What OS do you recommend for an old laptop? Internet, excel and teamviewer use.

[AgustinL]

Hello guys! Long time LTT follower but first time posting in the forum.

A good friend is having trouble with an old laptop in his convenience store and asked me for help. I'm from Argentina and resources here are pretty scarse, thus buying a new one it's not an option. 

I think that Linux is the way to go in this case but I've never use the OS. Which of the several options do you recommend for this usecase? We'd need to run an internet browser, excel and teamviewer.

Oh, and the computer screen is busted so we need to be able to use an external monitor. 

 

Thanks in advance for you help! 

[Supersonicwolfe]

How old?

I have a i7-3610QM and running Windows 10 on SSD is still OK

[ET_Explorer]

First, we need the make and model or serial number of the laptop which can be found the back of the laptop.

[AgustinL]

I don't know exacly but it doesn't have a SSD (Probably more than 7 years being use everyday). Next time I see him I'll get the model name and more information about the system. 

[AgustinL]

1 minute ago, ET_Explorer said:

First, we need the make and model or serial number of the laptop which can be found the back of the laptop.

I'll get this information ASAP and let you guys know.

[Supersonicwolfe]

3 minutes ago, AgustinL said:

I don't know exacly but it doesn't have a SSD (Probably more than 7 years being use everyday). Next time I see him I'll get the model name and more information about the system. 

If it doesn't have a SSD, even a modern budget SSD like a PNY CS900 (or better a decent SSD like a Samsung 860 EVO/Crucial MX500) will be a great upgrade.

[Inception9269]

@AgustinL My recommendation would be Linux Mint Debian Edition / LMDE https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

Mint has always been the go-to recommendation for people switching over from Windows. Normal Mint I will never recommend anymore, with me personally swearing off Ubuntu based distros for various reasons.

 

For LMDE it uses the latest release of Debian, with Debian being regarded as the king of stability. Both use the apt package manager, which means you'd check for and install updates with "sudo apt update" and "sudo apt upgrade", with "sudo apt install ___" to install software via terminal, with the name of software you wish to install being in the blank. That said, post install wine and winetricks are the two you'd want to install via the terminal for simplicity sake, with Wine making it possible to use Windows software (for the most part there is a Linux alternative to just about everything that isn't officially supported). The nice thing about Mint is they have a really good driver manager tool for downloading and installing drivers for your system, and they also have a good software center that will make it easy for you to download and install whatever without needing to open the terminal. They also have a graphical user interface for if you want to update your system without using the terminal.

[chtorogu]

KDE (Kubuntu) feels snappier on my 4690k system than newer and more powerful systems with Windows that I work on sometimes for clients. If it has (or can be brought to) 16 GB of RAM, go with that. If it has 8 GB or less then a Xfce based distro would be preferable. Linux Mint is also a good choice though I felt that KDE is snappier on the 4690k, though your mileage may vary.

 

For Xfce, go with the Xfce version of Mint as it's configured in a Windows-like manner. Either of these options will feel familiar to a Windows user.

 

An SSD is also an essential upgrade, and a cheap one. Just don't go for the very cheapest and be sure it has DRAM cache.

 

Internet, spread sheet and teamviewer will be no problem regardless of what you choose. Teamviewer has a Linux native version and there are plenty of good options for browsers and office apps.

[UnhingedIT]

Linux is the way to go here my man. Personally I recommend Lubuntu as it is one of the most slickest and lightweight distros out there. 

You only need 1GB RAM and any CPU AND it works well on every architecture. 

For office suite go for LibreOffice (which comes pre-installed) its the free alternative for Microsoft Office and does the same thing.

 

If you want to go balls to the wall lightweight try tinycore