Best distro for a cheap recent laptop?
 

Hi

I'm a telecom/IT contractor and my work laptop died so instead of buying a new one, I decided to give my spare laptop a try. It's a cheap Lenovo G585 with only 2Gb ram and a AMD E1. Needless to say this is a real slow laptop. W8 was preinstalled and barely runs. Even for simple work related tasks its too slow.

Instead of wasting money on it, I am contemplating the idea of installing a Linux distro. I manage via ssh a few linux servers for my customers (centos, red hat, ubuntu server) but actually never used it as my main OS.

I just want something lighter than W8 so the laptop will be faster. Which distro should I get? I was thinking about LXLE but there's too much distros I can't choose.

Speed is the priority in this case. I also like a good looking UI.

Also, how's Microsoft Remote desktop from a Linux client? Is it fast and well optimized?

Thanks!

Any distro with a lightweight DE or WM (XFCE, LXDE, Fluxbox, etc) will do. They're available for all distros, even if they're not included by default. Distro choice is a matter of personal taste or need, everybody recommends their favourite. Try a few.

i installed 32bit xubuntu on a 1GB laptop just two days ago
works fine, better then winXP that was on it

lightweight distros
 

Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux to name a few.

This wikipedia article has a number I haven't heard of but worth a shot.

You can also try installing one of the major distributions and strip it down, which is all the lightweight distributions of Linux really are.

Xubunut works great, I've used it in the past.

You can find a whole bunch of other options on Distrowatch.

Give MX-14 a spin. Based on Debian Stable. Broadcom wifi support during a live session. Should run fast. A good knowledgeable friendly forum. Youtube videos by dolphin_oracle
on anything you need to know.

You could save some time running MX-14 IMO.

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/videos/introducing-mx14
http://www.mepiscommunity.org/download-links

Youtube Channel
Edit: always md5sum check downloaded iso files to save time and uneeded headaches later. Before burning, booting and installing a linux operating system.

Speed part of my post is covered. UI? I make my own look as I please. I never settle for the default.


Just saying.
Happy Trailz. Rok

If you want a pretty UI then I would go with Mint, or Debian Jessie+ with a cinnamon desktop.

Chromium Vanilla is also super lightweight (basically just a google chrome browser as an OS) and not bad if all you want to do is surf the internet.

http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/

I have an original IBM Thinkpad, with a Pentium M! That runs Salix quite happily: the reliability of Slackware, with quick access to lots of software.

I agree with rokytnji's recommendation for the Lenovo G585 with a slow cpu which is rated at at only 685.

MX-14 is an excellent Linux distribution based on Debian and runs quickly on old or low powered machines.

In addition, tons of software packages are available from the Debian repositories.

Review:
http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.co.uk...iew-truly.html

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1oH3y0r6M

How to install:
http://mepiscommunity.org/videos/installing-mx14

Download the PAE version from:
http://www.mepiscommunity.org/download-links

If you have a Broadcom wifi card it may need tweaking regardless of which Linux distro you use.

Keep your fingers crossed and hope that MX-14 deals with it out of the box.

Broadcom wifi cards:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ux-4175434970/

Thanks for your replies. Went with Xubuntu and so far, I am enjoying it.