My laptop is pretty slow at times when I run multiple things. I use it for gaming because it has slightly better graphics card than my desktop. Here are the specs:
DellLatitude E6400
4gb RAM
Dual core processor
2.26GHz 2.27GHz (Why are there 2?)
An external HDD isn’t going to do anything to improve your performance. The only relation to ram would be extra swap space, but there’s really no performance gain to be found in additional swapped memory. Add more ram if you can, although in my experience most components for laptops tend to be too inflated price wise to make it worth it.
Read the line preceding the one where you ask “why are there 2?”, and pay attention to the first word. 
Modern PC’s have multiple processors housed in a single slab of silicon. The two figures are the (approximate) speeds of each processor.
I found an image,
http://www1.pcmag.com/media/images/224000-dell-latitude-e6400.jpg?thumb=y
I think its time for an upgrade, its not 2002 anymore. :point:
It’s not? ???
(Sent from my 2Ghz Toshiba Satellite Core 2 Duo)
Now you’re playing with power!
Oh my god! I thought it was newer. no wonder I get so many graphics failure
are you sure that’s the E6400? :emo:
Don’t sink any money into that machine at all.
Also I suggest you have a little look here:
Scroll down to the hardware section. Have a watch of the videos, they are rather old but it does explain what RAM is and how it works, basics of CPU/Motherboard/GPU and how they interleave with each other. The basics have not changed too dramatically over the past 10 years.
I can guarantee that they didn’t change much. Our syllabus has not updated since 1994 and still I see the (almost) same components in my latest build (Exception for BIOS and Software). The only change I had seen is the change from SD Rams to DDR rams.
Of course it newer. It’s from 2008. There weren’t any Intel Core 2 chips available in 2002…
I’ll join the party with my Toshiba Satellite 2400 with 2.4Ghz Pentium 4, everyone! That thing is still alive after 10 years of owning it.
I have an extra computer with an AMD HD7790 GPU which is like, totally ancient. Do I qualify?
Well lets see here… Pulls out old craptop
[quote]AMD AlthlonTM 64 Processor TF-20 (1.6 Ghz)
ATI RadeonTM HD3200 Graphics Up to 1408Mb HyperMemoryTM
[/quote]
Single core, integrated graphics, however the slowest component is still the hard drive, which is quite vulnerable to being maxed out by some system process going haywire trying to scan files. Abysmal.