Hey everyone! I have an older desktop computer with an i5 2500 that has been sitting unused for a while since I was traveling. It's currently running Windows 10, but it's no longer activated and it's pretty sluggish. I used to rely heavily on Office, but these days I mostly use Google services like Docs and Sheets. I'm considering installing a Linux distribution to get it working again, but I want to know if that's a good idea. I'm looking for recommendations on a distro that's stable, lightweight for older hardware, and easy to use since I'm not very experienced with Linux. Should I go for Linux Mint, Ubuntu LTS, or something else? Or would it be better to stick with Windows even if it's not activated?
4 Answers
If you want something even lighter, try Linux Mint with the XFCE desktop environment. Pair it with Ventoy for easy USB installation, and you're good to go! You can find both on their official sites. It'll really breathe life into your old machine!
I've got regular Linux Mint running on my Thinkpad with an i5 and 16GB of RAM, and it's smooth sailing. Definitely recommend it for your setup!
You can't go wrong with Linux Mint; it's an easy transition from Windows and works well on older hardware. Just stick with the default settings when you install it—it's designed to be user-friendly for newcomers. I've been using it for a while, and I haven't had any major issues. Definitely a good pick!
Kubuntu is also a solid choice if you want something that looks a bit different but still runs well. It has a good interface and can handle older hardware just fine as long as you have at least 4GB of RAM. I’m on an i5 2500 myself, and it works great!
I totally agree with that! The defaults are really solid, and unless you need specific tweaks, just leave things as is—Mint is very accommodating for those switching from Windows.