I'm looking for suggestions for lightweight Linux distros because my old laptop (from around 2017) is really struggling lately. After it updated to Windows 11, it became extremely laggy, and it wasn't great on Windows 10 either. I've tried a few distros like Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Mint, Manjaro with KDE Plasma, and Garuda, but they all feel pretty heavy. My laptop specs are 4GB of RAM (only about 3.83 usable) and an Intel Celeron N4000 processor running at 1.1 GHz. Any recommendations for lightweight alternatives?
5 Answers
What makes a distro lightweight is mainly the desktop environment. Look for distros that use Xfce, MATE, LXQt, or LXDE, as they're less intensive on resources than heavier environments like GNOME or KDE.
It's kind of amusing that you think a 2017 laptop is "very old"! But seriously, have you considered trying Debian, MX Linux, or antiX? Those are pretty light and should help speed things up!
Yeah, I think that CPU really holds it back. Maybe it's time for an upgrade, but those distros might help!
MX Linux is amazing for older hardware! I'd definitely recommend giving it a try; it’s user-friendly and performs really well on low-spec machines!
Don't just consider the distro itself—think about the desktop environment! EndeavourOS, with GNOME or KDE, or even Ubuntu with Unity would work well for you. Experiment with different environments to see what feels lighter for your laptop!
Before switching distros, check your storage setup. I have a similar system and it runs fine with some tweaks. I set up Zram and added `noatime` to my mount options, which really smoothed things out for me. You can check the Debian wiki for guides on that.
Haha, I get it! It's more of a "slow potato" now. Thanks for those suggestions!