Hey everyone! After watching a PewDiePie video, I'm thinking about switching from Windows 10 to Linux on my old HP 820 G3 laptop with an i5-6200U and 8GB of RAM. I have a few questions:
1. Will Linux run smoothly on my laptop since it's not exactly high-end?
2. If I delete Windows and go for Linux, will I lose my Windows license key?
3. Which Linux distribution would you recommend for a beginner? Is Arch Linux really the best option? Thanks for any help! 🙏
5 Answers
For those new to Linux, Mint is a great start! If later on you feel up to the challenge, you can look into Arch or an Arch-based distro that’s preconfigured.
If Linux Mint doesn’t do the trick for you, check out Elementary OS; it's very easy to use. Also, DistroWatch.com has plenty of options to explore different distributions!
Yeah, Linux should work just fine on your laptop! No worries about performance there.
As for your Windows license, it’s usually tied to your Microsoft account. So if you decide to reinstall Windows later, you can reactivate it as long as your PC connects to the internet again. I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu; it's super user-friendly.
You might want to check out the migration resources we have, which offer some good tips for moving from Windows to Linux. Remember, use root access sparingly and verify your ISO checksums after downloading!
1. Absolutely, Linux can run on older hardware without issues.
2. You won't lose your license key; it's stored on Microsoft's servers, so it can be reactivated if you reinstall Windows later.
3. I suggest trying out Linux Mint first. It's the easiest for users migrating from Windows!
Just to clarify, the license will only reactivate if you go back to Windows. Linux won't connect to Microsoft servers.