Lightweight OS

[Maximoose]

Can someone rank these OSes from most lightweight to least lightweight:

 

• Elementary OS
• Ubuntu
• Windows 10
• Windows 7
• Chrome OS

[FAQBytes]

 

Can someone rank these OSes from most lightweight to least lightweight:

 

• Elementary OS
• Ubuntu
• Windows 10
• Windows 7
• Chrome OS

 

Elementary

Ubuntu

Chrome

7

10

[Stuff_]

What's the reason for limiting to just those OSes?

[corbetto]

Chrome

Ubuntu

Elementary

windows 7

windows 10

?

[Maximoose]

What's the reason for limiting to just those OSes?

 

Because I am just looking at using those OSes for a project I want to do, I have done my research, any other OS is out of the question.

[manikyath]

Elementary

Ubuntu

Chrome

7

10

unsure about this... it feels like you just put them in a random order...

this is what i'd make from it:

chromeos - its made to run on shyte PCs, and its made to do so well.

elementary - basicly ubuntu without 90% of the preinstalled software, and a lighter UI (unity is a bitch.)

10 - they actually did a lot to make it run better on slow systems, or systems with specific bottlenecks like hard drives made from untreated 80's car wrecks.

ubuntu - i'd dare to say the most bloated of linuxes, but also the most user friendly.

7 - well deserved last place for the os that had it all, and was thrown away for a UI that doesnt even has a propper way of setting a color scheme.

[Stuff_]

Because I am just looking at using those OSes for a project I want to do, I have done my research, any other OS is out of the question.

Fair enough. 

Though, do you mean which one uses less ram while operating, or disk space?

 

Elementary is Ubuntu based, with their theme on top. 

[givingtnt]

arch linux

[APasz]

unsure about this... it feels like you just put them in a random order...

this is what i'd make from it:

chromeos - its made to run on shyte PCs, and its made to do so well.

elementary - basicly ubuntu without 90% of the preinstalled software, and a lighter UI (unity is a bitch.)

10 - they actually did a lot to make it run better on slow systems, or systems with specific bottlenecks like hard drives made from untreated 80's car wrecks.

ubuntu - i'd dare to say the most bloated of linuxes, but also the most user friendly.

7 - well deserved last place for the os that had it all, and was thrown away for a UI that doesnt even has a propper way of setting a color scheme.

I would agree with this list. Chrome, Elementry, 10, Ubuntu, 7

Assuming you are looking for overall light-weightiness. The list would be slightly different for cpu, ram or disk usage but also by how fast certain actions can be completed in the code.

[manikyath]

I would agree with this list. Chrome, Elementry, 10, Ubuntu, 7

most of it comes from experience, sadly elementary as well... and it wasnt the best of experiences...

they basicly created the walled garden of apple with the hassle of linux.

[FAQBytes]

unsure about this... it feels like you just put them in a random order...

this is what i'd make from it:

chromeos - its made to run on shyte PCs, and its made to do so well.

elementary - basicly ubuntu without 90% of the preinstalled software, and a lighter UI (unity is a bitch.)

10 - they actually did a lot to make it run better on slow systems, or systems with specific bottlenecks like hard drives made from untreated 80's car wrecks.

ubuntu - i'd dare to say the most bloated of linuxes, but also the most user friendly.

7 - well deserved last place for the os that had it all, and was thrown away for a UI that doesnt even has a propper way of setting a color scheme.

Alright, here is my reasoning. 

 

Elementary, because exactly what you said. I's a cut down Ubuntu.

After that is Ubuntu because the inverse.

 

I put Chrome OS after Ubuntu because many of the limitations placed on it that causes issues with me. Ubuntu, while it can be a little bit of a pain, can set any of these things up. I counted this as a hit against it, although you may not. Ubuntu is essentially the bare minimum for what can be considered an up-to-date OS. 

 

Where the two desktop experiences begin to differ is with Google passing off websites as applications. On the other hand, Ubuntu offers actual software, but it lacks consistency and uniformity. Neither option is a bad thing per se, but individuals users may have their own expectations as to how things should run.

 

 

 

 

Also, since everything in Chrome OS takes place within the browser, the end user has a sense of continuity. It also means the software you enjoy in Chrome OS is also available on other operating systems through the Chrome browser.On the other hand, none of Chrome's software is truly available offline. Yes, thanks to various caching technologies you can access docs and Gmail offline. However, installing software isn't possible unless you're connected to the Internet. Also, if you lose your user name and/or password, you may find it difficult to recover them despite Google's default login recovery methods.

 

Generally speaking, devices such as headsets, keyboards, mice and external media devices all work fine on both operating systems. Since both Ubuntu and Chrome OS use the Linux kernel, this makes sense. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that what works on one platform is going to work the same way on another.

 

I chose 7 over 10 for a few reasons. Mostly because it just works better. While this isn't an issue for most people. I have had plenty of problems with Windows 10, even with my E5-2680, that caused it to be unusable. They can be flip-flopped in terms of "lightness" as there is not a set definition. I've noticed that a vast majority of the time with common workloads that Windows 7 just uses fewer resources than what Windows 10 does. Is that my fault? Who knows. 

 

While I want to prefer Windows 10 over 7, mostly because DX12, but I just can't. 

[Opask]

most of it comes from experience, sadly elementary as well... and it wasnt the best of experiences...

they basicly created the walled garden of apple with the hassle of linux.

Thats the thing with elementary. They created what is essentially a desktop environment but for some reason felt the urge to fork ubuntu and make it into a new distro. There is zero reason for it to be its own distro it makes no sense.

@Maximoose

Since you have limited this to some pretty poor choices IMO I will do what I can.

ChromeOS <-- Skinned version of Gentoo that google has tied down to only work with chrome apps. Most lightweight of you choices.

Ubuntu <-- for no reason other then thats my only option. It is pretty heavyweight.

Elementry <-- All around poor choice.

Win 7 & 10 <-- These are probably about the same. Most peoples win 10 installs are still pretty fresh so so far it hasn't been bogged down. But I imagine that after it reaches the same age as a 7 install it will be just as slow.

Also with your GNU/Linux distros they can be as heavy or lightweight as you want. The thing with those two is that they are both heavy out of the box and to slim them down would be a total pain in the ass. Especially with apt.

If you want a light weight install you are going to have to start with something with less garbage then those choices.

[manikyath]

Thats the thing with elementary. They created what is essentially a desktop environment but for some reason felt the urge to fork ubuntu and make it into a new distro. There is zero reason for it to be its own distro it makes no sense.

i needed to add a repository from a different distro to get a system monitor... (task manager for the plebdows users)

[Maximoose]

Fair enough. 

Though, do you mean which one uses less ram while operating, or disk space?

 

Elementary is Ubuntu based, with their theme on top. 

 

Disk space is not a problem, I am looking at refurbishing a few old pcs

[connorpiper]

Windows 8.1 is the lightest version of Windows. It runs very fast on older PCs. Including a Athlon Live! computer that I have. 

[Stuff_]

Well then, I personally would suggest Ubuntu. Except, I would drop unity altogether, and grab a different flavor suchas Kubuntu, or even Xubuntu. 

[Degru]

 

Can someone rank these OSes from most lightweight to least lightweight:

 

• Elementary OS
• Ubuntu
• Windows 10
• Windows 7
• Chrome OS

 

1. ChromeOS

2. Elementary OS

3. Ubuntu

4. Windows 10

5. Windows 7

[dweyn]

For a lightweight OS, try distros that use XFCE. Linux Mint is a good linux distro.