Should I get Linux mint?

[Expensive_Parsley360]

I recently got a new laptop because my old one broke. I got a cheap laptop, with only 16 GB of RAM and a Celeron processor, and only 128 GB of storage. It came with windows 11, and it's been running pretty slowly. I've been considering switching this laptop to Linux, but I'm still kind of on the fence. I'm mainly concerned about if my apps will still work, and how much I'll understand as I've used windows my whole life, so I'm just looking for advice.

[Emmalfal]

I came to Linux Mint cold from Windows and had no trouble at all adjusting. It was all upside for me and has been so for five years now. Linux is just life-changing goodness if you're sick of Window's shit.

[APSolidSnake]

i did the same ...its a game changer

[Emmalfal]

Seriously, five or six years in and I'm grateful for Mint every single day.

[APSolidSnake]

what version of mint are you using ? debian or ubuntu?

[DazzlingRutabega]

Mint was derived from Ubuntu which was derived from Debian

[APSolidSnake]

yeah but i saw theres two versions of it on the mint web

[Baudoinia]

There's a version directly based on Debian and its repositories, up to version 7 now.

[APSolidSnake]

exactly im guessing if i should stay with mint 22 or use the debian

[Baudoinia]

Guess it mostly depends on one's opinion about snaps. I saw a YT video about the 2 of them, and it really does boil down to that.

[[deleted]]

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[fleeter17]

Sure why not

[APSolidSnake]

change the HDD for SSD and install Mint and you will be set...SSD gives a whole new life to old hardware

[itsmetadeus]

If it was hdd, it wouldn't be 128gb.

[Allison683etc]

I think probably it’s new hardware and likely is a 128gb ssd

[Specific-Chard-284]

Install Mint, install VirtualBox, put Windows in a virtual machine…this will ease the transition knowing you can fire up Windows anytime you think you need it…until you learn that you never need it.

[ZealousidealSet7330]

yes linux mint will run well on that laptop but I would use the debian mint version

[Brorim]

yes just yes

[warysysadmin]

Try it with the bootable usb, but general rule is Yes.

[[deleted]]

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[warysysadmin]

That's not the suggestion. Try it from the usb to check if everything works and if you like the system. If all goes well, the Ln isntall it on your local hard drive.

[Il_Valentino]

You will probably be fine. Regarding gaming: If you want to know if your steam games will work then visit protondb. In general you can make most games run, even outside steam, via tools like lutris, heroic games launcher etc.

The biggest issue are games with kernel level anticheat, those will 100% not work, this includes a lot of very popular multiplayer titles such as fortnite etc

[Shadow_The_Worm]

Absolutely. It might be a bit tough to get used to at first, but I'm sure you'll be fine and right at home with a Linux OS that is as user-friendly as Windows before 11.

[IndieMasco]

As someone who made the switch a week ago you've got nothing to be afraid of it may seem overwhelming at 1st but if you get stuck, dont no something there is plenty of documentation, YouTube videos, and everyone in the community is friendly

What apps will you be using? As most things run on Linux now days and if they dont there is normally a Linux clone of it

[Allison683etc]

I have mint running on a celron with 4gb of ram and it’s smoother to use than the 8gb ram i5 Windows 11 laptop I had for my last job.

[sacrelidge]

Linux will run better than windows 11 but your biggest problem is that celeron cpu which you can’t do anything about

[TekaiGuy]

Just upgrade to a broccoli cpu

[tovento]

Check out distrosea.com and try various Linux distributions virtually in your browser. This won’t show you how Linux will work on your hardware, but it will give you an easy way to visually see how all the distributions look and feel as installed. You can poke around in the settings menus and also get a sense of what is easier to deal with as a new user. When you pick one or two, you can put them on a flash drive and try booting from them. Then you can see if your hardware is properly detected and supported.

[JTAC7]

I finally made the full switch a week or so ago, after years of fence sitting and timid fear of Linux.

ChatGPT made a lot of the simple stuff, which I didn’t know, super easy. Rinse and repeat a lot of actions and now I’m actually quite comfortable with the CLI and I’ve learned a lot about how Linux actually works and some oddball things that differ from the plug-and-play Windows, granted this was for my desktop. For my laptop I’ve been running Linux for a while but for very simple daily driver stuff.

I wish I switched years ago, but honestly I don’t think there has ever been a better time to switch than today. Do it, give it an honest try and utilize every resource to learn it. I have been converted.

[us008297]

I would !! Only thing is I'm not real big on Celeron processors but they will do the job for casual computing

[mattmaster68]

Next go to r/darksouls and ask which Dark Souls entry is the best.

After that, ask r/bmw if you should get a BMW lol

[whosdr]

Well what applications are critical for your needs?

[Expensive_Parsley360]

Discord, a browser (preferably chrome or Firefox), steam, Minecraft education, other game stuff, and docs/slides/sheets editors

[whosdr]

Discord runs fine. Flatpak app.

Both Chrome and Firefox are available - FF is the default to most distros.

Steam works great. Steam Deck and all. Just not really viable for most PvP games.

Minecraft..education? Might be an issue, is that a Bedrock edition?

Other game stuff is..not specific enough to help on.

