I'm using Ubuntu 19.
My laptop is pretty damn snappy, by comparison to when i was using 18(non-lts) it is actually night and day.
Wayland is a bit resource heavy, but normal Xorg takes a lot of the load off.
I may switch to Arch or Debian.
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Linux on laptop
- Thread starter cavedog
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I'm using Ubuntu 19.
My laptop is pretty damn snappy, by comparison to when i was using 18(non-lts) it is actually night and day.
Wayland is a bit resource heavy, but normal Xorg takes a lot of the load off.
I may switch to Arch or Debian.
pinball wizard
Honorary Master
Flavours of Ubuntu are still ubuntu with a different desktop environment. If Ubuntu is too heavy for a particular machine, chances are that Ubuntu with a light DE like XFCE or whatever will still be too heavy.
pinball wizard
Honorary Master
I'm running mint on a 10+ year old pentium HP lappy with 4Gb RAM. Runs like a dream.
Ubuntu is the OS. It's the desktop and apps that come with it that are either too heavy or not. You can also uninstall everything if you really want to.
That makes no sense.
Lupus
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What? I'm using 19.04 as my daily and it's perfect, running Chrome with multiple tabs, multiple terminals open, Windows VM, Firefox and the memory only hits 12 gigs thanks to the 8 gigs given to the VM.
Just adding my 2 cents.
The best Ubuntu was 10.4, it had all the best things that worked great together. (compiz, nvidia drivers, gnome 1, firestarter)
But those days are over sadly.
Manjaro is great (have been my primary for a few years) but since I started using MX, I could not go back.
Yes sure you dont have access to AUR, but there are workarounds in MX.
The main issue with Manjaro is the package management. You will notice that it will break the system eventually, and its difficult to keep certain packages supported because they like to be bleeding edge, and not properly test everything.
MX has a few awesome features which I love.
- xfce with settings/tweaks app (manjaro also has this but not as nice)
- nvidia driver installer made easy (better than manjaro)
- boot loader fixer app (manjaro does not have this)
- grub-customizer installed by default and working as expected (manjaro had this few years ago but lost support)
- conky-manager installed by default and working as expected (manjaro also have this)
- easy way to install and switch window managers (manjaro can also do this but more fiddly and not as stable)
The best Ubuntu was 10.4, it had all the best things that worked great together. (compiz, nvidia drivers, gnome 1, firestarter)
But those days are over sadly.
Manjaro is great (have been my primary for a few years) but since I started using MX, I could not go back.
Yes sure you dont have access to AUR, but there are workarounds in MX.
The main issue with Manjaro is the package management. You will notice that it will break the system eventually, and its difficult to keep certain packages supported because they like to be bleeding edge, and not properly test everything.
MX has a few awesome features which I love.
- xfce with settings/tweaks app (manjaro also has this but not as nice)
- nvidia driver installer made easy (better than manjaro)
- boot loader fixer app (manjaro does not have this)
- grub-customizer installed by default and working as expected (manjaro had this few years ago but lost support)
- conky-manager installed by default and working as expected (manjaro also have this)
- easy way to install and switch window managers (manjaro can also do this but more fiddly and not as stable)
SpliceGold
Senior Member
Same here. Have a really old +- 10 to 13yr old half functioning laptop that I put Mint on. Been working fine so far and I am enjoying it and learning quite a lot. Ubuntu is still my favorite but doubt my old Laptop wont run it.
How is this different to Xubuntu?
netstrider
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I personally use Mint all the time. I am also a big fan of Debian (the netinstall package) as that allows you to install the base OS and from there build your system with the desktop environment & apps you will actually use.
If you stick to the stable repositories your software will always be a little outdated but man it has never failed me for stability.
EDIT: I actually run 2 sets of Mint, one is dual booting with Windows and the other I installed on my 32GB USB 3 and I hardly notice that it is running from there. In fact I play Icewind Dale II from that USB exclusively.
The USB is also a handy little tool for recovering data from customers' bonked servers or to simply ensure I copy files from places I know there's some dodgy viruses floating around - happens a lot since the operators in control rooms love sticking their personal USBs in there to watch movies instead of actually monitoring premises...
