What would be the best choice?
 

I have a Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5303 64-bit windows 8 (but is upgraded to 8.1) laptop. I'm tired of windows and am in much need of a challenge. What would be the best Linux OS for my PC?

Whatever distribution you like the best. I'd strongly suggest you try some for yourself, you can use "live systems" to get the best idea of hardware support for your machine. You can also run them in virtual machines to get used to using them, and see which has the kind of software you need and like.

The problem with these kinds of questions is that people are only going to recommend what THEY like the best, and think everyone should be using. So it's pointless to even ask. You'll also very likely get several different answers.

If you're new to Linux, then look at "newbie" friendly distributions - there's plenty of them to choose from. Also, have a look at our sticky thread in this very forum that was written for this very question.

This model?
It's from 2013, labeled as "ultra low-priced", all AMD...
Not sure what the status is with AMD drivers & old hardware, esp. with graphics I wouldn't expect too much. It should work though.
Are you expecting to actually use this mobile, i.e. is battery life important?
A lightweight distro it should be in any case I guess.
Try Peppermint OS, antiX, MX Linux,...

88tea19,

Welcome to LQ forums.

Your laptop has 2GB of memory and a slow processor, so as ondoho has suggested, you really need a lightweight distro such as antiX or Xubuntu.

NB You probably need to change the boot mode from UEFI to CSM (Legacy) in the BIOS before attempting to boot installation media according to this link:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2312458

BIOS access:
https://support.dynabook.com/support...tentId=4009232

Obviously also set the boot priority to DVD or USB HDD.

You can download Etcher on your Windows machine and burn the selected ISO image to a USB drive. Alternatively burn the ISO to a DVD with a Windows burning program.

I have found that Etcher works brilliantly and is both efficient and fast:
https://www.balena.io/etcher/

sid netinst

If you can run Windows 8 with no problems, then I doubt that you need a lightweight distro. Download a couple and run them off a USB stick to see what you think of them and make sure that things like your printer are happy with them.

Mint (Mate edition) is a popular choice. The web site has pdf manuals for installation and using.

PCLinuxOS is good, although it might be a little slow, but you can soon see. The user interface is much fancier — one user said to me "It makes even Mac users say wow!" It's what we call rolling release — if you do regular updates, it evolves gradually and you never need to install a new version.

If you do decide that they are both slow with things like complex web sites, then try MX Linux.

I presume you'll keep your Windows installation? If so, use the tools in Windows to defrag the filing system and then shrink it. Then you can use Gparted in Linux to set up the partitions. Three are advised: swap, home for your data, and root for the OS and programs. If you hibernate, make the swap partition a bit bigger than your memory, otherwise 1 GB is fine. For root, 10 GB should do. Before installing, go to the BIOS and switch off the fast boot option, or things won't work.

You should read this sticky post about how to choose a distro: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ro-4175623119/

It might help if you were to post the specs of the computer, particular RAM and graphics card.