My dad has a laptop I used to use, which has been working well so far. Recently, he got frequent out-of-memory (RAM) issues - the computer freezes, forcing to restart. It is hard to diagnose, but it might be that 8GB RAM might be too small even for light workload these days.
So, I just checked when it is produced - 2015-10. So it is now 10 years old. While I am wary of producing e-wastes, maybe that was long enough life we got out of it. Perhaps it costs more in electricity than buying a replacement laptop? So, I want to ask - is it time to retire this laptop?
Does the computer have an SSD already? If not install an SSD, it will be a night and day difference.
8GB should be enough for basic dad tasks like checking the email and light web browsing, assuming the system is using GNU/Linux.
Is the ram soldered? Otherwise you can always upgrade it.