Will Linux improve a netbook video playback?

ExoMale · 20 Mar 2017 at 10:34

might sound like a daft question as everything varies to type of hardware, but I used to have a netbook that I had win 7 home and then win 10 before I sold it and YouTube videos wasn't very playable and it even struggled with kodi and my movie files, wasn't something I originally purchased it for, was perfect used condition and very cheap hence why I had it and so yesterday I put Zorin Education edition on my old battered dell inspiron 1501 to try out Linux again that isn't Pi related which got me thinking of buying a better condition laptop or even a netbook just for Linux use and to watch movies on when I'm alway.

So knowing that Linux is a light operating system genre and can run pretty much on anything I was wondering if it would improve the performance of a netbook for example as it won't be hogging resources as much as Windows does???.. tried to google search, but wasn't coming up with exactly the results I was after.

TheSkateyBird · 20 Mar 2017 at 11:18

It boggles the mind why some of the really low-spec netbooks were loaded with Windows 7.

The right Linux distribution would definitely help free up some resources. Something lighter like Xubuntu or Lubuntu would probably be quite good. If you're more confident with Linux something like Arch could be configured to be very lightweight.

Steveocee · 20 Mar 2017 at 14:07

Would definitely be easier on the resources using something Linux based over Windows, even a "blown up" version such as Ubuntu. Having said that, "most" second hand laptops these days are probably quite capable of running YT videos or similar with a slim install of Windows. I suppose the question would be more relevant with a specific hardware.

|Thomas| · 20 Mar 2017 at 15:04

Depending on when you were using your old netbook to watch youtube you might find the transition from flash to html5 also massively improves performance. This applies to all OS's but flash on linux was particularly bad.

ExoMale · 20 Mar 2017 at 15:08

That's for the replies.

It's been awhile since I used Linux over windows, at one stage I had steamOS, but as an every day environment I would use zorin 09 which I've got on the dell be it the lite or educational version(think they were the only free ones on their page) or Linux mint which I have 2 versions of a 32bit plus a 64bit with one having kdxl or whatever it is as puppy seemed rubbish, Debian I had was old and useless for , unbuntu itself was okay, but killed a laptop I once had that was quite a performer and expensive lol, I've got like couples others on disc I think, one is arch assault which confuses the hell out of me and the other is just cmd based(again not pic related).. i downloaded some packages from the zorin icon and last night unpacked some game emulators I've not tried yet, but I know there tends to be better packages on other distros.

I'm going to look at the archlinux for my Pi if I don't use one designed for kodi, but for a laptop/Nettop I would like to do more than just movies and videos, so with that in mind are there many that you guys didn't mention that would use the performance of a netbook as you'd expect and not still limit from the hardware capabilities which I'm talking about the atom based models as there's more of them for a low price?

On another another note, I would agree with you that Windows 7 on those weak machines even starter is pointless, doesn't matter if they only 32bit, the max ram is the lowest you need for win 7 in general and a fast hdd doesn't aid too much, guess it was just an excuse to get people to buy them as cheap ways for Windows 7 etc.

stopper · 22 Mar 2017 at 21:12

ExoMale said:
so with that in mind are there many that you guys didn't mention that would use the performance of a netbook as you'd expect and not still limit from the hardware capabilities

Remix OS would probably be the fastest OS to put on a low spec netbook.
It's just an x86 port of Android, which is built for super low power/spec tablets.

OspreyO · 22 Mar 2017 at 22:12

In my opinion its not the OS thats the problem but that you don't have the video decoding hardware in an old Laptop or note book.

I picked up an Lenovo 100s for about £80 and it plays every video file I can throw at it. (x265, 1080p etc) Has Wifi, Bluetooth and HDMI.

Runs rings around my Core2Duo laptop for video because it has a very poor GPU. The old laptop is a vastly superior matching for typing and doing actual work though.

Check that the netbook you decide on can run Linux.

OspreyO · 22 Mar 2017 at 22:15

My other old laptop also a slower core2duo, a 17" 1920 screen with a NVidia 7900 is a great video playback machine simply because of the GFX card. Actually I have a ATI x1400 in it at the moment. Also decent for video.