Breath life into an old computer

[andrew6297]

If you have an old laptop or computer that is unbearably slow that you're going to throw away, you might not have to, windows and mac are notorious for running slow on older computers, linux not so much.
If all you need is to use the internet, write documents/emails/steam games, install Ubuntu on it and you might find it's still plenty fast for what you need.

I've done this for a couple of friends 10yo laptops recently and they've gone from taking 2 minutes to open the browser to being fast enough to even play games.

Of course not everyone likes Ubuntu, it's closer to mac than windows, but if you were done with the computer anyway it's nothing lost if you don't like it.

Of course remember to back up your stuff first, changing OS will wipe your data.

https://ubuntu.com/desktop

If you're not comfortable installing linux, grab a stray teenager or millenial

That all said, if you consider yourself technologically illiterate, this may not be for you, Linux has some quirks that take getting used to like how middle click pastes the last text you selected, but hey, it's not so slow...

 

[mohamed1111]

@andrew6297 A $30 240gb ssd makes that 10 year old linux laptop feel super fast and snappy too. Does take a little know-how to swap out the hard disk though.

Just replaced the hard disk in a 10 year old thinkpad that I got for free. Went from taking a minute to boot and 5-10 seconds to open google chrome, to taking maybe 15 seconds to boot and chrome opens instantly.

 

[truthbetold]

@mohamed1111 Considering replacing the HD in my SO's HP touchscreen AIO with an SSD. Reading to manufacturer maintenance guide & YouTube makes it look easy. The hard parts look to be opening the case & not buying the wrong connector SSD.

 

[mohamed1111]

@truthbetold an AIO desktop will probably be a lot easier to open up than a laptop! I broke a few lugs off mine getting it open haha.

If it's an older AIO then 99% chance you just need a sata ssd, but if you can open it up first then it's easy to be 100% certain by taking a look at the connector. It will likely have some spare sata slots in it too, so you'll even be able to keep the old HD for storage.

It might have an m.2 slot too if you're lucky though!

 

[rockhound570]

@andrew6297 I agree. But I'd recommend Mint over Ubuntu - easier for newbies and quicker.

 

[andrew6297]

@rockhound570 That's fair, I haven't used Mint but I hear it's a bit faster as well

 

[fideetvirtute]

@rockhound570 Solid recommendation. Mint with XFCE is brilliant on older hardware.

 

[chrisgr07]

@rockhound570 I find mint is much faster and closer to macOS, the installation is also easier.

 

[chrisgr07]

@andrew6297 Yes I agree with this, I have a 2017 MacBook Pro and as every update comes it gets slower and slower. It’s still okay now but I will do this in the future.

 

[hunyeraphael]

@andrew6297 As more and more software is just a web page this makes more and more sense

 

[cbonetwobe]

@andrew6297 A different approach is to find cloud software for everything you do. That way it will all run fine provided you have a fast internet connection.

 

[lolmark]

@andrew6297 I also recommend looking into Wubuntu. It’s a variant of Ubuntu designed to look and feel as close as Windows 11 as possible and will run most Windows native apps seamlessly.

 

[jwilson7020]

@lolmark It looks like it's not very highly regarded in the Linux community, so it's probably not worth it, especially because it looks like it costs money. The company behind it also seems to have a history of poor security. Maybe it'll be faster than Windows, but besides that, you would be better using Windows or Ubuntu instead

 

[resjudicata]

@andrew6297 So how did you get games to work on Ubuntu without spending ages messing around with Wine?

 

[andrew6297]

@resjudicata A number of games work fine on Linux, more so since steam deck started gaining popularity, you can use Proton/Wine to get more support but I'd say that goes beyond standard usage.
My friend wanted to play minecraft which runs well on Linux.

If your main use is gaming and you have a really old computer then yeah, your milage may vary.
If you have a more recent computer for gaming that is now unbearably slow there are a number of optimisation measures I'd take first before switching to Linux.

 

[resjudicata]

@andrew6297 And slow computers is often just the O/S. The bloat and clutter that accumulates in the system folders, the registry. A fresh install of Windows can cure that. Never mind Linux.

Linux has loads of varieties, front ends and some are almost the same as windows in the way you use it and see it. No special skills needed at all. A hell of a lot easier to install things too, forget terminal, let it do it, it sorts what it needs and asks minimal if any questions and no reboots needed wither.

But really, do a fresh clean install of windows. After you back up your personal files of course.

 

[andrew6297]

@resjudicata Yep, depends on the age of the computer though, one of the computers I did this for originally came with windows 7, was updated to windows 10 at some point, I reinstalled 7 and removed a bunch of it's bloatware, tweaked it's boot settings etc but honestly that laptop is end of life. Switching to Ubuntu made it at least fast enough to write documents/spreadsheets which is all she needed it for.

 

[benoz]

@andrew6297 I have put mint and ubuntu on old laptops, definitely a great option for an older machine. Can also recommend ChromeOS, there is a downloadable version that can be installed on just about anything.

 

[wirefire]

@andrew6297 I find Puppy Linux extremely lightweight, grandparents friendly and great for the absolute basics (web browsing etc..) Distro size is like 400mb last I checked.

It’s completely barebones in terms of system resources and can basically run on anything. I’m sure the frugal users here could figure out how to get it working on a potato.

But yes, excellent for old laptops where battery use is of concern.

To be clear, this is just a suggestion. There are more flavours of Linux then there are coffees at Starbucks. Find what you like and give it a go.

 

[resjudicata]

@andrew6297 Something else for PCs, most generic laptops, and maybe MacBooks not sure haven’t owned one before but I’m sure there’d be some YouTube tutorials if it’s possible: replace the thermal paste on your CPU cooler, and clean your heat sink.
Every computer’s CPU produces heat that needs to be expelled, usually done with a copper heat sink that is attached to the CPU, with a fan blowing the fins of the heat sink so heat is blown away from the CPU. Kind of like a car’s radiator.
If the CPU gets too hot, it will run slower to produce less heat, making the whole computer run slower.
Anyway the fins and fan on the cooling unit usually get clogged up with dust with can easily be brushed or blown out; even better is to completely detach the cooling unit from the CPU, throughly clean the whole thing, apply new thermal paste, and put the thing back together. Super simple process with tons of YouTube tutorials.
I did this with a 7 year old laptop and it made it run so much quicker.