Top choice for you depends on your needs. What are you looking for?
Top choice for you depends on your needs. What are you looking for?
It seems OP has a good grasp of the topic—light and fast solutions. Most participants here lean toward Ubuntu, Mint, or Manjaro users who prefer lightweight distributions. With years of experience using older, budget hardware (often called 'cheap'), I recommend pairing any of these with a minimal long-term support version. For guidance, check out a few webpages to help decide your options. If it works on an old machine, it’ll perform even better on newer systems! A solid suggestion would be MATE or Openbox for the desktop environment. Best wishes and welcome!
Thanks for your feedback. I’ll take all your advice into account. For Arch Linux, researching it makes sense since you’re focused on optimizing storage usage. Regarding CPU management, there are tools like Intel XTU and ThrottleStop that let you adjust settings directly. Sparky Linux is also popular for its customization options. AntiX is a lesser-known distro—check recent reviews to confirm its suitability. Let me know if you’d like more details on any of these!
At Welt I overlooked the Simplicity Linux Gaming update. Consider checking the review. Wishing you success in your search!
As a long-time Linux user on Welt, I recommend giving Manjaro a shot. It launches quickly and gets you going fast. When comparing options, I’d steer clear of obscure distros like Antix until you’re more confident. The challenge is getting help, but Arch Linux stands out with its excellent documentation. Once you’re comfortable with Manjaro, consider Arch Linux for deeper customization. Manjaro’s installer also offers more flexibility, though it requires a bit more Linux know-how. Pop!O also has good reviews; I haven’t tested it myself, but I’d suggest Manjaro since it avoids frequent updates and you’ll find solutions quickly if problems arise.
Additionally, both Manjaro and Arch have the AUR, which is a major advantage of Arch.
Consider Ubuntu 16.04 for a lighter system. Ubuntu 20.04 works well on my older machine.
Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix is likely what you're looking for. Cinnamon offers a lightweight, robust experience similar to Windows, built on Ubuntu while retaining its name. It preserves most of your productivity features out of the box, unlike Mint which also supports Cinnamon but limits functionality. Highly recommended. You can access it here: https://ubuntucinnamon.org