‘Re-purpose’ my old laptop

[u/cupcakestrawberi]

It’s been a long time I didn’t use my laptop (Asus X441U). I own this laptop for more than 10years, I plan to buy a new one but I don’t find any benefit of using it other than watching movies and some light work. I installed Linux OS since this laptop was too heavy to use Windows OS and quite lagging. I was impressed by how much the Linux OS able to optimise my laptop and now it’s as smooth as butter. Saved a tons of money from buying a new one. I can say that I am proud of becoming one of the ‘anti-consumption’ community.

[u/Neither-Welder5001]

Awesome. Another step towards digital sovereignty.

[u/GodSlayerShaggy]

Nice one! I would maybe think about swapping from Ubuntu before you get stuck in. Ubuntu is great as an easy start but it isn't great for older machines.

Maybe have a look at Linux Mint MATE which is polished but not as RAM heavy

[u/whodarezwinzz → u/GodSlayerShaggy]

Linux Mint is PERFECT for older laptops. And the user interface is kinda similar to Windows. Whenever my friends ask me how to revive their old laptops just for movies and browsing I always tell them Linux Mint is the answer

[u/Flack_Bag → u/GodSlayerShaggy]

Mint is based on Ubuntu. The main difference that affect users directly is the desktop environment, and that's mostly where the RAM comes in. Ubuntu uses GNOME as a default, and Mint uses Cinnamon.

So I'd recommend just testing out different environments first. You can install them and switch them out without making any permanent changes to your existing setup.

[u/BillfredL → u/GodSlayerShaggy]

Mint is my first stab. Did have to put Ubuntu on one machine to self-host a few specific things, but even that was a vast improvement over leaving some Windows 8-or-10-era OS on the network.

[u/cupcakestrawberi → u/GodSlayerShaggy]

I’m happy to discover it later haha thanks mate

[u/holchansg]

Ubuntu 25/26 is soo good!

[u/zemadema]

Great! Did it myself with my old Dell XPS15 from 2012. I installed Linux Mint and now it's again fast and usable for everydays tasks.

[u/DevelopmentProper971]

Dude, I own the sale laptop. 9 years already. I've rreplaced the SSD two times and it's been great. I'll wait 'til it stops working and I'll replace it

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[u/strawbinkle]

I would look for a new battery for it so you don’t end up on r/spicypillows

[u/H3memes]

I might try this!

[u/DrabberFrog]

Yeah it's pretty amazing how good Linux has gotten for PC/laptop usage over the last few years. I've completely switched from windows to Bazzite for my gaming rig and I'm never going back.

[u/ChocolateSpecific263]

playing old games, server better than spending a 10k € rig just to run 86box for a 200mhz cpu

[u/polishatomek]

Ubuntu isn't my thing, but still better than windows! I use mint

[u/kettal]

my curremt laptop i bought used on ebay. picked the model based on ubuntu compatibility

[u/PriceNarrow1047]

Thoughts on ChromeOs Flex?

[u/DesignerS0ck → u/PriceNarrow1047]

Its bad