Linux for an older laptop, for an older person

spudbynight · 23 Sep 2015 at 10:11

I've a friend who is having problems with her laptop. She mentions that it keeps on crashing and giving her all sorts of issues. The laptop in question is running Vista so I don't think its spec will be very high.

She had been thinking about buying a new laptop for herself, and had identified something in John Lewis for £199. She is a pensioner and funds are tight for her. Those laptops are either Chromebooks OR lowend Windows machines.

I got to thinking that possibly running something like LXLE on her current laptop might give her as much performance and stability as she needs. I haven't used Windows on one of those low end laptops, but I can't imagine it being nippy. Am I right?

I was going to stick LXLE on a live USB stick and let her play with it for a day or two. What I don't want though is to install Linux for her and end up having to go to her several times a week.

spudbynight · 23 Sep 2015 at 10:24

She uses it for general web stuff. Nothing terribly taxing. She does use MSWord for some writing. She has had a couple of books published and wants to write another. I broached the idea of using google apps for writing a book and she did seem to wince a bit.

I don't think she uses all the bells and whistles of Word so I think she would be fine with Libre Office or similar.

I did have the same thought about a Chromebook as it would remove a lot of the headaches like updates and AV software for her.

spudbynight · 23 Sep 2015 at 13:18

I hadn't thought about the Office Web Apps. Is it possible to run Chromium OS as a live installation from a USB?

spudbynight · 23 Sep 2015 at 21:35

Will Chromium update once installed? I spoke with her about ChromeOS and she was really keen.

I had a look at the machine and it is achingly slow under Windows. She has 3GB of RAM and a 2.5Ghz Core processor. I think it might be a Core2 Duo. I ran LXLE from a live USB stick and it was much more responsive.