I'm currently using Mint Cinnamon on my low-end PC, and it's not going well. It frequently freezes, forcing me to do hard shutdowns. I've considered trying another Mint version, but I've heard Debian and Arch are even lighter options. Some folks think these require heavy configuration, which I'm okay with if it means better performance. I mainly use Obsidian, Firefox, and Steam (only for native games, though I still experience freezing with lightweight options like *Oxygen Not Included*). My specs are:
* **CPU:** Intel Pentium J4205 (4 cores)
* **GPU:** Intel HD Graphics 505 @ 0.80 GHz
* **Memory:** 2.50 GiB / 3.66 GiB (68%)
I know my setup isn't optimal, and upgrading RAM isn't an option for me. I'd love to know what distro might work best for my situation, or any tips to enhance my Linux experience. Thanks!
5 Answers
You might want to try a lighter desktop environment like Mint XFCE. It’s more efficient for lower-spec hardware than Cinnamon.
Look for lighter alternatives to your regular apps. Your distro only uses a small fraction of your resources, while heavy apps like Obsidian and Steam consume most of it. Lightweight applications might make a big difference.
If you’re open to a totally different distro, you could try Arch with Openbox or Fluxbox. I’ve had great results on my old Acer Aspire. Sometimes you can find older laptops at yard sales with better specs, so it might be worth checking out local sales.
With just 2GB of RAM, Cinnamon is likely too heavy for your system. I've had success running Debian with LXQt on an old laptop with similar specs. Also, consider switching from Firefox to Chromium to save on memory, and turning off swap could surprisingly help reduce freezing issues.
I ran Fedora with XFCE on my Celeron laptop with 2GB RAM and it was pretty snappy. XFCE really is lightweight.
Bodhi Linux is another great option; it uses very little RAM and has a nice interface. Being Ubuntu-based, it should be relatively easy to switch to.
That's interesting! I've found using a system without a full desktop environment can improve performance too.