That way I also always have my favourite browser, bookmarks, accounts and other software wherever I go - and it seems to work into any machine I stick it into.
If you stick to the stable repositories your software will always be a little outdated but man it has never failed me for stability.
EDIT: I actually run 2 sets of Mint, one is dual booting with Windows and the other I installed on my 32GB USB 3 and I hardly notice that it is running from there. In fact I play Icewind Dale II from that USB exclusively.
The USB is also a handy little tool for recovering data from customers' bonked servers or to simply ensure I copy files from places I know there's some dodgy viruses floating around - happens a lot since the operators in control rooms love sticking their personal USBs in there to watch movies instead of actually monitoring premises...
That way I also always have my favourite browser, bookmarks, accounts and other software wherever I go - and it seems to work into any machine I stick it into.
Last edited:
Grouter
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I'm still running Mint 17.3 KDE on my 7-year-old gigabyte laptop with an i7, 8Gb Ram, a Nvidia 620m something or other graphics chip and an SSD. I've tried KDE neon, latest Ubuntu, and MX and also Kubuntu, but none run as reliably as Mint 17.3. It's stopped updating now as it's out of support.... Meh.
If you can run Mint you can run Ubuntu, just use another desktop environment. IIRC Mint is based off of Ubuntu.
Smiley_lauf
Expert Member
How about Zorin lite/core-great GUI, I tried the live USB--smooth sailing (but my hardware is well endowed).
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
Upgrade to 19 then.
I’ve only recently jumped back to Ubuntu, straight to 19 and it’s impressed me well beyond all the others.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
Don’t agree at all.
Lubuntu runs and runs well on anything.
Even your microwave.
I mean the very Mint you just punted in your next post is technically also just a flavour of Ubuntu, yet for some reason that passes the fast and snappy test.
The main thing that separates packages is their approach to how it manages Software packages.
I like the way Ubuntu approaching it, many people have a strong dislikeof the Ubuntu software universe. The windowing front end is also just a software package, you can install another one with relative and simply log into your different GUI at any given time or as needs permit instead of downloading another flavor.
Other than more server focused Distros, in the desktop environment there are only two popular types of Linux distro - Debian and Arch.
Deb based Distros use APT for package management, which is much more straight forward. Ubuntu kinda complicates this a bit, but reading the docs on Ubuntu's approach to its "software universe" will clear this up.
Arch based distro - urgh. You'll end up fighting with the AUR and it's silly command line for a week, only to install Pamac and install bleeding edge versions of applications which mess everything up.
I like the way Ubuntu approaching it, many people have a strong dislikeof the Ubuntu software universe. The windowing front end is also just a software package, you can install another one with relative and simply log into your different GUI at any given time or as needs permit instead of downloading another flavor.
Other than more server focused Distros, in the desktop environment there are only two popular types of Linux distro - Debian and Arch.
Deb based Distros use APT for package management, which is much more straight forward. Ubuntu kinda complicates this a bit, but reading the docs on Ubuntu's approach to its "software universe" will clear this up.
Arch based distro - urgh. You'll end up fighting with the AUR and it's silly command line for a week, only to install Pamac and install bleeding edge versions of applications which mess everything up.
I have been running Manjaro for the last year on a laptop and desktop and had no mess up of anything. Pamac works for me. Some AUR packages don't work
It comes to preference, which is personal. If you are new to linux the varying preferences may confuse you to choose what to install
It comes to preference, which is personal. If you are new to linux the varying preferences may confuse you to choose what to install
Fair point, but no one tells you that unless you either hop on the forums or ask someone else who is using Manjaro.
When using Ubuntu, you can use Snap, which does everything for you and it works with the Ubuntu Software store.
Though using Snap on a distro other than Ubuntu is not exactly straight forward too - many have offered criticism of this, as Snap is kinda proprietary
When using Ubuntu, you can use Snap, which does everything for you and it works with the Ubuntu Software store.
Though using Snap on a distro other than Ubuntu is not exactly straight forward too - many have offered criticism of this, as Snap is kinda proprietary