The additional ram should help. My son, a computer techie, says there is no such thing as too much ram. Also, as Simplyred suggested, scrap at 8x8 and not 12x12. If you don't plan on printing at 12x12, I don't see any sense in making your LO that large. I scrap at either 8x8 or 8x10 and print at home. Another thing, for when you get a new computer, is to get the best graphics card you can afford. A good graphics card will also help with how your program runs. Unfortunately you cannot change the graphics card in a laptop. And of course a fast processor. I guess everything kind of works together. I plan on my next laptop being one for gaming. Gaming is very graphic intensive so it should work great for scrapping.

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Well I don't know about Paint Shop Pro, but I am running Photoshop CS2 on a 1.4GHz P4 so really a 1.3GHz should be able to handle it.

Now, granted I have a full 1gig of RAM. I think I'd make my first step the RAM and see if it helps.

It might just be the version of your software.

I also scrap at 8x8 and prefer it.

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You may just have too many programs running eating up your RAM. Click on Start then Control Panel then System. Under the General tab it will tell you your Processor Speed and how much Ram you have left to run programs. FYI Norton Anti-Virus has been known to be a memory hog compared to other Anti-Virus programs.

Your initial ram is just way too low... you can run PSPX on a 1.3 celeron but the 1GB will certainly help... but only to an extent. PSPX is a big resource hog.. your memory will only be able to help you so much. Your processor is still doing the lion share worth of work and 1.3 celeron is just old news. Also, you didn't mention what type of hard drive you have but I assume it is also an old slow 5400 rpm IDe...

I would give it a whirl.. I run PS CS and PSP at work on a dinoasur computer ... larger PSD files (>80MB) run very slow especially when applying filters.. but you should be ok so long as you don't "overdue" it.

I'd start saving for a new PC though... you can get a better machine that you have for around $300. Good Luck!

Sadly, even if you upgraded it ALL, and got the top of the line, it'll be outdated within a few days (Probably more like hours)

Hope, if you can get some extra ram it'll help the problem!

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True enough... although there are various stages of outdated and sadly, a celeron processor with 256MB is at the end stage. Your latest dual core Athlon with 3 GB of ram will be outdated in a few days like you say.. but will be performing well for years and years (like her celeron has for a long time I bet).

>>Unfortunately you cannot change the graphics card in a laptop<<
I had a dedicated graphics card put in my laptop - that might be worth looking into

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Actually, a good or bad graphics card is meaningless to photo programs. These applications are 2D based and most gaming machines are based around very fast and high memory 3D graphic cards. Although the rest of the specs for a gaming PC will help will all apps (high memory, fast CPU, fast HDD).. the graphic card is not important.

In fact, the most recommended graphics card for Photoshop and other illustrater type programs is an old Matrox 2D card.. 3D cards are really useful if you do any rendering in products like Maya.