I’d say RAM is going to be the largest performance bottle neck for a desktop environment on an older machine. 4gb of RAM? don’t bother with cinnamon, you’ll likely have a much better experience with Mate or XFCE. 8gb is about where I’d even bother to test out cinnamon.
Comment on Linux Mint 22.2 “Zara” Is Now Available for Download
londos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Sorry for a noob question, but is there a recommended flavor (xfce/mate/cinnamon) for a 2010 era laptop, or is there no reason not to use cinnamon?
Fecundpossum@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Lumisal@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
You should probably take a look into puppy Linux, if low specs. Otherwise anything with xfce should run better on it.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 19 hours ago
I ran Puppy off of a 4gb USB for almost 2 years when the hard drive crashed in my desktop years ago. As far as the “it just works” OS’s go, it was fantastic.
Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution that works well!
Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Hard to say without specs. I’d go with XFCE and then MATE right behind it. With a lower end PC, I doubt it could handle the fanciness of Cinnamon and still run software
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Cinnamon uses slightly more resources than the other two. But, it’s lightweight enough I doubt you are going to have an issue, even with a computer of that era.
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
can't you switch from xfce to cinnamon and vice versa too?
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 22 hours ago
Yes, but a user would need to be experienced enough to know how to uninstall the previous desktop environment components they don’t want, otherwise their application menu would have both DE’s applications (2 file managers, photo viewer’s, text editors, terminals, etc), which can feel a little cluttered.
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Yeah, you can install both, then just pick which one you want during login.
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=214635
londos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Thanks for the feedback! Its a surprisingly big hurdle, especially for someone indecisive that’s not going to try all three.
flightyhobler@lemmy.world 1 day ago
With Rufus running on a usb stick, trying out all 3 is a 30 minute affair. Download included if your internet speed is high enough.
londos@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I never considered it before, but I see now Rufus lets you as multiple images to one stick. Thanks!