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05-06-2021, 09:41 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: May 2020
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 41
Rep: 
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HP Stream 11, will doubling RAM make a difference?
I'm running 64-bit Fedora on an HP Stream 11-y0XX. It's got a 32GB hard drive, 1.6-GHz Intel Celeron N3060 processor, Intel Graphics 400, 4GB of RAM.
Fedora actually runs really well on this machine. I don't do anything heavy duty. Browse the web, check my email. Run Calibre to send books to my ereader. Maybe some light photo editing in Pinta.
It's not speedy. When I pull up all applications the animation isn't smooth. Some websites like YouTube can be sluggish. Nothing major to be honest.
They've been making HP Stream 11s for quite a while. On mine, you can't replace the hard drive. But you can change the RAM card. (On others, you can change the hard drive, but not the RAM. Come on, HP!)
If I upgrade the RAM to 8GB, will I notice much of a performance improvement? Or is it not worth the $30?
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05-06-2021, 10:11 PM
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#2
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LQ Guru
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,771
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I think it likely that you will notice improved performance. More RAM is often the least expensive upgrade.
I doubt that the performance will double, but I am pretty sure improvement will be noticeable. If I were in your place, I'd figure $30 to be a small bet to make. Heck, I spent more than that for a new portable electric air pump for my bicycle today.
Last edited by frankbell; 05-06-2021 at 10:18 PM.
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05-06-2021, 10:12 PM
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#3
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,279
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I kind of doubt it will be worth that upgrade from what you say.
You can run top and monitor it for ram and swap useage to have a better idea.
I have a somewhat similar ecs with less ram that I run Clear Linux on.
Guess you could go with a more lightweight window manager. OpenSuse with lxde is pretty snappy.
A lot of folks like Antix here.
Might be able to put a M.2 ssd in ?? Doubt it will make a huge improvement.
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05-06-2021, 10:17 PM
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#4
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Moderator
Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Arizona, USA
Distribution: Debian, EndeavourOS, OpenSUSE, KDE Neon
Posts: 4,027
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I've used N3160's with both 4 & 8GB ram, and when using modern browsers it DEFINITELY made a difference. However, with only 2 threads, I'm not absolutely certain you've got enough CPU oomph to take advantage of 8GB ram there. I'd try it given it's cheap, though.
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05-07-2021, 10:55 AM
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#5
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Member
Registered: May 2020
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 41
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Thanks for the responses guys.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankbell
I think it likely that you will notice improved performance. More RAM is often the least expensive upgrade.
I doubt that the performance will double, but I am pretty sure improvement will be noticeable. If I were in your place, I'd figure $30 to be a small bet to make. Heck, I spent more than that for a new portable electric air pump for my bicycle today.
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Yeah, with the computer using a five year old Celeron processor, I'm not expecting miracles. Just a small bump would be okay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro
Guess you could go with a more lightweight window manager. OpenSuse with lxde is pretty snappy...
Might be able to put a M.2 ssd in ?? Doubt it will make a huge improvement.
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I've looked at LXDE and Xfce. But I just like Gnome (though I think I like Gnome 40 less than the previous one).
I'll look and see if an M.2 drive is an option. The 32GB hard drive is what pushed me to change the laptop to Linux in the first place. It actually handled Windows 10 okay, but the drive was so small, it could no longer download Windows 10 updates. So far so good with Fedora.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Miller
I've used N3160's with both 4 & 8GB ram, and when using modern browsers it DEFINITELY made a difference. However, with only 2 threads, I'm not absolutely certain you've got enough CPU oomph to take advantage of 8GB ram there. I'd try it given it's cheap, though.
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Two out of three 'yes' votes. I'll do it!
I know 8GB is overkill for my processor and what I do on it. But 4GB is just not quite enough and I didn't see 6GB. So I'll go with 8.
