Score:-3

Ubuntu on an old HP laptop

gh flag

I have an old HP ProBook laptop computer, purchased August 2014. While the hardware still works fine after all years, I run into problems with the OS, which is Windows 7 - no longer supported by Microsoft. Instead of trying to obtain and install a newer Win version, I am considering to try Ubuntu. Do you think that Ubuntu will work on this old PC?

NotTheDr01ds avatar
vn flag
Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Your question could be improved with more detail - It currently lacks enough detail to be able to answer it. System specifications from 2014 vary wildly, and there's no way for us to know if you have a system that will perform well with Ubuntu, Windows, or any other software! Please [edit](https://askubuntu.com/posts/1445098/edit) your question to add additional information. Thanks!
cc flag
By 2014, you'd get a full UEFI machine with secure boot. Probably 64 bit, even if the Win7 installed is just 32 bit. If you're dumping Win7, I'd redo the partition table to gpt if it's MSDOS.
Score:0
us flag

Check the hardware requirements here https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop then give it a try, mostly it will work.

Score:0
mz flag

That depends on your hardware specs. According to official Ubuntu documentation there is a good "rule of thumb". Which is that machines that could run XP, Vista, Windows 7 or x86 OS X will almost always be a lot faster with Ubuntu even if they are lower-spec than described below.

2 GHz dual core processor

4 GiB RAM (system memory)

25 GB (8.6 GB for minimal) of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach)

VGA capable of 1024x768 screen resolution

Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer

Still, if your old computer does not have those required hardware specs, you can opt for lighter flavors of Ubuntu, such as Xubuntu or Lubuntu. The most lightweight distro that I can think of is Lubuntu, which uses LXQt desktop environment, not the prettiest but will run almost everywhere. Another cool flavor of Ubuntu is Kubuntu, not as lightweight as the other two, but really good looking. Check them out.

Alejandro avatar
mz flag
I'll leave this here if you're interested in having a look at somewhat lightweight distros, not all of them are based in Ubuntu, but still useful. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/top-best-lightweight-linux-distros
Alejandro avatar
mz flag
If this was useful please consider tagging this answer as the solution, it will help the community and me, thanks.
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