# Best OS for an old netbook?



## nxwing (Feb 7, 2016)

So I recently got this netbook from my dad while I'm saving up to buy a MacBook. It's an Acer Aspire One D270 and it's running Windows 7 Home Basic and it's shitty as hell. I want to get an alternative OS that will increase it's performance at least just a bit so that it won't feel shitty.

Here are it's specs:
Intel Atom N2800 (1.86 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache) x86
2 GB DDR3 Memory
500 GB HDD

Right now I'm looking at elementaryOS and Remix OS though other alternatives will also do. Thanks for your time.


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## Piluvr (Feb 7, 2016)

I would try linux mint, as it takes up a verry small amount of ram for me.


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## Lucar (Feb 7, 2016)

I'd recommend Arch Linux, as you can customize it to your specifications, and it can be *extremely lightweight* if you set it up properly.

Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Elementary, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu even.

Also if you aren't afraid of not using APT-GET as a Package Manager, Linux Mint.

I've also heard Kali Linux is nice, but I can't vote for it, since I've never used it.


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## Daggot (Feb 7, 2016)

Why not Arch? I used it a year ago on an old hand-me-down laptop I got from a friend and it wasn't very resource intensive. You could also try other arch based distros like Manjaro but I have no experience on that end.


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## Jayro (Feb 7, 2016)

Linux Mint is a bit heavy for a netbook, I find Lubuntu 15.10 (LXQt) works really well and fast as hell.


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## Lucar (Feb 7, 2016)

Jayro said:


> Linux Mint is a bit heavy for a netbook, I find Lubuntu 15.10 (LXQt) works really well and fast as hell.



I was expecting you to say Mini Windows 10.


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## tiduscrying (Feb 7, 2016)

Daggot said:


> Why not Arch? I used it a year ago on an old hand-me-down laptop I got from a friend and it wasn't very resource intensive. You could also try other arch based distros like Manjaro but I have no experience on that end.



Manjaro is pretty much a pre-set up version of Arch, so if the OP isn't down for a vanilla arch install, that would be the way to go.

But anyways, I had a similar quest a long time ago back when I had an Acer ZG5 with 1GB of ram and a single core 1.6GHz processor, haha. I ended up settling for Crunchbang linux as it was debian based (a.k.a. not bleeding edge, but super stable), but that is now dead. In it's place there is Crunchbang ++ and Bunsenlabs Linux, both of which are pretty good. But the best part of CB was how low resources it was. It didn't run a desktop environment and instead ran something called OpenBox which was just a window manager. This meant that with my 1GB of ram, the system was barley using 200MB on any given day. Super nice.

Another alternative on the Linux side of things would be Puppy linux, which loads the entire system into RAM, making the system super snappy. It kinda looks dated to me, but then again, I haven't used it since the days of Ubuntu 14.04, so what do I know...

If you are uncomfortable with linux, you could give Chrome OS a shot on your system through CloudReady. It'll completely wipe your drive, and it is very unfriendly if you want to dual boot multiple OSes, but Chrome OS itself is very light and very capable. Keep in mind though, you can run most windows applications on Linux through a compatibility layer called Wine, but on Chrome OS you are pretty much stuck with chrome-os applications only (I.E. botched android apps, web apps, stuff from the chrome web store).

Elementary OS is still a lighter linux OS, but it is still based off of gnome, which isn't exactly lightweight. Remix OS is also a fair option, but keep in mind that it is still heavily in development and more of a POC (in my opinion) at this point!

You could also check out Windows 10 for your machine, which is supposedly a lot lighter than Windows 7, but your mileage may vary. I'd also recommend researching your machine and seeing if you can upgrade the ram. Sometimes a simple ram boost of 512MB-1GB can make your computing experience oh-so-much smoother!


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## Jayro (Feb 7, 2016)

Lucar said:


> I was expecting you to say Mini Windows 10.


Mini Windows 10 is just a preinstall environment for PC repair.


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## Lucar (Feb 7, 2016)

Jayro said:


> Mini Windows 10 is just a preinstall environment for PC repair.



