Your PC experiences slowdowns specifically when using Next.js's development server, but other servers like Vite or Remix perform well. This discrepancy could be due to resource-intensive features in Next.js, such as server-side rendering. Your laptop's 3rd gen Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM might struggle with these demands. To improve performance, consider upgrading your RAM to at least 8GB, optimize Next.js configurations, monitor resource usage, and use static generation when possible. Alternatively, stick with Vite or Remix for development tasks. Upgrading to a more powerful laptop could be beneficial if your development demands continue to grow.

nextjs dev server is known to be a memory eater. i would say 4 GB RAM is not enough for modern development work

but if you have to stay with 4 GB RAM, consider shutting unnecessary programs to make space for the dev server