Should I get Linux?

[treeroy]

I have a laptop that is very underpowered, I bought it new in the summer and haven't downloaded anything but it runs so slowly, always has done. Don't know why. A friend suggested that I change to Linux on it. All I use it for is browsing the web, but it's so slow at even doing that. Would wiping my hard drive and installing Linux make it faster? The laptop is awful, I mean it takes several seconds to click pause on a Youtube vid.

[jj9987]

Yes, a lightweight Linux could help you.

Another option if switching to SSD, especially considering how cheap they have gotten.

[Litargirio]

From my experience: yes it helps a lot. I did this with an old laptop once and it worked out very nicely.

[SCHISCHKA]

does it have eMMC storage?

[treeroy]

11 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

Yes, a lightweight Linux could help you.

Another option if switching to SSD, especially considering how cheap they have gotten.

Are there any distros you would recommend?

 

All I need is the ability to use a web browser and watch videos, things like flash/java/html5. If theres an application like Word that would be helpful, but not a must-have as I don't use it at the moment.

[treeroy]

10 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

does it have eMMC storage?

what on earth is that? It's just a regular 320GB hard drive and 4GB RAM, I think. At work atm so not sure exactly.

[SCHISCHKA]

1 minute ago, treeroy said:

what on earth is that? It's just a regular 320GB hard drive and 4GB RAM, I think. At work atm so not sure exactly.

ok if it was emmc it would only have 32gb. those are like flash drives and are slow. Have a look at your page faults in the system monitor. you should post your model and cpu etc when you get to it.

[Vadise]

Give an SSD a try if you must have Windows. Otherwise, any flavor of Ubuntu should be fine for you, although I recently tried Solus and it is pretty promising.

[matrix07012]

Maybe try reinstalling Windows, it might be full of bloatware from the manufacturer.

[treeroy]

4 minutes ago, matrix07012 said:

Maybe try reinstalling Windows, it might be full of bloatware from the manufacturer.

That was my suspicion as well but it even so it shouldn't grind the computer to a halt all the time. I'll have a look when I get home.

 

7 minutes ago, Vadise said:

Give an SSD a try if you must have Windows. Otherwise, any flavor of Ubuntu should be fine for you, although I recently tried Solus and it is pretty promising.

Nah, I'm not spending money on this piece of junk. Also I have no idea how to replace the storage on a laptop  

[tatte]

Next time you buy a PC that takes seven seconds to pause a Youtube video brand new, return it.

 

I take it you have switched to a browser with a proper adblock and regularly install Windows updates and scan for malware? Also making sure your Windows, especially if it's Windows 10, doesn't do anything stupid in the background is always super useful. If you don't use it often, it's possible Windows gasps for getting scheduled stuff done each time you bother to power it on.

 

I can understand why your friend would suggest the easiest solution, but luckily you came to the right place. You'll feel more satisfied if you figure out what's the matter with that Windows, and why would you be here if you didn't care about this stuff? C'mon, let's fix it!

[vorticalbox]

4 hours ago, Vadise said:

Give an SSD a try if you must have Windows. Otherwise, any flavor of Ubuntu should be fine for you, although I recently tried Solus and it is pretty promising.

Solus is nice as is elementary, I recently switched from ubuntu to Mint and rather liking it. 

[Sintezza]

Any specs of the laptop?

Based on the specs its a bit easier to recommend a well fitting distro.

Because not every distro and desktop envoirement will work well in any scenario.

You have manny distro´s and manny DE´s to choose from.

 

In terms of DE´s, if you are looking for something lightweight but fully functional specificly.

Then i could recommend the following.

 

- LXDE

- LXQT

- Mate

- XFCE

 

These are pretty much the lightest fully functional DE´s.

If you have determing which DE you prefer.

Then you could start looking at a distro of linking.

This will be depending on your hardware allot.

 

[treeroy]

Thanks for the advice all of you - @Litargirio @SCHISCHKA @Vadise @matrix07012 @tatte @vorticalbox @Sintezza

 

My laptop is an Asus X540SA.

CPU: Pentium N3700 quad core 1.6GHz

RAM: 4GB

It seems to have 1TB of storage... although this is split into 2 drives according to windows explorer? Can this really be right, why would they put 2 drives in a cheapo laptop. One drive seems to be about 400GB, one is 600GB.

[vorticalbox]

Just now, treeroy said:

Thanks for the advice all of you - @Litargirio @SCHISCHKA @Vadise @matrix07012 @tatte @vorticalbox @Sintezza

 

My laptop is an Asus X540SA.

CPU: Pentium N3700 quad core 1.6GHz

RAM: 4GB

It seems to have 1TB of storage... although this is split into 2 drives according to windows explorer? Can this really be right, why would they put 2 drives in a cheapo laptop. One drive seems to be about 400GB, one is 600GB.

its most likely the same drive with two partitions.

[treeroy]

4 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

its most likely the same drive with two partitions.

Probably. So if I wipe my hard drive and installed Linux it would just revert to one drive yeah?

Tbh I honestly thought I had 320GB drive, I just got 600GB free storage lol  

[vorticalbox]

58 minutes ago, treeroy said:

Probably. So if I wipe my hard drive and installed Linux it would just revert to one drive yeah?

Tbh I honestly thought I had 320GB drive, I just got 600GB free storage lol  

You can set it however you like though just letting it wipe the whole drive for simplicity.