I kinda wish it was installable, actually. :3


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## nxwing (Feb 7, 2016)

I also forgot to mention that I need an OS that is user friendly

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Also I found out that some distros require you to have a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 but my netbook's resolution is only 1024 x 600 but i can sclae down to 800 x 600


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## Xanthe (Feb 7, 2016)

Lubuntu. Its the best OS for an old hardware computer. I use it on my laptop from 2005 and it works great. Lubuntu is designed for an old computer


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## Sono (Feb 7, 2016)

Adamant Lugia said:


> Lubuntu. Its the best OS for an old hardware computer. I use it on my laptop from 2005 and it works great. Lubuntu is designed for an old computer



Yes, Lubuntu serves a good job both on my PC, and on my ancient laptop


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## InsaneNutter (Feb 7, 2016)

Try Windows 10? it's a free upgrade from Windows 7.

I installed Windows 10 on my MSI Wind U100 netbook which consists of the following:


Intel Atom N270 (Single core processor at 1.60 ghz)
2gb of DDR2 ram
160gb hard drive
I thought it ran ok for basic web browsing / Microsoft Office use, as the Atom N2800 is vastly superior you shouldn't have any real problems. Just don't go loading it with rubbish.


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## Deleted User (Feb 7, 2016)

Remix OS


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## Sono (Feb 7, 2016)

InsaneNutter said:


> Try Windows 10? it's a free upgrade from Windows 7.
> 
> I installed Windows 10 on my MSI Wind U100 netbook which consists of the following:
> 
> ...



Sorry for contra, but I wouldn't really suggest installing *that* new version of Windows, if the laptop is too old.
I tried out Win8 (not 8.1, 'cuz it's even worse),  and the thermal-hardware-shutdown mechanism kicked in after less than 15mins, because Windows Update (to be more precise, TiWorker.exe) ate up the whole processor (similarly like Chrome eats up the RAM).
Even disabling everything doesn't really help, the neutral load is always around 30-70%, while on XP it's around 4-20%. Okay, to be fair, Win8 runs alot better than XP, doesn't take ages to redraw the desktop, but it's not optimized for single-core processors, so it overhets *really* fast, and opening Firefox freezes the *whole* computer (while generating ridiculous amounts of heat).


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## nxwing (Feb 7, 2016)

InsaneNutter said:


> Try Windows 10? it's a free upgrade from Windows 7.
> 
> I installed Windows 10 on my MSI Wind U100 netbook which consists of the following:
> 
> ...


I originally opted or Windows 10 but it doesn't seem to support my laptop anymore as the graphics are not good enough.

I'm currently opting for Xubuntu which is lightweigt and graphically friendly. Should I get the LTS or the current release which is Wily Werewolf.

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How do I also find out if my processor supports PAE


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## grossaffe (Feb 7, 2016)

I used to run Xubuntu on an old Atom netbook.  Wasn't bad, all things considered.  One thing I did do to greatly improve the experience, though, was go into the BIOS and allocate more memory to the integrated graphics, because it came with so little memory allocated for graphics that it would lag when scrolling a simple text document.

As for LTS vs. latest, well if you're planning on upgrading to a new computer in the near future, may as well go with the latest.  If you're worried about the hassle of upgrading, you can always put your /home folder on a separate partition of the hard-drive.  Then you can upgrade to a newer version of Xubuntu and keep all of your personal files intact, as well as your settings.


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## TR_mahmutpek (Feb 7, 2016)

I think windows 7 because windows 7 doesnt need more power like windows 10/8/8.1. (I tested 7 and 10; and 7 more stable than 10 for me) My specs:
İntel i5 3317u 1.7ghz-2.6 turbo boost
4gb ram
Nvidia gt740m
500 gb hdd


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## Sono (Feb 7, 2016)

TR_mahmutpek said:


> I think windows 7 because windows 7 doesnt need more power like windows 10/8/8.1. (I tested 7 and 10; and 7 more stable than 10 for me) My specs:
> İntel i5 3317u 1.7ghz-2.6 turbo boost
> 4gb ram
> Nvidia gt740m
> 500 gb hdd



Well, that's a powerful computer!
Well, if you disable the transparency on the windows, and on the taskbar, the performance can compete with Win8, but otherwise Win7 uses a bit more resources. On shitty graphics chips, switching to Win8 results in a great graphics performance improvement, compared to Win7.

