Best Lightweight Linux Distros for an Old XPS 13
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TechWanderer88
Hey everyone! I have a 10-year-old XPS 13 laptop that's become really slow, especially when browsing the web. I'm looking to switch to something lighter than Windows. Here are the specs: 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD, and a 128 MB graphics card. I was thinking about trying Linux Mint with the Xfce desktop environment. It's important for me to be able to use Zoom and Steam. What do you all think about Mint Xfce, and do you have any other distro recommendations? Thanks!
Answers
Linux Mint should work fine since it's based on Debian, allowing you to download Zoom easily. However, you might want to check out Peppermint Linux as it's lighter and also uses the Xfce desktop. Just a thought!
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You could also visit the distro selection page in our wiki for more recommendations! Smokey suggests running regular backups, testing everything in a VM first, and making sure to understand commands before executing them. Good luck!
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First things first, consider running Tron Antimalware in Windows to clean it up before switching. And if you decide to try AntiX, it runs really light—less than 400 MB!
TechWanderer88: Thanks, I’ll run Tron AntiMalware before doing anything. Great suggestion!
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Definitely a solid choice with Linux Mint XFCE. I’d also recommend looking into Lubuntu with the basic installation. The LxQt environment is great for lightweight performance.
TechWanderer88: Thanks! I'll check out Lubuntu.
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LightSpeedGeek: AntiX is the lightest GUI distro I've come across outside of Puppy. It might be worth a try too!
TechWanderer88: Thanks! Yea, Peppermint caught my attention as well.