Which Linux Distro Should I Choose for My Old Laptop?

Honestly, I'd go for Linux Mint; it’s well-known for being user-friendly, especially with older hardware. XFCE is a lightweight option within Mint that could work perfectly for your setup. Just keep in mind that Ubuntu has a great look and feel, but might be a bit heavy for your old laptop.

If you want to keep things super simple, Mint Cinnamon or Mint XFCE could be excellent options. They provide a good balance of performance and usability.

For a beginner, I'd suggest going with a Debian or Ubuntu-based distro. Linux Mint with XFCE would be a great fit since your laptop doesn’t have a lot of power to spare. CachyOS could work too, but I usually steer clear of Arch-based distros for newbies because of the steeper learning curve.

For something incredibly lightweight, you could try Antix for a functional desktop. But if you prefer something more user-friendly yet still light, stick with Ubuntu or Mint as you've already mentioned. They both cater pretty well to older machines.

A lot of folks recommend Ubuntu because of its ease and the wealth of guides available, but remember it's based on Debian. It might be worthwhile to install Debian and choose from a variety of desktop environments. You can create a live USB with Ventoy to test different environments without committing to a full installation. I personally liked XFCE for its low resource usage and customizability.