Time for a new computer? Mint?

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dishdude

dishdude

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I have a 6 year old Dell laptop that has given me excellent service. It was starting to be a bit sluggish on it's original Windows 7 install so I did a fresh install of Windows 10 and while browsing with Chrome, it still seems sluggish. After clicking on a site, it seems to load quickly but it takes a few seconds before I can scroll fluidly. Also, when I type sometimes I type faster than characters appear.

Is it time to replace this old beast? I love the hardware, so I am hesitant to. I also have a second Dell laptop that is 9 years old with a 1.66 Centrino Duo processor running Mint 17.2 that seems faster.

Is this thing just a dinosaur that needs replaced or could Mint breathe new life into it? Chrome is my browser of choice and I do pretty much everything through it.

 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
This is what I've done with my old Dell laptops:

1. Buy a SSD: http://amzn.com/B00A1ZTZOG
2. Install elementary OS: https://elementary.io/

You'll find the difference between this setup and your current configuration to be astonishing.



One piece of info I did leave out was the older machine has a SSD. Made a huge difference.

Can I run Chrome on Elementary? Is there a big resource difference between Elem and Mint?
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Can I run Chrome on Elementary?


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My PC is coming up on 6 years old. Windows 7. Still runs really well. The SSD rocks. Best upgrade I could have made. Sounds like maybe your video card is slowing down. Is it dusty inside? Spray compressed air inside and see if you have 6 years of dust built up.
 
The T4300 is a very slow processor compared to any of todays offerings, if you can upgrade to a newer machine i would highly recommend it. The newer intel processors smash that thing even with the lowest tier.
 
I would put in an ssd and see how it reacts..if not it might be time, although I have a core 2 duo with 2.9-3ghz, also 8gb ram and its quite flawless..so i duno...
 
My laptop is no spring chicken anymore either, but it's older and with less power than yours. I still run Windows 7 on it and it's not half bad. I would consider an SSD as mentioned. They just make such a huge difference.

I also did upgrade the CPU on mine which helped it too.
 
Most of the Ubuntu based distros will run fine on it and are easy to use. With an older Core Duo I'd choose the MATE or XFCE version over Cinnamon in Linux Mint. Elementary is stable if you want a Mac OS X look and you can download Chrome on it just fine which is good because the stock Midori browser crashes frequently.

If you're a little more adventurous and want a little more speed but still in a pretty stable package, you might try Manjaro. It is based on Arch Linux but in a much more intermediate and more stable package as it is not quite as bleeding edge as Arch. It comes in many different flavors, but the main version is XFCE which would work great on an older laptop.
 
I ran Mint 17 Xfce and loved how quick it was on a 2.08G single core AMD. I switched to 10 because it was free, had easier/better Flash support, and better games with less hassle.
 
Heck, my nearly 8 year old gateway is still going, though I think Vista is about toast though...

Still debating whether I want that upgrade to windows 10 I have ready om the usb....
 
An SSD will certainly speed anything up with a conventional hard drive, that plus the fresh install will be pretty good. I am just a really big fan of the current intel lineup, even though i don't have one the performance per watt is amazing.

With a quick search this looks like a sweet deal. All under $300 with great reviews for refurbs

i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6AB2CE5422

i5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5YV27E6374

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ3433412

This one has an SSD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834300981
 
I have a similar spec computer albeit thinkpad T500 that flies with SSD. It was good on Win7 and even better Win10. Incredibly the video in HD is less choppy in Win10 then Win7/XP.

I spent approx $55 on a small SSD(64GB) and moved the internal 500GB HDD to a $10 tray that replaces the CD ROM in the Ultrabay. Dell may have a similar setup.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
This is what I've done with my old Dell laptops:

1. Buy a SSD: http://amzn.com/B00A1ZTZOG
2. Install elementary OS: https://elementary.io/

You'll find the difference between this setup and your current configuration to be astonishing.



One piece of info I did leave out was the older machine has a SSD. Made a huge difference.

Can I run Chrome on Elementary? Is there a big resource difference between Elem and Mint?


If you're able, update the bios to newest, grab all drivers from hardware manufacturer (not who assembled your computer, those who made the chip) AND the assembler of your hardware. Then do a full disk wipe. Yyes I know it's an SSD but it still will find bad blocks and mark them to be avoided. Use 'clean all' not just clean in diskpart.

Then have fun reinstalling.

But as of now, I'd use 7 or 8 over 10, unless you like service packs and huge updates rather than works now and works well.
 
Pretty much any Linux based distro will be lighter on it's feet than anything Windows. One of the lighter ones would be Mint MATE. I know there are others though- wished I knew more about them.

At any rate, I'd give it a try. It's painfully simple to do fresh install or even a dual boot. As an example, from a cold boot (starting with a ready made DVD ISO image), I had Ubuntu installed and was surfing the net in 13 minutes.
 
Replace the t4300 with a t7300 or any t7xxx or t8xxx with the same fsb of 800mhz. You might need the latest bios for your machine to take a core 2 duo chip.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Can I run Chrome on Elementary?


Elementary, like Mint, *is* Ubuntu with a different GUI slapped atop it. Chrome will run just fine, as will any other software that Ubuntu would run.
 
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