Are my laptop specs too low to watch youtube videos?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the performance of a basic laptop when attempting to watch YouTube videos. Participants explore whether the laptop's specifications are sufficient for video streaming and consider potential solutions to improve performance.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation, Debate/contested, Problem-solving

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that their similar-spec netbook struggled with Netflix but found YouTube manageable, suggesting variability in performance across different platforms.
  • Another participant suggests increasing virtual memory as a potential solution, although they lack personal experience with Linux.
  • A different approach proposed involves downloading YouTube videos for offline viewing, which may alleviate streaming issues.
  • One participant emphasizes the importance of keeping the Ubuntu operating system updated, including the browser and video drivers, as a way to potentially enhance performance.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing experiences with similar hardware, indicating that performance may vary based on specific use cases and configurations. No consensus on a definitive solution is reached.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the lack of detailed information on the specific video playback settings and the potential impact of network conditions on performance.

Who May Find This Useful

Users with low-spec laptops or those interested in optimizing video playback on Linux systems may find the discussion relevant.

LocalStudent
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I got a very basic laptop which I just use for browsing (facebook, twitter, news etc.)
Specs:
Intel Atom Processor 1.66GHz 512kb cache
1GB RAM
Ubuntu operation system

It's perfect for just browsing, basically its only purpose, but when I watch youtube videos it lags. I've tried letting the video buffer completely but it still lags. I've also tried setting the quality of the video to 240p but it still lags. When I watch a video like kahnacadamy it doesn't lag.

Does this have anything to do with my laptops specs or is it related to something else?
Do you know of a solution to this problem?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
I had a netbook with similar specs last year and it struggled with Netflix. Youtube seemed to be ok though.
 
I've never used linux, but if possible you might try to increase the virtual memory.
 
LocalStudent said:
Do you know of a solution to this problem?
Not a direct solution, but you could use something like keepvid to download a youtube video as a .MP4 file then view it directly from your hard drive, which might help. If you don't have a .mp4 viewer, you can download videolan's VLC media player, which is free.
 
Make sure you have all the latest system updates for Ubuntu installed.
Download the latest version of firefox and install that if you haven't already.
Download the latest version of the flash player for linux from adobe and install that as well
See if you can get newer video drivers for your distro and install that.

reboot and try again.
 

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