Web browsing performance is awful with an i5-2540M/NVS 4200M

[jonah255]

I have a T420 with a i5-2540M and an Nvidia NVS 4200M running Windows 8.1. I'm really surprised at how poor the web browsing performance is! It is noticeably sluggish when rendering new webpages, switching tabs, and closing tabs in Chrome. It also can not handle HD youtube videos or HD netflix. I have the latest drivers that I'm aware. Though I was disappointed to find out the way Nvidia works the NVS drivers is that the OEM is responsible for distributing them so I can't get them direct from Nvidia.

I have an old core-2 duo / mobile ati 3450 Elitebook that handles the web better!

Any ideas on how to improve performance? Should I turn off the 4200M and rely on the intel 3000 HD? Is 1600 x 900 too many pixels for the integrated graphics?

[RealBlackStuff]

You should do a better (re)search before you complain here, and download e.g. this: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRe ... 9137/en-us
(assuming you use 64-bit).
Took me all of 1/2 second to find that...

OR, throw out that POS W8.1 and go back to W7.
And also throw out Chrome and install Firefox or Opera instead.

[Medessec]

I do agree with the Windows 8... but it's probably not in your interest to install Windows 7.

And I'd also agree to try out another browser. Not that Chrome isn't a terrible browser, but sometimes even Chrome can get bogged down- I've noticed my friends have had serious problems with extensions and adware installing that automatically reinstalls certain extensions and makes your default search engine a crappy slow one with paid adware as the top listings in results. Pretty sleazy stuff... I guess virus and adware-writers have caught the drift that people use Chrome now.

Just install Firefox as a second browser to have alongside Chrome, in case Chrome seems slow and you need to try something else. Your CPU and Graphics are definitely not to blame, for web browsing and basic tasking, the hardware is extremely overpowered. You just need to be eyeing the other factors: Software on your computer, maybe the Hard Drive, RAM usage(doubt that's the problem though), etc.

[djpharoah]

I've had similar performance with my 2.66GHz Dual Core T400 (4GB of RAM and W7). The performance of any browser (IE, Chrome, FF) all leave me wondering you've got to be kidding me. I've done many a fresh installs and still come back to that same issue. I've got a T42p which kicks this T400 all around the block for web surfing and multi-tasking with youtube etc...

[Adda]

I think ANY computer is too sluggish for web browsing, unless scriptblock and flashblock is installed.
Sad but true, stupid, pointless scripts and misuse of flash is drowning the internet, and wasting a LOT of resources.

[Medessec]

The internet is kind of a slum now... littered with sleazy and malicious advertisements. I have AdBlock installed and make exceptions for websites I visit that have legitimate advertisements. I don't have any anti-virus, but I'm pretty smart with my web-browsing. Stuff still makes it onto my machine regardless- lately this thing called "Hola Better Internet" keeps re-installing itself into my Chrome browser despite uninstalling it.

Just be smart, and have AdBlock installed. I also use Stylish, which has plugins that disable some annoyances, such as the "Featured Videos" on YouTube in your right pane, which shows nothing but videos with the most annoying, intrusive thumbnails.

[muffin_man]

I have a T510 w/ i5 and discrete graphics on w7 and no problems with tons of chrome windows. How much ram? I think I have 8gb.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[precip9]

The X61s. a puny thing compared to your W510, is very snappy running 8.1. Your hardware is blameless.

You've hit a bug patch, probably with Chrome. In the past few years, both Chrome and Firefox have hit buggy patches. As remarked elsewhere in this thread, it's a good idea to keep both of them on your laptop. They share a lot of code, and, in fact, Mozilla is almost completely funded by Google. But the release schedules are not synchronized, so one of the browsers generally works better than the other.

I'm writing this on a dual CPU Xeon server with 8 hyperthreaded cores, 16 megs of cache between the two CPUs, and 16GB of ram. Every so often, the browser window freezes for as long as 30 seconds. It cannot be repositioned on the screen during that interval. This did not happen with Firefox 25.0, but a security problem was discovered, resulting in the release of 25.01, which now has an obvious garbage collection problem.

Systems with Nvidia drivers sometimes have unexplained lags and pauses. It might be to your advantage to use the integrated Intel graphics for routine use, reserving Nvidia for complex activities, like gaming and content creation. The integrated graphics can handle anything a web browser would throw at it without lags.

[Medessec]

I'm writing this on a dual CPU Xeon server with 8 hyperthreaded cores, 16 megs of cache between the two CPUs, and 16GB of ram. Every so often, the browser window freezes for as long as 30 seconds. It cannot be repositioned on the screen during that interval. This did not happen with Firefox 25.0, but a security problem was discovered, resulting in the release of 25.01, which now has an obvious garbage collection problem.

Systems with Nvidia drivers sometimes have unexplained lags and pauses. It might be to your advantage to use the integrated Intel graphics for routine use, reserving Nvidia for complex activities, like gaming and content creation. The integrated graphics can handle anything a web browser would throw at it without lags.

That's the one advantage with old hardware... all the software written for it is spotless & clean as long as it's up to date.

All my computers, from my T43 Pentium M to my D900F with Xeon W3570 Quad-Core with HT runs like a beaut with up to 4 Chrome Windows. It's usually the amount of flash and Silverlight content that bogs down computers.

[jonah255]

Welp I switched the video mode in the Bios from Optimus to Integrated and that seems to have significantly cleared up the lag/stuttering
while tab switching, typing in the search bar, and scrolling in Chrome.

I wonder if the Optimus drivers/implementation is really that bad or is trying to do more aggressive power saving or something?