older vaio on xp baic problem help please

[50trimtsi]

Hi guys, I was hoping someone could lend a little advice. I got a free sony vaio laptop model PCG-F180 (the specs will be at the bottom). I used to have windows 98 on it and was able to play dvd's fine, but now lots of install issues with 98 and dont want to mess with it anymore so... Now that I have put XP on it the movie plays slow and sound glitches. I use powerdvd. I am wondering if programs will run slower too and basic emulator do for sure as I tested those. My question is whether or not this could simply be due to the low 64MB of RAM on this system and using the more demanding OS?Would upgrading RAM help this? Any help would be greatly appreciated and again the computer specs are as follows: Thanks again!!

Sony Vaio PCG-F180
Processor - Pentium 2 Processor, 333mhz

Cache - 256 KB Integrated On-Die Level 2

Bus Architecture - PCI

LCD - 14.1" XGA Active Matrix LCD (1024 x 768)

Graphics - NeoMagic MagicMedia 256AV with 2.5 MB Video RAM and 128 bit Accelerator, Direct 3D and MPEG Acceleration

Digital Audio - 3D Stereo, 16 bit playback and record, Software Wavetable MIDI Synthesizer, MPEG

MPEG - MPEG1 and MPEG2 Digital Video, Supports Full Screen Playback

Standard RAM - 64 MB SDRAM, expandable to 192 MB

Hard Drive - 4.3 GB

DVD-ROM Drive - 2x max. fixed DVD-ROM drive with DVD movie playback capability

Floppy Disk Drive - Removable 1.44 MB, 3.5" Internal Operation, Floppy disk drive bay also supports second rechargeable battery when floppy drive is removed

Modem - V.90 Modem

Pointing Device - Digital Touch Pad

Speakers - Built-in Stereo Speakers

Microphone - Built-in

Battery - Lithium-Ion Battery, Supports Dual Battery Operation

Maximum Battery Life - 3.5 hours (with one battery), 7 hours (with optional second battery)

PC card slots - Supports Two PCMCIA Type 2 Cards or one Type 3 Card, Card Bus Support

InfraRed - Supports 4 Mbps , 1.1 Mbps and 115 kbps IrDA Standard

Other Interface - Serial Port, Printer Port, VGA Monitor, PS/2, Keyboard/Mouse, USB (x1), RJ-11 Phone Jack, i.LINK (IEEE-1394) S200 Interface, Mic-In, Headphone,

Power Requirements - 65 Watts Maximum (19.5V DC / AC100-240V)

Power Management - Energy Star Compliant, ACPI Compatible

Size (W X H X D) - 12.8" X 1.6" X 10.5"

Weight - 6.8 lbs. (with weight saver in floppy drive bay), 7.3 lbs. (with floppy drive in floppy drive bay)

Supplied Accessories - Rechargeable Battery, AC Adapter, Weight Saver

[classicsoftware]

Not enough horse power to run Windows XP. I personally would stick to Windows 98.

[50trimtsi]

totally agree with you that this computer is pretty sorry, but it was free and definately not my main computer lol. I was able to get dvd's to play fine now by lowering the display color down to 16bit. Basically do you think that ram would help me enough for it to function a little bit? I dont like 98 and had problems. The only thing this laptop will be for is playing an occasional dvd on a road trip or something, playing NES,sega, and SNES emulators, and running a program for scantool equipment (obdII vehicles). What do you think? The only real problem it suffers is the emulator part which is super slow,glitchy, and laggy. Dont know about the program yet b\c I dont have it. Soo any other comments on whether this would work? Thanks again guys. Matt

[classicsoftware]

I think you are going to get better performance with Windows 98. Yiu need more RAM in either case.

[50trimtsi]

ok Ill buy some new ram and go from there. Thanks soo much for the help. Matt