Really, I should move on to a different PC. But I have a fondness for my cheap plastic Stream. It's baby blue and the letters on the keys are gray instead of black. It's a nice design. And it still works good enough, even with the RAM situation. The hard drive limits what I install, but then again, the processor and RAM likely couldn't handle much more than what I use it for anyway.
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05-09-2021, 08:02 AM
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#6
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Member
Registered: Jun 2020
Posts: 609
Rep: 
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I'd agree with trying more RAM - it certainly won't hurt, and $30 isn't excessive for a memory upgrade. I went looking for some more specifications on this machine and didn't find much, so I resorted to looking up pictures - it looks like it has an SD card slot that you may be able to leverage for more storage as well. It probably won't be very fast, but it'd be something.
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05-09-2021, 11:58 AM
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#7
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Member
Registered: May 2020
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 41
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by obobskivich
I went looking for some more specifications on this machine and didn't find much, so I resorted to looking up pictures
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Yeah. HP has been making the Stream 11 for years and years now. They make changes here and there and it is hard to find details. I resort to looking up YouTube videos
Having looked up more videos, it looks like some that look like my model will let you upgrade the RAM and some have it soldered in. I'm going to have to pry mine apart to look before I buy more RAM.
I found the Amazon page to my exact model: HP Stream Laptop PC 11-y010nr
Quote:
it looks like it has an SD card slot that you may be able to leverage for more storage as well. It probably won't be very fast, but it'd be something.
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It does have an SD card slot. I have a 4TB external drive that I keep files on. So the 32GB hard drive really isn't a big problem.
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05-09-2021, 12:41 PM
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#8
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Moderator
Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Arizona, USA
Distribution: Debian, EndeavourOS, OpenSUSE, KDE Neon
Posts: 4,027
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According to Crucial, the 11-y010nr has 2 slots and can be upgraded.
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05-10-2021, 01:31 PM
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#9
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Member
Registered: May 2020
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 41
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Miller
According to Crucial, the 11-y010nr has 2 slots and can be upgraded.
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I tore my little Stream apart (which was nerve-wracking. Since the whole thing is just plastic, once you remove the screws, you basically rip the keyboard off bit by bit). I didn't see any RAM slots. I've attached pics. But I had to shrink them down so much, not sure if they are legible.
HP has made the Stream 11 for years and I think they have a habit of changing up the insides without a lot of documentation. I have seen YouTube videos of PCs that look just like mine with a RAM slot.
Anyway, I don't think I'll be upgrading the RAM on this baby. Oh well. It runs okay at least.
I am bidding on an old Dell Mini netbook. It has an even older processor than the Stream (Atom N450, I think). But at least it is a proper PC with easy accessibility to the RAM and hard drive. I'm planning on putting an SSD and more RAM into it to see how it handles maybe Elementary OS.
Really, I just have a fondness for old, small, cheap laptops.
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05-11-2021, 04:38 PM
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#10
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,279
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The Atom will be a downgrade for a number of reasons I'd think. Stay with a Celeron or i3 or AMD models above that.
Try Some other distro's on it. Start with Clear Linux, it is a good general distro that is the benchmark for speed. If that won't speed it up, nothing will.
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05-11-2021, 09:47 PM
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#11
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Member
Registered: May 2020
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 41
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro
The Atom will be a downgrade for a number of reasons I'd think. Stay with a Celeron or i3 or AMD models above that.
Try Some other distro's on it. Start with Clear Linux, it is a good general distro that is the benchmark for speed. If that won't speed it up, nothing will.
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Oh, to be clear, I'm not getting rid of the Stream. The Dell Mini was just something I picked up cheap in an auction. $30, including shipping.
I know a lighter weight distro would run faster. But honestly, I'm happy with Fedora/Gnome on the Stream. It runs fine for what I do.
I have an all-in-one that desperately needs more RAM. That was what made me start thinking about more RAM for the Stream.
Last edited by ZodWallop; 05-11-2021 at 10:57 PM.
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05-11-2021, 10:32 PM
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#12
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,279
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Ok, thanks for the info. 
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