In my opinion, any five year old machine is going to start feeling slow. The issue isn’t that the machine is running slower, its that its indirectly running more - web pages are larger and more complex (eg. extensive javascript, CSS, Flash, etc), bitrates on media are higher, etc.
You can argue that the increases aren’t THAT substantial, and I’m sure some on here will love to, but taken as a whole, the computer of today is working harder, and that’s why these 5 year old machines are starting to feel constrained.
You can throw 2 gigs of RAM and a 7200 RPM drive into a 5 year old P4 based system, running a clean install of XP, and its still gonna feel slow compared to anything from the Core or Core2 era. That’s not to say it isn’t adequate for basic work - it is, but once you’ve hit that threshold where it feel slow TO YOU, it’s game over. You’re waiting on the machine, and its going to distract you, impact your concentration and workflow, and just generally frustrate you, even though its technically working perfectly and in peak performance for its age.
What are the specs on the more recent machine? That’s the one I’d concentrate on if I were you.
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-Scott
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