[/dev/God/Haruhi]

Try giving LXLE a spin. If it managed to revive my laptop I highly doubt it won't be able to make yours run smooth. You would have to install Firefox or Chromium/Chrome post install, since I've found that Seamonkey, it's default browser, leaves a bit to be desired at least for me. And if you don't want to fully commit you can use those new Gb that you found for dual boot for a test run. I would not completely discard the SSD either, even if that happens later down the line.

[Sintezza]

Based on the laptop specs i could recommend the following distro´s.

 

Ubuntu based:

- Ubuntu Mate.

- Linux mint Mate or XFCE.

- Pepermint OS7.

- Linux Lite 3.2

 

* honnerable mentions; Lubuntu and Xubuntu.

 

Rhel based:

- Fedora 25 XFCE with rpm-fusion

 

Arch based:

- Manjaro XFCE.

 

If you are new to Linux i would recommend to go with one of the Ubuntu based recommendations.

 

[treeroy]

9 minutes ago, Sintezza said:

Based on the laptop specs i could recommend the following distro´s.

 

Ubuntu based:

- Ubuntu Mate.

- Linux mint Mate or XFCE.

- Pepermint OS7.

- Linux Lite 3.2

 

Rhel based:

- Fedora 25 XFCE with rpm-fusion

 

Arch based:

- Manjaro XFCE.

 

If you are new to Linux i would recommend to go with one of the Ubuntu based recommendations.

 

What are the differences between different distros? As in, does different software work only on certain versions? There are so many I don't really know the differences

 

 

I am looking for something lightweight, doesn't need to run much, it's not for "power use" or anything (I see so many articles about how great Linux is for productivity etc... I don't want that)

[Sintezza]

24 minutes ago, treeroy said:

What are the differences between different distros? As in, does different software work only on certain versions? There are so many I don't really know the differences

 

 

I am looking for something lightweight, doesn't need to run much, it's not for "power use" or anything (I see so many articles about how great Linux is for productivity etc... I don't want that)

The main diffrences between distributions are package management,

update management and software repositories.

 

Rolling release distribtions like Arch of Manjaro for instance have all then latest bleeding edge kernels and software.

However they also come with the latest bugs.

So this means that once in a while there could be a possible update that breaks the system.

However rolling releases are often faster with patching security issues aswell.

Also Arch based distributions have one of the largest software repositories the AUR, which pretty much gives you acces to allmost any piece of software ever developed for linux.

However again this also comes with downsides in terms of security and reliability, if you decide to use the AUR with Manjaro for example, you dont have to ofc.

 

Ubuntu / Debian based distro´s.

Ubuntu and Debian are one of the largest distributions in existance.

Ubuntu has a really big fan base, and whatever distro based of Ubuntu you install, wenn there are any problems, there is allot of help to find on the net for you.

Which on Arch based distro´s can be a bit of pain in the rear.

Next to that Ubuntu based distro´s have a large software repository available too you aswell.

And next to that, with certain distro´s its pretty easy to use third party ppa´s.

However those third party ppa´s do ofc come with some kind of a security risk.

Overall you can say that Long term support distro´s like Ubuntu based, are more user friendly, and overall more stable.

Because they stay at a certain stable kernal base.

But they tempt to do short intrem releases every 6 months.

 

Fedora 25, is a bit diffrent from the rest.

They are semi rolling, which means they patch security issues pretty quickly, but come with an update ever 6 to 8 months.

The repository and its packagement out of the box might be a difficult for new users.

And Fedora isnt really concidered as a new user friendly distro.

However with the rpm fusion repository, its easier to install third party software.

 

If you are a Linux starter, then i would say since you dont have AMD graphics, go with a Ubuntu based distro.

It will most likely work the best for you out of the box.

[KenjiUmino]

I recommend Mint XFCE because thats what I use for old hardware - and by old i mean "really old" 

 

it is so light on the hardware that it can make an obsolete pentium M laptop somewhat usable again. 

 

it is also very beginner friendly. most hardware i threw at it "just worked" without fiddling around.

 

it also comes with everything needed for internet media and media in general right out of the box - just make sure you tick that "install proprietary codecs and stuff" box on installation

[treeroy]

I installed Ubuntu MATE last night, really liking it so far.

[JefferyD90]

On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 4:25 AM, treeroy said:

I have a laptop that is very underpowered, I bought it new in the summer and haven't downloaded anything but it runs so slowly, always has done. Don't know why. A friend suggested that I change to Linux on it. All I use it for is browsing the web, but it's so slow at even doing that. Would wiping my hard drive and installing Linux make it faster? The laptop is awful, I mean it takes several seconds to click pause on a Youtube vid.

Doing a good clean install of Windows will probably work wonders too.  Really almost any modern day computer will be able to browse the web just fine as long as you're not installing 100 different add-ons.

[vorticalbox]

On ‎08‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 4:20 PM, KenjiUmino said:

I recommend Mint XFCE because thats what I use for old hardware - and by old i mean "really old" 

 

it is so light on the hardware that it can make an obsolete pentium M laptop somewhat usable again. 

 

it is also very beginner friendly. most hardware i threw at it "just worked" without fiddling around.

 

it also comes with everything needed for internet media and media in general right out of the box - just make sure you tick that "install proprietary codecs and stuff" box on installation

dont you find it funny that hardware that was perfectly fine now has to be "useable" again?