'Lightweight' version of OS recommendation?

[TukangUsapEmenq]

In a nutshell, I've got myself a 2-in-1, just for casual use like watch Linus dropping things, Netflix, browsing, learning things outside of my room and such. It's a ThinkPad 11e, a 2nd Generation ones sporting as below:

 

Intel M-5Y10c, details as here. (I ordered the N4100 ones but it came with this one model sadly lol)

4 GB of RAM, soldered unfortunately, no way to upgrade.

128 GB of SSD. Upgradeable, and would go for 256GB if it's indeed necessary.

Windows 10  Pro out of the seller.

 

Surprisingly, this little machine runs rather well while I do things on it (not much obviously), despite the CPU and RAM kinda struggles to keep on it and it shutters/lags here and there. Yes, I do know exactly the risk of buying such devices.  Yes, I know, it's stupid, but I do want 2-in-1 as my secondary device and this is the one that I could get cheap (and inside my budget without killing my wallet), and, hey, it's a ThinkPad. New tablets like Samsung's A8 on the price close enough would have nearly the same performance anyway.

 

Welp, we know how 'heavy' Windows 10 for such device, I'm thinking of going for 'more lighter' OS. I do see Tiny11, Ghost Spectre, Windows Superlight, and else. Heck, even ChromeOS Flex and it's forks is indeed interesting, or maybe some kind of Linux distro that's good for the one that won't do much 'hardcore' settings with CMD and good interface for touchscreen.

 

Yet, before choosing one of them, any recommendations that I could get?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Update 06/11/23: Installed Windows 11 Ghost Spectre and upgraded it to a 240GB SATA SSD, and it's been the smoothest experience that I've had on that laptop.

[LapsedMemory]

For a really lightweight installation that works well for general use, my typical fallback is Linux Mint.  On something with this specs, I would try Mint XFCE edition and see how it handles.  It should run circles around any of the Windows light weight versions.  

[Aaron_T]

I've not personally done a ChromeOS flex install on an old device, but this would be my first choice due to the large eco system of supported apps that are available and the generally light weight that a webOS provides, as well as being built for good touchscreen support by default.

[TukangUsapEmenq]

37 minutes ago, LapsedMemory said:

For a really lightweight installation that works well for general use, my typical fallback is Linux Mint.  On something with this specs, I would try Mint XFCE edition and see how it handles.  It should run circles around any of the Windows light weight versions.  

I tried Linux Mint before, it's indeed good but if it's Linux, I could want something with better UI for touchscreen.

 

Just stumbling around Fedora 36/38 Workstation, seems interesting tbh, any experience of using it?

 

39 minutes ago, Aaron_T said:

I've not personally done a ChromeOS flex install on an old device, but this would be my first choice due to the large eco system of supported apps that are available and the generally light weight that a webOS provides, as well as being built for good touchscreen support by default.

My concern of using web-based OS like ChromeOS is actually when it kinda always needs to connect on internet, and, somehow, I do want to do lightweight gaming like RimWorld/else, which I don't know if ChromeOS supports. 

[LapsedMemory]

1 hour ago, TukangUsapEmenq said:

Just stumbling around Fedora 36/38 Workstation, seems interesting tbh, any experience of using it?

 

I haven't used Fedora in a very long time.  From what I remember of it, it was a good OS, but it had all the bells-and-whistles as well, so it wasn't necessarily 'lightweight' unless you specifically took the time to trim it down.  Someone with more experience with the newer releases may be able to shed better light on it, though.   As long as you're committed to changing anyway, it wouldn't hurt to throw it on and see how it runs.

[E-waste]

On 6/7/2023 at 11:29 AM, TukangUsapEmenq said:

I do want to do lightweight gaming

You may want to try installing SteamOS, now based on Arch Linux so it is more uodated vs older steamOS, and with SteamPlay you can play many Windows games quite well.

 

It is translating directX into Vulkan now, and performance is quite similar to Windows in many cases but of course there are still thousands of bugs to work out, but with Wine updates having 200-400 bugfixes per release, with 8.1 having 550+ bugfixes, steady progress is being made to supplant Microsoft's vendor lockin and take away their power, forcing everyone onto Microsoft-only software for far too long

 

With Vulkan and steamplay, Windows is no longer a requirement and games that don't work well will eventually have most of the bugs fixes in time.