And in my opinion, you pay for your data to be stolen, if you choose Win10. It's a piece of shietballz.


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## TR_mahmutpek (Feb 7, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> Well, that's a powerful computer!
> Well, if you disable the transparency on the windows, and in the taskbar, the performance can compete with Win8, but otherwise Win7 uses a bit more resources. On shitty graphics chips, switching to Win8 results in a great graphics performance improvement, compared to Win7.


You are saying true, I didnt try this but even so I will use windows 7 

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## InsaneNutter (Feb 7, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> Sorry for contra, but I wouldn't really suggest installing *that* new version of Windows, if the laptop is too old.
> I tried out Win8 (not 8.1, 'cuz it's even worse),  and the thermal-hardware-shutdown mechanism kicked in after less than 15mins, because Windows Update (to be more precise, TiWorker.exe) ate up the whole processor (similarly like Chrome eats up the RAM).
> Even disabling everything doesn't really help, the neutral load is always around 30-70%, while on XP it's around 4-20%. Okay, to be fair, Win8 runs alot better than XP, doesn't take ages to redraw the desktop, but it's not optimized for single-core processors, so it overhets *really* fast, and opening Firefox freezes the *whole* computer (while generating ridiculous amounts of heat).



Windows 10 is designed to work on tablets with 1gb that have very low end processors, so why not try it on an old Netbook that is no longer used for anything productive? I found it worked as well as Windows 7 ever did on my MSI Wind which was got general web browsing and taking notes in lectures.

You mentioned "the thermal-hardware-shutdown mechanism kicked in after less than 15mins" - the laptop you had was probably clogged up with dust from years of use. You would be surprised some of the laptops i've seen with that problem which have just needed a good clean out. That certainly does not happen on my MSI Wind.

When you initially install Windows its under load from the hard drive been indexed, Windows update and so on. But once that's all said and done it will idle at 3-4% cpu usage, not 30 to 70%.

I actually have a low powered Nettop with an Atom N2800 and 2gb of ram in it, that idles at 2% cpu usage.


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## Sono (Feb 7, 2016)

InsaneNutter said:


> Windows 10 is designed to work on tablets with 1gb that have very low end processors, so why not try it on an old Netbook that is no longer used for anything productive? I found it worked as well as Windows 7 ever did on my MSI Wind which was got general web browsing and taking notes in lectures.
> 
> You mentioned "the thermal-hardware-shutdown mechanism kicked in after less than 15mins" - the laptop you had was probably clogged up with dust from years of use. You would be surprised some of the laptops i've seen with that problem which have just needed a good clean out. That certainly does not happen on my MSI Wind.
> 
> ...



Nah, I regularly clean the inside of my laptop, it has exactly zero dust in it 
Also, it's a not-so-new Win8 installation, so everything is settled down. I have disabled indexing, I have disabled Windows Update (+ I suspended TiWorker.exe from ProcessExplorer), I even disabled themes, and it's still 30-70% 
Since Win8 has improved driver system, I can put Win8 on an external drive (which is how it's installed for me), and if I plop it in my Potato Toaster (this is how I call my underpowered main PC), the idle CPU usage is 0-1% 
I'll try out Win10 later just for a performance comparsion, but I'll stick with good ol' Experience


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## nxwing (Feb 7, 2016)

InsaneNutter said:


> Windows 10 is designed to work on tablets with 1gb that have very low end processors, so why not try it on an old Netbook that is no longer used for anything productive? I found it worked as well as Windows 7 ever did on my MSI Wind which was got general web browsing and taking notes in lectures.
> 
> You mentioned "the thermal-hardware-shutdown mechanism kicked in after less than 15mins" - the laptop you had was probably clogged up with dust from years of use. You would be surprised some of the laptops i've seen with that problem which have just needed a good clean out. That certainly does not happen on my MSI Wind.
> 
> ...


