Top 5 Linux Distros For Older Hardware

One of the common questions that new-to-Linux users ask is "What is the best distro for my old, crappy computer?" Well, the great thing about Linux is that we have a ton of great distros designed to run on older, underpowered hardware...

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[hbttfqx]

After installing the AntiX distribution kit on my home computer (2GB/80GB/AMD Athlon-64 X2 4200+), the computer came to life and it became comfortable to surf the Internet and watch videos on YouTube without lag.

[omegafatass]

i love these style videos! I freaking LOVE MABOX. Tried Q4OS a bit, but the packages and system had too many issues for me for some reason trying to use node and some other programming stuff. But Trinity desktop is awesome

[tomcaldas]

Any distro with XFCE works pretty well most of the time

[bigmikeobama]

old laptops run faster than they did when they were brand new with modern linux distros even ones that arent light

[RobertTreat]

Running on Antix on a 1.6 Ghz Atom with 2 G DDR2 Ram circa 2008. Runs nice. Apps are kinda snappy. Nothing will get web browsing going anywhere near acceptable but use it as an audio server, basically.

[smudgey]

A note about using Rolling releases like Arch. If the old PC you are installing it on isn't used much and is kept in a drawer or stored away most of the time you shouldn't use a rolling release but instead should go for an LTS or a point release if you are the type that don't want to or dont know how to fix any issues that may happen from no updating the machine. I had an old machine running Manjaro that was left alone for 6-8 months. It had 1000 package updates and there was an issue preventing it from updating that I had to fix for it to work. Similar thing happened to Solus.

[linuxrant]

wow, I am glad you changed your mind about Q4OS I definitely think this distro deserves the spot :) It is the smoothest KDE Plasma experience someone can have on a 32 bit computer (on 64bit as well ofc). And it is really convenient for an ex-windows user.
I remember once you saying: "why not just install debian with kde??"

[k.b.tidwell]

I was just bragging about Mabox on another channel. In the back of my Box o' Distros, way in the corner, sits a drive with the Mabox iso on it. It's my guilty pleasure because I really don't have time to learn all of the details in manipulating Openbox, but I just love playing with it so much and above all, looking at it. It is indeed the most beautiful window manager distro I've ever tried. And it is fast! If I could get 64-bit Scrivener to run on it I'd use it from now on.

[valdez]

I often look at these videos and would try many of these suggestions. I have been "playing" with Linux for a long time (90's). I guess I am not pushing the old Macbook Air 2011 (4GB/256GB/i7) to much. It is my coffee shop, simple surf and remote into my home network. It handles all this fine. For the longest time I would always just come back to Linux Mint, it is a very impressive OS. But I would always tire and try something different, yes distro hopping. ; ) So counter to what is considered right, I have been using Fedora with GNOME and it has been GREAT.

[themisterchristie]

Puppy Linux was one of the first live distros I ever used and the best running live. They were and are still an amazing distro.

[Tweaker]

depends on the potato. i have a desktop with an amd phenom ii processor from 2008-9. Thing is at least 14, maybe older. Upgraded to an ssd, maxxed out the ram (16GB max) And I have no problem running KDE inside Ubuntu Studio. Gfx card is an onboard HD4200.

[swagmuffin]

Running pop os on a 2012 imac, runs great, and wifi worked out of the box which was nice. Xubuntu works well on my mom's 2009 mac laptop. Wish I would have switched to linux earlier

[fletcherriverwood]

My old HP ze2000 only has 2GB ram with an 18 year old processor AMD Turion MT-30, and I'm running the latest version Manjaro with kernel 6.5.3, some major distributions runs on old hardware just fine. Linux is awesome, thank you.

[jeffcook]

Mint is my absolute favorite. Peppermint was good for a while too and I've used Linux Lite happily as well

[hindigente]

Have used Linux Lite for a while (~4 years) and it's been a great experience so far. Can't say the same for other lightweight distros, like Lubuntu.

[deultima]

I have personally gravitated towards EndeavourOS for all my older machines as it basically is just Arch made easy. After testing a bunch of distros, EndeavourOS just wins every time with how smooth of an experience I have. Debian comes in at a close second if you need more stability, but having access to a modern rolling release wins in my book.

[danwilhelm]

Nice review. Any love for Void in this context?

[michal]

recently i'm very happy how the instalation of arch linux went on core 2 duo, 4GB ram laptop. I was able to find in the AUR repository legacy broadcom wifi firmware and bluetooth (had problems with this in windows and had no idea how to do it in slackware linux). Don't use nvidia drivers, nouveau open source alternative works for desktop use just fine!

[HistoricaLinux]

Thanks for your top 5 recommendation.

I tested install several distro to my old 32bit 2 Gb laptop.. AntiX, MXLinux, Q4OS... and my recommend is MXLinux because it was more user friendly than the three of them. Also, Debian 12, OpenSUSE, Mageia 9, all have their 32 bit edition and with 2 Gb RAM + Intel core 2 duo, basic office and browsing need are okay. I documented all my tested in my channel as well....

[stephenwilson]

Honestly I've changed my mind on "light" distros. I have a ~2009 ThinkPad T500, and I've found that modern desktops tend to run just as well or better. For example I went through several installs, including Debian w/ XFCE, Mint Mate, Arch with bspwm, etc. Every time, I missed the features of GNOME which is my favorite, plus there would be weird hiccups like menus and apps not loading all the way or taking a long time and dealing with screen tearing. So I installed openSUSE with GNOME and have had zero issues - things feel nearly as responsive and smooth as my much more powerful AMD rig that I built in 2020. I don't care for KDE, but seems like the more mainstream desktops have put in a lot of work to optimize resource usage and it shows.