How do I interpret this sentence?

Question

I have been reading an article on how to speed up laptops or PCs and I came across a sentence which I am unsure about how to interpret it.

Whole text:

Unfortunately, as computers get older they invariably get slower. If your laptop or PC feels like it's crawling along, we've got a series of handy hints and tips on how to bring it back up to speed.

The confusing sentence :

If your laptop or PC feels like it's crawling along, we've got a series of handy hints and tips on how to bring it back up to speed.

First I tried to parse the sentence. I know bring something back means to return something. I also to know " up to " means to a certain extent. Now I don't know whether should I interpret the sentence like:

They have got a series of handy hints and tips that would bring the speed of a slow laptop or PC completely back, just like their first day.

or

They have got a series of handy hints and tips that would just bring the speed of slow laptop or PC back only to a certain extent, not completely.

Answer 1

how to bring it back up to speed

This is a mildly punning use of a common phrase which is itself a figurative use.

When you enter a major highway from a side street you are usually moving much slower than the traffic already on the highway. If just steer into the traffic flow you are likely to be rear-ended. Consequently, there's typically an acceleration lane where you can bring your car "up to speed"—that is, up to the speed of the highway traffic, so you can merge safely.

This image is often used to speak about introducing a new person to a project: we "get them up to speed", inform them about what's being done and who's doing what, so they can "merge" into the project and make a contribution rather than bringing everything to a crashing halt.

The author of your article uses the same phrase to speak not of bringing your computer to some implicitly limited speed but of returning it to its full original speed: the point at which it is operating most efficiently.