I thought Windows 10 didn't work on the Atom N2800?


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## Seriel (Feb 7, 2016)

Uhh that mini linux thing. Whatever the name was


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## nxwing (Feb 7, 2016)

I've successfully installed Xubuntu 15.10. Runs blazingly fast and works like a charm! Thanks for all the help guys!


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## The Real Jdbye (Feb 7, 2016)

Jackus said:


> Uhh that mini linux thing. Whatever the name was


Damn Small Linux? Puppy Linux?


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## grossaffe (Feb 7, 2016)

The Real Jdbye said:


> Damn Small Linux? Puppy Linux?


Crunchbang?


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## Jayro (Feb 7, 2016)

nxwing said:


> I also forgot to mention that I need an OS that is user friendly
> 
> --------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
> 
> Also I found out that some distros require you to have a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 but my netbook's resolution is only 1024 x 600 but i can sclae down to 800 x 600


Linux is actually pretty flexible when it comes to resolutions, and should fit your netbook's resolution without a hitch. Any kernel and video driver from roughly 2012 and forward should support netbook resolutions, and Lubuntu is probably your best bet.

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Lucar said:


> I kinda wish it was installable, actually. :3


If I can figure it out, that would be cool.


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## Saiyan Lusitano (Feb 7, 2016)

I'd go with Lubuntu. If Lubuntu was a paid distro I'd be very happy to pay for.


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## DinohScene (Feb 7, 2016)

I got Windows 10 running on me UMPC
HTC Shift x9500

800Mhz Intel A110
1GB RAM
40GB HDD

it isn't fast but it runs.

As for Linux, try puppy linux.


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## Margen67 (Feb 10, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> you pay for your data to be stolen, if you choose Win10


Source?


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## GreatCrippler (Feb 10, 2016)

Is there a ram slot? If so, go from the 2GB to 4GB, and keep 7. If not, another vote for Lubuntu. Runs well, and is light as hell.


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## Gettwobirdsstone (Apr 5, 2016)

I'm curious about a better OS as well.
Here are my specs;

Gateway  model: MD7311h
Memory: 3.8 GIB
Processor: Intel Pentium dual cpu [email protected] 2.15 GHz x 2
Graphics: Mobile Intel GM45 express chipset x86/MMX/SSE2
HDD: 310.8 GB

Right now I'm using Ubuntu, but it seems sluggish and crashes watching fullscreen videos.
I've tried Windows 7 and it seems sluggish as well.
Maybe a different flavour of Linux.

edit - I also need it to be able to charge my iPhone 5s, ubuntu keeps crashing when I plug it in


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## nxwing (Apr 5, 2016)

Gettwobirdsstone said:


> I'm curious about a better OS as well.
> Here are my specs;
> 
> Gateway  model: MD7311h
> ...


Others suggested running Lubuntu or if you set it up, Arch Linjx


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## FireEmblemGuy (Apr 7, 2016)

Gettwobirdsstone said:


> I'm curious about a better OS as well.
> Here are my specs;
> 
> Gateway  model: MD7311h
> ...


I'm gonna guess that was originally a Vista machine? Windows 7 and (probably) Windows 10 will still work fine, although the Modern apps in the latter will be slow if they work well at all. As far as Linux desktop environments, I would definitely not recommend Unity or anything GNOME 3 based (Gnome Shell, Cinnamon, etc.); LXDE or Xfce would be the best balance of lightweight and usable - if you're familiar with Ubuntu and wanted a fresh install rather than simply switching desktop environments, I'd look at Xubuntu or Linux Mint Xfce for an Xfce environment, or Lubuntu for LXDE. If you're a casual user I definitely wouldn't recommend Arch unless you're interested in actually getting to know how Linux works; it's very easy to screw up an install and have to start from scratch if you're not careful.

As for the iPhone thing, I actually have no idea how to help you there. I have an iPhone 5 that charges fine on both my notebooks and my gaming rig, although I don't generally try syncing with it. There is/was a bug with Rhythmbox crashing that could be solved by doing an iTunes sync in Windows/OSX if a new app or something had been downloaded from the app store; I have no idea if that's related or not.


