Lightweight distro for older laptop

Posted by Comfortable_Door389@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 15 comments

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for a lightweight linux distro for and older HP laptop. It is the HP 15-bs134wm. You can view the specs here Here*, but I will also list them. The device was released in 2018 I believe and the hardware installed is

Processor: Intel Pentium 4417U 2.30 GHz

Ram: 4GB DDR4

Disk: 500GB Seagate SATA drive

At some point I may upgrade the RAM and Storage, but not sure.

This device will mainly be used for web-browsing and watching netflix, youtube ect. I'd like an OS that is relatively easy and simple to use/maintain since my non-tech savvy wife will be the main user.

I am planning on using Brave browser as that is what I use on my desktops, but also open to other browser suggestions.

TIA!

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bubusleep@reddit

If you want to make it more durable , try to upgrade RAM (8 or 16 g) and replace hard drive by a ssd. On current state, most of distro must work on this machine but, use a light desktop environment to ne more fluent. Depending of your skills you can use the following (from beginner to more experimented) : - xubuntu - linux mint (mate or xfce) - debian - archlinux

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Comfortable_Door389@reddit (OP)

Ahh well I guess I'm on the right track; as of the posting I was considering mint xfce, or lubuntu. Is there any specific reason you'd recommend xubuntu over lubuntu other than I believe xubuntu comes with a few pre-installed tools that could be helpful?

For this, I'd like to stay away from arch. Just want to keep setup sweet and simple and leave arch on another Pc I've been playing around with.

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bubusleep@reddit

For xfce, this is just a personal preference :) , lxde can do the job.

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Lost4name@reddit

I've tried a number of light distros lately and Lubuntu just feels like a lite distro. Xubuntu or Linux Mint XFCE are running as regular distros that are lite. In my case I settled on MX Linux, it is also XFCE but seems to run a little better on an old Pentium like that.

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derangedtranssexual@reddit

Just buy a newer computer, don’t waste your time on something that shit

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Comfortable_Door389@reddit (OP)

I have 3 Pc's, and 4 laptops including this one. Just trying to keep it going and not create more waste. Thanks for the advice though.

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derangedtranssexual@reddit

You're not creating less waste by holding onto a terrible laptop for a couple more years, you're just delaying throwing something out. It will become e-waste eventually, throwing it out in a couple years isn't any better than throwing it out now.

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Comfortable_Door389@reddit (OP)

Missing the point. It's wasteful to toss something that functions and can still have a use. When it dies, I'll toss it. Or when I no longer have a use for it I'll give it away to someone who might, or maybe someone who wants to learn something new. Ya know it's kinda like my wife's grandfather who gave me a shitty old motorcycle instead of scrapping it, it still runs fine and I had a use for it when he didn't.

If that's your way of looking at things then why live? You're just delaying death. Everything will be gone eventually.

But again, thanks for the advice without actually answering the proposed question and assuming I don't have a newer computer.

Have a great night, and don't let the bed bugs bite.

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derangedtranssexual@reddit

You have 7 computers now, what use case do you have for this laptop that your 6 other computers couldn't do better?

Or when I no longer have a use for it I'll give it away to someone who might

Oh I'm sure people will be lining up to take your laptop with 4GB of ram and a spinning rust hard drive. They'll be so fucking excited to get a dogshit laptop with 4GB of ram and a hard drive.

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DFS_0019287@reddit

Debian Stable + XFCE.

4GB will make things painful. I have a machine similar to yours; I upgraded the disk to an SSD and the RAM from 4GB to 16GB and now it's a perfectly usable laptop. I recommend upgrading the RAM at least, and the disk if you can.

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Linux Mint fam, Linux Mint.

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le-strule@reddit

With 4gb xubuntu, but I'd recommend upgrading to 8gb if your model allows, shouldn't be expensive and would allow just about any distro