I'm planning to switch from Windows to Linux on my used Asus Aspire E5-774 laptop. While I currently have Windows 10 installed, I've noticed it can slow down older machines. I'm looking for a beginner-friendly Linux distribution that's light, easy to use, and can handle gaming since I'd like to play titles like Rain World, Ultrakill, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, and maybe Silksong. I have very limited programming knowledge, but I'm comfortable using a PC for everyday tasks. I want to avoid anything too complicated that might risk bricking my system. The laptop specs include an Intel i3-7100 processor, 6GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 620, and NVIDIA GeForce 940MX. Any distro recommendations?
2 Answers
I suggest going with Linux Mint, especially the XFCE version. It's user-friendly, lightweight, and has a strong community support, so you won't get stuck easily. It works great on older hardware, and you'll find a lot of resources to help you out as you learn. Plus, it has a desktop interface that feels familiar to Windows users, making the transition smoother!
If you're looking for something that's easy to use and has good gaming support, Mint is definitely a great choice. But don't overlook Pop!_OS! It's a little more gaming-focused and has features like automatic graphics switching, which could be handy for your setup. That said, Mint is still my top recommendation for beginners!
Absolutely agree! Mint XFCE is also stable and should support the games you want to play quite well. You can check out Proton DB to see how well they'll run on Linux.