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## The Catboy (Apr 11, 2016)

Linux Queen, coming through!
Here are the ones I've used on my Netbook, with great results
Linux Mint XFCE
Manjaro Linux
elementary OS
Lubuntu or LXLE
Peppermint OS
Distowatch might also help
Netbook
Old PC


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## D34DL1N3R (Apr 11, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> I tried out Win8 (not 8.1, 'cuz it's even worse)



Not suggesting it for an older netbook, but 8.1 is leaps and bounds better than 8.


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## The Catboy (Apr 11, 2016)

Gettwobirdsstone said:


> I'm curious about a better OS as well.
> Here are my specs;
> 
> Gateway  model: MD7311h
> ...


Ubuntu running Unity is really horrible for netbooks and old computers. So here's a list of the best Linux distros I ran on my Acer C7 chromebook.


Crystal the Glaceon said:


> Linux Queen, coming through!
> Here are the ones I've used on my Netbook, with great results
> Linux Mint XFCE
> Manjaro Linux
> ...


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## SlappyTheDummy (Apr 13, 2016)

I would recommend a network install of debian 8 with MATE desktop, also recommend to install laptop-mode-tools , cpufreq-utils , cpufreq-indicator to increase battery life.


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## Lacius (Apr 13, 2016)

My friend's primary computer is an Acer Aspire One D270. It runs just fine with Windows 10. It can experience some slowdowns with multiple Chrome tabs plus Office running, but that's going to be a limitation of its hardware. For fun, I checked to see how Lubuntu runs, and it's about the same as Windows 10 when you do comparable tasks.


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## osaka35 (Apr 13, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> Nah, I regularly clean the inside of my laptop, it has exactly zero dust in it
> Also, it's a not-so-new Win8 installation, so everything is settled down. I have disabled indexing, I have disabled Windows Update (+ I suspended TiWorker.exe from ProcessExplorer), I even disabled themes, and it's still 30-70%
> Since Win8 has improved driver system, I can put Win8 on an external drive (which is how it's installed for me), and if I plop it in my Potato Toaster (this is how I call my underpowered main PC), the idle CPU usage is 0-1%
> I'll try out Win10 later just for a performance comparsion, but I'll stick with good ol' Experience



Since others can use it perfectly fine with their similar specs, either you'll have a good experience or there's something else at play. Something more than just "it's crap!"


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## Sono (Apr 13, 2016)

osaka35 said:


> Since others can use it perfectly fine with their similar specs, either you'll have a good experience or there's something else at play. Something more than just "it's crap!"



Well, it turns out that the laptop's hardware is dying, so that's why there are hiccups, and extreme CPU usage!
Lubuntu runs perfectly fine for ~10-40minutes, and then everything freezes, and if it "unfreezes" after ~1-25mins of waiting, then it'll be slow, as hell, everything constantly freezes, terminal takes ~3mins to pop up, all this happens until I *completely* unpower the laptop (plugs plugged off, battery taken out, power switch held for ~10seconds). The (iirc) 133MHz SDRAM is dying, and the internal HDD has so many errors, that I get an error at the BOOT SCREEN, when I'm booting from my external HDD!
Well, it worked well in the ~12yrs while it lasted... Rekt in Pepperoni


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## osaka35 (Apr 13, 2016)

MarcusD said:


> Well, it turns out that the laptop's hardware is dying, so that's why there are hiccups, and extreme CPU usage!
> Lubuntu runs perfectly fine for ~10-40minutes, and then everything freezes, and if it "unfreezes" after ~1-25mins of waiting, then it'll be slow, as hell, everything constantly freezes, terminal takes ~3mins to pop up, all this happens until I *completely* unpower the laptop (plugs plugged off, battery taken out, power switch held for ~10seconds). The (iirc) 133MHz SDRAM is dying, and the internal HDD has so many errors, that I get an error at the BOOT SCREEN, when I'm booting from my external HDD!
> Well, it worked well in the ~12yrs while it lasted... Rekt in Pepperoni



Oh yikes, that sucks. Sorry to hear about the failure


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