Windows or linux for old laptop

drusus · 13 Jul 2008 at 13:15

Hey,

Basically I have recently aquired an old Compaq Armada 110 with specs as follows;

P3 850 mhz
384mb ram
10 gig HD

So nothing special hehe.

I'm currently using it with XP and it's ok but a little sluggish. I know I can't expect much from these specs but I was thinking linux is most likely a lot faster for a system of this spec.

If so which should I check out? Would something like Ubuntu be worth it?

Cheers
Andy

MotherMayI · 13 Jul 2008 at 13:42

Check out Xubuntu, should be just what you're after. I use it as my main desktop, although it is designed to be very lightweight to run smooth on older hardware.

eXor · 13 Jul 2008 at 15:00

Xubuntu is ok but it has the typical *buntu bloat. A custom crafted, no frills distro ( with Fluxbox ) is much leaner and faster. Most of the distros are free, so you can try a few before you decide.

.walls · 13 Jul 2008 at 17:01

second vote for Arch, however, fluxbox isn't entirely necessary (although, it will fly even on those specs), I have KDE running quite happily on one of my laptops with identically spec'ed hardware.

MotherMayI · 13 Jul 2008 at 17:57

Arch is nice, I just prefer Xubuntu.

Regardless, either distro choose you should check out Xfce.

Caged · 13 Jul 2008 at 18:02

Windows 2000. If it's still slow go down to NT4 Workstation.

NicNac · 13 Jul 2008 at 18:33

only problem with using an old version of windows is there are no new security patches etc.

LizardKing · 13 Jul 2008 at 18:46

XP will run a lot better on that if you can get a Ram upgrade, failing that;
Xubuntu if your not familiar with Linux, you see a marked improvement over XP
Arch is somewhat of a steep learning curve if you have never used linux.