Last year I pulled an old Mac Mini out of mothballs, installed Linux on it, and started getting really frustrated with it slowing down and temporarily freezing all the time (not even a GUI, just the console, and web pages it was serving). I realized it seemed to be I/O related, and replaced the HDD with a SSD, and the problems just magically disappeared. Was shocked at the contrast; it had been so long since I'd used something on spinning rust. Even Raspberry Pis with ok-ish SD cards were more responsive.
Replacing a HDD with a SSD, as well as adding RAM, can do so much for performance, without even thinking about the CPU or GPU.
I'm using a E495 with 1 TB HD on purpose.
It's one if the fastest computers in my park, and I'm running Fedora. well it's the AMD variant, and I've tuned my performance profile and always keep the fans clean.
His problem is certainly Windows 11 and the virus scanner, not the laptop. on some of my work laptops you cannot do any meaningful work because of windows. even the WSL is 10x slower on simple magit rebases. build times are 1-4 hours.
Christ on a bike that explains everything. I can't believe laptops can still come with spinning rust, let alone giving one to a developer/software engineer.
Replacing a HDD with a SSD, as well as adding RAM, can do so much for performance, without even thinking about the CPU or GPU.