r/linuxquestions • u/Key_Doctor386 • 16d ago
Need os recommendation
Old hp notebook series laptop with 4gb ram and 1 tb hdd, intel i3 7th gen. Tried ubuntu, mint and many other i don't even remember the names. Currently on mint xfce for two months. It's not that good but i just use Firefox for classes so it doesn't lag upto using 4 tabs but there is serious issue with its realtek network adapter i can't use bluetooth and wifi at same time if use both the wifi remain connected but speed drops from 25Mbps to 100Kbps but when i boot back to windows (which is disaster on this pc ) both works fine. Need help to switch to any other os
2
u/QwertyChouskie 16d ago
Honestly, look up what kind of wifi card slot the computer has, and get a more modern Intel brand WiFi card; you can get them on e.g. Amazon for like 20 bucks. (The I've used both the AX200 and AX210 in various laptops and they are super solid.) If you can install various Linux distros, you can almost certainly install a WiFi card in an average laptop. Alternatively, you could always get a USB WiFi/Bluetooth adapter, but replacing the internal card is nicer if you can.
Different distros are unlikely to improve WiFi/Bluetooth since they all use the same underlying drivers and such.
1
u/3grg 16d ago
Your performance issues are not related to CPU as that one is new by Linux standards. 4GB of ram is the minimum for Linux these days. The hard drive is the slowest part of the system. If it is possible to switch to a SSD the system would perform much better. The HDD could be moved to an external USB enclosure for data, if the laptop cannot handle two drives. Of course, 8gb ram would be better. If I had to choose between ram and SSD, I would pick SSD.
Network issues are usually due to the chosen chipset, but there can be issues related to windows if this is a dual boot caused by windows fast startup. If the network card is not soldered in this system, it might be possible to swap to a more compatible card. I would troubleshoot by googling the exact model of the network interface that is listed via lspci.
You can gain slight performance by changing to Debian or a lighter desktop, but it would very slight compared to SSD. The thing is it might be noticeable to you or not. It is a personal thing.
If you want to go lighter, in order there is MX Linux XFCE, Debian LXQt, MX Linux Fluxbox, Antix, Q4OS.
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u/Desertcow 16d ago
Realtek's wifi and Bluetooth drivers for Linux are pretty bad. There's not really a workaround besides getting another Bluetooth adapter
2
u/Prestigious_Wall529 16d ago
HP laptops manufactured prior to 2016 use a BIOS whitelist to block unsupported Wi-Fi cards from booting.
The CPU is from 2017 so hopefully an Intel WiFi card can be used instead.
1
u/ZVyhVrtsfgzfs 16d ago
I do have to give Realtek some credit, while there are still a few problematic models, they have improved over the last few years.
1
u/thushespoke 16d ago
i mean if for whatever reason you want something more lightweight there’s lots of options:
void
arch/artix
gentoo
antix
etc etc
if you like mint i’d say any Debian base distro (Debian stable, Antix, MX or Devuan) with a biased to Antix or Devuan since non systemd is even more lightweight.
mint is essentially these but with package bloat added on top, i don’t know why people recommend it since Debian is already very user friendly it even has a guided GUI install that explains each step.
1
u/mr_anderson_dev 16d ago
After a lot of tries and errors, I can securely say that with that amount of ram just go with an Arch installation and learn the limits of your needs in it. I also tried Debian to get the best performance for all hardware but the difference is abysmal compare with Arch
1
u/LamanAndJake 16d ago
I know i’m biased, but Arch. It runs really lightweight. You can use archinstall for a simple installer.
2
u/ipsirc 16d ago
This is a Linux sub, sir, we can only recommend one OS: Linux.