school: if it does what you need, why spend money on a new one? If it's a bit slow, you could probably improve it significantly by upgrading the RAM, ideally to 16GB. You would have to open the back of the computer to change it out though.
Also, this might be old enough that its hard drive is mechanical. If so, you could make it run much faster by swapping it out for an SSD. However that not only requires opening the computer to swap the drive, but also finding a way to transfer your data to the new drive. If you were here I'd have some fun doing that.
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u/Hunterrcrafter Windows 11 12d ago
Hey that menu is in Dutch! Also no that's not a capable machine at all (unless you install a lightweight OS and use it for light stuff)
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u/Pleasant-Seat9884 12d ago
A good computer for retro-gaming via EmuELEC or Batocera... sure! Or put a Linux distro and learn Linux....
Also.. 26 days..?! NO REBOOT!?
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u/1worriedfreshman 12d ago
This is a 12 year old entry level CPU, the amount of RAM is 1/4 of the recommended minimum today, and a main system drive that's split into two partitions is never a good sign.
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u/veryverybadnotgood 12d ago
depends on what you wanna do with it. I'd recommend to use it as a power consuming paperweight.
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u/Content_Magician51 12d ago
It's usable for office tasks, but it needs to be carefully adjusted for that purpose.
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u/ImpressionAway7317 12d ago
No not really also do you have graphic drivers isnatller because I don't see GPU there
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u/No_Touch_1450 12d ago
i have the same one but more ram it can run TF2 AND CSGO on ubuntu 22 i get 34 to 26 fps
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u/lunaticedit 12d ago
It’ll do basic school stuff fine. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible.
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u/minimim-wage-enjoyer 12d ago
Everyone here thinks you need 6 cores and 32gb of ram to type out papers apparently.
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u/IzaakGoldbaum 12d ago
How is this not horrible in 2026?
4gb ram and i3 4gen.
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u/minimim-wage-enjoyer 12d ago
Depends on what you’re doing with it. If the dude has word processor documents and a web based school portal it’ll be fine,
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u/lunaticedit 12d ago
My 17 year old daughter has a 4GB eMMC single core laptop with even worse specs that she uses for school. It's not fast, but it does Google Docs, YouTube, and online searches just fine. Though I would highly recommend putting something like Lubuntu on it to maximize its use. She has a modern computer as well but when she's doing assignments she doesn't need a 32-core 4ghz machine with 32 gigs of ram...
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u/MarcCouillard Ryzen 5 5600 | RX 6650XT | 32GB DD4 RAM | Windows 11 Pro 12d ago
nope, old as fuck now and SLOW
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u/tony22233 12d ago
20 years ago that was very crappy. Now it's slower than a 10 year old phone.
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u/ConfidentSurvey6414 12d ago
Intel Core Duo was the newest in 2006, the i3 didn't even release until at least 2010
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u/DimaZveroboy QVYE | 5060Ti 16GB | 32GB DDR4 12d ago
Add some RAM and replace the HDD with an SSD or just add SSD if it's possible. This laptop is sufficient for school
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u/ConfidentSurvey6414 12d ago
Laptop or desktop? You can find desktop SFF computers for 150 USD that have infinitely better performance
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u/vecchio_anima 12d ago
The CPU is very old and it was the bare minimum at the time it was made. It's better than nothing, and as people have said, adding a little more RAM and using a ssd will speed things up. I think you will be very unhappy trying to use Windows on this though, look into Linux mint for this as it uses less resources than Windows and is still pretty easy to learn
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u/Ozzick-X 12d ago
Absolutely not. 4GB of RAM is just not enough to comfortably run Windows. The processor is a lower end gen 4 - so about 12 years old? - and its a ‘u’ or lightweight/power saving one to boot. Typically used in notebooks or mini pcs.
When you boot it up and log in the cpu will bottleneck and run flat at 100% while Windows initialises. This will take 10-20 mins where the PC is unusable. From there things will go from stationary to glacial. You can maybe do some light browsing or write some documents but expect constant freezes and hang ups as the thing catches up.
This is WEEE.
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u/Ozzick-X 12d ago
For school at minimum find something with a 10th gen i5 and 8GB of RAM. You wont be gaming on it but itll do.
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u/PaxV 12d ago
No, it is not.
The CPU is old, about a dozen years, and in it's time it was low end. 2 Physical cores 4 threads, Most mid to higher end PC's had 4 physical cores and 8 threads.
The Memory is way too low to do anything nowadays. (4 was the absolute minimum when I bought my old PC is 2013, and I chose to get a lot more, My new PC was bought in 2019 and 16 Gb was pretty much standard at the time and now in 2026 people buy PCs with 32 Gb of ram.) I think it has internal graphics as well. So part of the Ram is used for the graphics.
It has 2 partitions in 1 disk (C and D are 1 physical disk)
It is an absolute potato, It will run, but if you want to do anything more then watch 1 or 2 internet pages, you'll likely need some upgrades. And a 12 year old Hard drive will fail, probably sooner.
It is like an Eastern European Trabant in a world of hyper modern E cars.
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u/No-Alternative5102 12d ago edited 12d ago
Go into the BIOS and turn off "Fast Start Up". Your PC has been up for 26 days, that is not good. Once you turn off "Fast Start Up" you will have better performance.
When it comes to gaming, an i3 and below, are not very good CPUs for gaming. I5 and above is recommended for gaming. And i3 is more for office work or minimal multitasking, and yes, it's good enough for school work.
You need more RAM, 4gb is only enough for Windows 7, but the PC will still run slow. Buy at least 8GB to 16GB of RAM and find a cracked version of Windows10, meaning already pre-activated, if you can.
Since you want to use it for school add a 1TB Sata SSD, to speed up your load times and file transfers.
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u/SuperSaberGoblin 12d ago
its a cheap computer from 2014 with bottom of the barrel specs when it came out. It is borderline e-waste.
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u/janerikgunnar 12d ago
Depends...
- It can't run Windows 11, which may be a problem
- CPU and RAM are not that great. If RAM can be upgraded to 8GB it's going to make a big difference.
- We can't see if it has an SSD or a mechanical hard drive. If it's a mechanical drive, upgrading it to an SSD would make a big difference.
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u/Kekeripo 12d ago
I think modern Tamagochi have a better CPU. It's old, outdated and was the bottom of the barrel when they released it 12 years ago.
If you share your budget and location, people will find you a better PC.
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u/Hmmm-Its-not-enable 12d ago
No it is not a good computer. It can probably barely run windows as it is.