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I have an old toshiba satellite M70 laptop from 2006; Which OS is the best for it?

QuantumReaper
By QuantumReaper
in Operating Systems
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Hello! My laptop is very old and slow. I am currently running Win 7 on it. Now my Mom needs to use that laptop (only for reading and maybe Youtube) but it runs very slow. Could anyone suggest a good OS to upgrade it to so that it runs at a fairly decent speed?

SPECS: Intel Pentium M processor (1.73 GHz), 2GB of RAM, Intel 950GM/910ML/915MS Graphics chip

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You really cant do anything to make it perform better to be honest. You got a single core ancient mobile CPU, 2G ram and a abysmal iGPU. 

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!! dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrY? yOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPU. my SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONE. can mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?? woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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There isn't one. You're going to be limited by the hardware no matter what operating system you run. If you must get it going then you can run a lightweight Linux distro, but other than that it's going to be slow. 

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You could try Lubuntu 32 Bit but I don't think it'll be a good experience. Also if it has an HDD chances are high that it'll be a 5400rpm one which is even slower due to its age.

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The OS won't make a difference in speed. You could try upgrading it with a SSD for a certain boost in speed.

I think for a 2006 laptop Windows XP is fine.

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3 minutes ago, FRD said:

The OS won't make a difference in speed. You could try upgrading it with a SSD for a certain boost in speed.

I think for a 2006 laptop Windows XP is fine.

It's most likely a Mini-IDE HDD, not a SATA one, which limits him to ultrarare Mini-IDE SSDs or CompactFlash cards.

 

OP, what you should run on it is Windows XP. However, all the web browsers that I've used on it don't support HTTPS, meaning that you can't use 99% of websites.

elephants

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Just now, FRD said:

I think for a 2006 laptop Windows XP is fine.

 

Just now, FakeKGB said:

OP, what you should run on it is Windows XP. However, all the web browsers that I've used on it don't support HTTPS, meaning that you can't use 99% of websites.

Until you read the part where the OP said their mom plans on continuing to use it. People with a brain could get away with using XP online frequently, but I wouldn't trust 98.6% of parents to use it.

Realistically the best bet is something like Xubuntu (though it'll likely have to be a 2012-2014 era release to get supported graphics, if I had to guess). That'd probably wake it up just barely enough to use until y'all would be able to snag something like a Latitude or Thinkpad off eBay for like ~$150 schmeckles.

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Like some posts here I don't suggest using legacy versions of Windows as they aren't secure and have ended support (04/08/2014). Also web browsing is a pain unless you use MyPal (Which is one of the few browsers still supporting XP). I don't think it is worth it to use XP, as many companies have dropped support for XP years ago.

In my opinion, use some Linux Distro. Linux runs great on older hardware for the most part and you get a community of people ready to help fix whatever issue you may have, plus some distros are easy to learn and are very similar to Windows 7 - and are VERY customizable. You can make Linux look like Windows, Mac, anything you want.

I don't know, I'm just putting my opinion out there.

TL;DR: Don't use XP, try a Linux distro built for older systems (Linux Lite, Xubuntu et cetera) , it runs great.

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2 hours ago, FRD said:

I think for a 2006 laptop Windows XP is fine.

Please don't recommend Win XP for a web browsing machine. Using XP is just not safe anymore. (unless you don't connect it to the internet)

 

 -+-+- This is a reminder to clean the dust filters of your PC! -+-+-

 

Main PC:

Ryzen 5 1600 3.8GHz - RX 570 4GB - 2x8GB DDR4 - ASUS Prime X370-Pro - Shadow Rock 2 - Define S - Seasonic Prime Gold 650W

500GB NVME SSD - 1TB SATA SSD - 1TB HDD - Windows 10 Pro

Dorm PC:

i5 4590 - GTX 960 4GB - 2x4GB DDR3 - ASUS H81M2 - Dark Rock 3 - Define R3 - 250GB SATA SSD - Seasonic S12 430W - Windows 10 Pro - Linux Mint

NAS:

Pentium G4400 - 4GB DDR4 - Fujitsu Esprimo P556 - 250GB SATA SSD - 2 x 4TB NAS HDD - 12V PSU - OpenMediaVault

Laptop:

Dell Latitude E6520 - i5 2430M - 2x4GB DDR3 - 250GB SATA SSD - Windows 10 Pro - Linux Mint

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On 4/29/2021 at 9:16 PM, Duo01 said:

Like some posts here I don't suggest using legacy versions of Windows as they aren't secure and have ended support (04/08/2014). Also web browsing is a pain unless you use MyPal (Which is one of the few browsers still supporting XP). I don't think it is worth it to use XP, as many companies have dropped support for XP years ago.

In my opinion, use some Linux Distro. Linux runs great on older hardware for the most part and you get a community of people ready to help fix whatever issue you may have, plus some distros are easy to learn and are very similar to Windows 7 - and are VERY customizable. You can make Linux look like Windows, Mac, anything you want.

I don't know, I'm just putting my opinion out there.

TL;DR: Don't use XP, try a Linux distro built for older systems (Linux Lite, Xubuntu et cetera) , it runs great.

i think of using an xfce version of linux mint... you think it'll work?

 

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7 hours ago, QuantumReaper said:

i think of using an xfce version of linux mint... you think it'll work?

 

It should be fine. 

 

Just temper your expectations: web browsing is going to work like crap no matter what you do. 

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On 4/29/2021 at 1:50 PM, GrayTech said:

Please don't recommend Win XP for a web browsing machine. Using XP is just not safe anymore. (unless you don't connect it to the internet)

 

Yes, XP isn't safe in general (unless you're the US Government which pays microsoft millions to support their systems.) 

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