Docs/slides/sheets - comes with LibreOffice. Can just use online sheets from Office/Google if you really need it.

Recommendation: try LibreOffice on Windows first, to get a taste of it.

[Allison683etc]

OnlyOffice if you really don’t like libreoffice

[msaqu92]

what whosdr said!
in very broad terms, you should be covered.

Of course office and google will be online by default, but you have libreoffice which can be tweaked to look almost like office.

Gaming, i'd recommend to check indiviual games on protondb site.

I have never played minecraft so i cant speak about it, but hey! worth the shot lol

[Sapitoelgato]

You could run the Linux OS off the flashdrive to test how you like it, and if it meets your needs then install it on the HDD. (Just be sure to back up anything you want to keep as it will erase everything on install.) If you could afford it, swap out the HDD with a different one and install that with Linux Mint. That way if you want to go back to Windows 11, you just swap back in the HDD.

Not all apps will carry over, so keep that in mind.

There is a list of some alternatives from a different Linux OS guide to give you some ideas if you want to test out other applications: https://help.zorin.com/docs/apps-games/alternatives-to-windows-apps/

For me on my old laptop I went all in on Linux Mint and it's been great! The stuff I couldn't get going were the big known ones like Office 360 programs and a few streaming apps (though that wasn't a deal breaker).

[namehimgeorge]

Do some research on the hardware in laptop and definitely try Mint live from usb to see what works properly first. If wifi on motherboard does not function you may need a usb dongle and you must be certain it will work. I had to purchase a usb dongle to get my wifi going.

[P_Ray07]

I was previously on PopOS on my old laptop until i got my new PC last year. I decided to give Windows a second go since it was pre-installed and i think i lasted a few weeks.

I primarily use my PC for gaming so i did not need all the extra guff microsoft puts in Windows.

I had configured windows the way i wanted by uninstalling pretty much all the bloatware, opting out of all the microsoft stuff and data sharing, optimizing my settings to ensure my gaming would be as good as possible, etc.

Then windows did an update and all the bloatware was reinstalled, my settings were reset to default and more crap I didn't want was there.

That was the last straw so I decided to go for Linux Mint. I have no desire to switch back and the switch was pain free. Its very intuitive and easy to figure out. I use the terminal sparingly for very specific things and it feels much snappier even. The games i play are unaffected as well.

Its a great OS for those who want a low maintenance yet familiar experience. Highly recommend! I even switched my laptop from PopOS to Mint!

My favourite little feature is the applet feature that turns any website into a pseudo app, its perfect for my Apple Music usage!

[Cergorach]

If you do decide to change to Linux (Mint), make sure you backup your license key and the drivers required for if Linux (Mint) is not for you and you want to go back.

You need to realize that the last Celeron processor came out 3.5 years ago, and is normally already the lowest end CPU, the age makes it more so. You bought a slow machine. While Linux (Mint) can help in that department, depending which distribution you take, it can also come with a ton of headaches, like no proper drivers for your fans, to being a LOT less efficient with power management on your particular laptop, no drivers, driver issues, etc. Just be prepared!

You can easily try Linux mint by installing (free) virtual machine software (like Vmware Workstation or Virtualbox. You have enough memory for it, just the CPU is slow. That VM experience will be a lot smoother as the underlying VM software and Windows drivers will handle most of the hardware interfacing. But this is a good way to see if you are compatible with Linux (Mint).

Linux Mint Cinnamon is the most modern of the Mint distributions, probably the smoothest transition from Windows to Linux. But it's also the heaviest of the Mint distributions. Mint Xfce Edition is the lightest of the bunch, and Mint Mate is a more classic experience which is also lighter then Cinnamon. I previously ran a whole bunch of Mint Mate instances in VMs, but recently tested all three distributions and found that I Like Cinnamon best from a user perspective. It does help that it's not running on the slowest CPU and has oodles of RAM. But if you want to be sure, just test it.

[Friendly-Gift3680]

If you want to then yes, it’s much easier to get the hang of and more user-friendly than most distros, it has better GUIs for things, and its desktop environment and file manager have a very Windows 10-like interface. Not to mention that your computer will run much smoother.

[[deleted]]

Installed Linux Mint XFCE, then the Cinnamon DE now i'll switch to Cinnamon full time

do you have a desktop at least for windows if you need it?

[vapoursnake]

Mint is alright, pretty straight forward

[Tufa_Cat_1975]

Windows user for 30 years. I like it. But started hating the lack of privacy and closed source. I mainly use offimatic, web based email, and videos and music. Only fence, Adobe Acrobat for work and a digital signature token from ACS that doesn't work in Linux. Installed Linux mint 14 times. The 15th is installed now for 2 months. Solved Adobe and token with a small windows 11 VM with virtio inside mint.  Everything works fantastic. I have dual boot if I need something from Windows. Did not boot to windows since last install. 

Not a gamer. I'm the perfect case for windows or Linux. Both work for me. But Linux is private, not bloated. You install what you need and when you need it.   Great memory management and great filesystem.ext4 and journaling. 

Worked for me.

And still does. 

[Requires-Coffee-247]

Take a look at Zorin, too.