What Part of a Computer determines How fast It Loads and Runs?

My little computer takes 30 seconds to shut down and that seems pretty slow to me.
It has 80 GB in the hard Drive
512 MB DDR
802 11b/g wireless LAN
AMD Turion 64 ML-30 processor (1MB L2 cache, 1.6 GHz)
If I was to buy a new laptop, what are the numbers that i should be looking for for a quicker computer?

It probably depends what software you are using. The specs above should be sufficient for a pretty fast load of Ubuntu. If you are using a newer version of Windoze and don't manage all the little things that are launching in background and stay in memory you may need something more current. The laptops nowadays are all fairly homogeneous within their price when it comes to computing power. The $500 to 600 range probably gets the best bang for the buck, and should be sufficient to run Win7 and a few applications. A fast hard drive (7200rpm) helps, and more memory. I think 32bit Windows is maxed out at 2Gb, so if you want to load a few things and keep them running you may want to consider 64bit OS and 4Gb of memory.

eViL tRoLl wrote:...don't manage all the little things that are launching in background and stay in memory you may need something more current...

What kind of things launch in the background that can be turned off? And should they be turned off? And how are they turned off?

rosencrentz, the problem is in your patience module - 30 seconds is fine!

grumpy old man wrote:

eViL tRoLl wrote:...don't manage all the little things that are launching in background and stay in memory you may need something more current...

What kind of things launch in the background that can be turned off? And should they be turned off? And how are they turned off?

There's plenty of things that are typically installed that want to "launch" on startup.

Some include:
Windows Media player (some kind of launcher)
Real Player
Real Player Updates
Adobe Updater
Adobe Acrobat Launcher
Quicktime
Quicktime Updater
Spybot
AdAware
MSOffice launcher

These are a few common ones.
The "launcher" ones claim to make the programs load quicker when you try opening them...but with today's computer speeds...the difference is insignificant, but the drain on the computer resources are higher while waiting for launching.

Who cares how long it takes to shut down? Click shut down, and walk away!

FlyingRat wrote:Who cares how long it takes to shut down? Click shut down, and walk away!

actually...it's a big deal when you run windows...since everytime something is updated you have to reboot.

i had a laptop that would take 40 minutes to shutdown...that was a nightmare.

press and hold the power button for 10 seconds. Its shuts off without shutting down. No matter what is trying to update or whatnot.

Deank wrote:press and hold the power button for 10 seconds. Its shuts off without shutting down. No matter what is trying to update or whatnot.

Good way to lose a harddrive...and lots of data.

A sudden loss of power can cause the harddrive to "drop", and then it's locked up and unusable.

meh
I never shutdown my computer because for some bizarre reason if I do a normal shutdown the keyboard wont work again for two restarts.

I have had the one computer for close to 6 years now and no problems at all. The work computers I just dont like how long they take to shut down so I simply power all of them off, have never lost a hard drive yet.

AND... holding the power button is not the same as simply unplugging. it actually does do a bit of a shutdown.

Deank wrote:press and hold the power button for 10 seconds. Its shuts off without shutting down. No matter what is trying to update or whatnot.

Excellent - saving 20 seconds on regular shutdown.

If you want really, really, really fast load times look for a SSD hard drive as an option in your next PC. I'm personally fond of the Dell XPS machines myself as they offer pretty good bang for the buck (compared to other manufacturer's, namely Mac), a good array of customization options, and most importantly to me solid warranty options.

My wife has one of the first gen Studio XPS 16 laptops and it is blazing fast. That's with the older Intel P8700, 4GB DDR3, 7200 rpm drive and older ATI 3670. With the SSD option it would probably start up in less than 15sec, right now it's probably around 30sec. I've never timed it really but it's snappy. The new ones with the new Intel i-7 720 absolutely scream, and multi-tasking is a breaze with quad cores in a laptop. The only downside is the price, with the 128GB SSD it'll set you back $1,450. You could scale back the CPU to the slightly slower i-5 and save $50 but I wouldn't recommend it.
Overall it's my favorite Windows laptop on the market, and imho the price/performance ratio can't be beat.
Here's a direct link if your interested:
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=nsx16cf_f_1e&c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&kc=laptop-studio-xps-16

AGEsAces wrote:

FlyingRat wrote:Who cares how long it takes to shut down? Click shut down, and walk away!

actually...it's a big deal when you run windows...since everytime something is updated you have to reboot.

i had a laptop that would take 40 minutes to shutdown...that was a nightmare.

40 minutes every time? or just when an update had to run?

I'll vouch for Dell being decent for laptops.
Owned one myself for about 5 years...and it didn't let me down...and they stand by their warranty.

If I was laptop shopping...they are probably the first place I'd look.

Thanks to my work purchase plan I get a pretty decent discount off their sale prices, so to me it's totally worth it to go with Dell. For the discount I get I can usually include the 3yr accidental damage coverage for the same price the public pays without any extended warranty. Knock on wood, I've had 5 machines from them and zero problems in 6 yrs.

So 30 seconds to sgut down is OK? My store desk top shuts down in maybe 5-10 seconds?
It took 34 seconds for this thread to show up when I clicked on it, and at age 65 and fading, i didn't want to waste so much of my valuable time looking at my computer shutting down.
My favorite program is 24 and it starts in 62 minutes. I would have to start shutting down now to pack up my computer for the big trip to my workplace desk!

Rosie you got to figure out how many "programs" start up in your start menu...The more programs that have to load as part of your start menu, the longer it takes your computer to start and or shut down...GGF

Rosie that's also what GOM means in his earlier post...

What kind of things launch in the background that can be turned off? And should they be turned off? And how are they turned off?

You'll find that in your "start menu" there Rosie...GGF

GGF wrote:Rosie that's also what GOM means in his earlier post...

What kind of things launch in the background that can be turned off? And should they be turned off? And how are they turned off?

You'll find that in your "start menu" there Rosie...GGF

...greeblok...

What the heck does "and" mean?

GGF wrote:Rosie that's also what GOM means in his earlier post...

What kind of things launch in the background that can be turned off? And should they be turned off? And how are they turned off?

You'll find that in your "start menu" there Rosie...GGF

While GGF is part correct...the things that startup in the background are typically NOT in your Start Menu.
There ARE things you will find there, but most programs that install themselves to start, do NOT put anything in the Start Menu, they install directly into the registry of your computer...to fire up as Windows starts.

The items placed in your Start Menu actually don't start until AFTER Windows has finished loading.

grumpyrom wrote:What the heck does "and" mean?

We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill ...greeblok...

There are so many programs in my start, and stuff that i don't think I will ever use, but the last time I deleted sh1t from there my computer wouldn't talk to me, it lost its voice, and my kids gave me hell, and instructions to leave it alone.
But now i understand why the computer takes so long.
How can I change the programs not to start up every time I open my computer, but not to lose the programs?

Its a laptop right?

you coming to lunch?

Bring it.

There are some utilities that let you manage all the startup programs and services, and also indicate whether they are needed, neutral, or dangerous. To do it manually, run "msconfig" from the command line (run under start menu). This lists everything that will run, but you will have to look up the meaning of the cryptic filenames. There are a few sites that list and document them, they can be found with google.