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Picking a Linux Distro in 2021

Evaluating New Linux Distros for My Revived Rig

Out with the Old: Lubuntu 17.10

I’m evaluating new Linux distros for my revived Linux rig. The old Lubuntu 17.10 was fantastic but has become obsolete. I was unimpressed with Lubuntu 20.04 LTS, as it seems the mindset of Linux has evolved to accommodate increasingly more powerful computers. Now, a minimum of a dual-core CPU and 2 GB of RAM is required. The HP i3-4010u with 8 GB of RAM is just slightly above those minimum standards.

1. Lubuntu 20.04 LTS

I’ve been a longtime Lubuntu user and fan. My absolute favorite has been Lubuntu 17, followed by 18.04 LTS, so I was expecting the same experience with 20.04. However, I was disappointed. The system felt laggy and unresponsive, coming off as bloated. It took 15 seconds for Firefox to open, and the loading of pages took even longer. I found this unacceptable, especially considering that Lubuntu 17 was lightning fast on the same machine with less RAM. Ultimately, I threw in the towel and installed another distro.

2. Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon

I used an older version of Mint before and wasn’t impressed then, but now I’m trying out the latest Mint 20 Cinnamon. I find it better than Lubuntu 20.04. I’ll likely keep it for a while, as it has a very Windows-like interface—something I liked about the older version I tried years ago.

3. Elementary

While testing the components for the revived rig, I used an old version of Elementary that I kept on a flash drive. I remember how clean and pretty it was and may give it a spin later. I’ll likely set up a multi-OS configuration and have it installed alongside Mint.

Update - 5/18/21: Going on 3 Months on Linux Mint

I’ve been using Linux Mint for almost three months now since my laptop rebuild in February. Overall, I’m quite pleased with it. While I miss the old Lubuntu, Linux Mint is a decent approximation in terms of performance.

Linux Mint 20 is remarkably close to the Windows experience, probably the closest I have seen in a Linux distro. Many Windows users would feel comfortable migrating over to this platform, albeit with some caveats. While I use Mint exclusively on most days, I still rely on my Windows laptop for filling out my tax return or performing other online transactions, as some websites are not always optimized for Linux. This is understandable, given that the majority of PC users are still Windows-based, with a smattering of macOS users and the rare Linux user like me.




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Comments

  1. El LinceSagradoMarch 13, 2021 at 9:03 PM

    I have a HP Stream 14, and after several tries of different Linux mint distros, which were my favourites, I've been using manjaro xfce the last 3 months. Fast. Really fast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LKMarch 13, 2021 at 9:09 PM

    Thank you. I’ll take a look into manjaro.

    ReplyDelete

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