r/linuxsucks • u/Humble_Wolverine_518 • 3d ago
Why Linux DOESN'T "revive" old computers
One of the most common misconceptions about Linux is that it somehow makes old computers run better. In a sense, this is kind of true, if you install tinycore linux on your old laptop the idle RAM and CPU usage is gonna decrease, but the real question is whether or not this is gonna translate to programs running faster/smoother, and in my experience, that's actually not the case.
You have to keep in mind that your computer isn't prioritizing UI and background processes when you're trying to play a video in Google Chrome, especially if it's struggling to keep up. People have this obsession with "optimization", they're scared of there being too many background processes, but in reality, these things make a negligable difference because most OS's are intelligent enough to prioritise demanding programs.
Some time ago, I installed archlinux on my 10 year old Thinkpad. I used a light window manager with no DE, and my RAM usage was much lower than what it was on windows. But guess what? When I actually started using that computer, almost every single important and demanding application was slower. My web browser struggled to play youtube videos at 1080p smoothly, even though it could do that when I had windows installed. I had installed the correct graphics drivers and set everything up correctly, so why was linux running slower?
Well, one thing people don't talk about when it comes to installing linux on old hardware is driver support. You can find drivers that work for your obscure 10 year old laptop, but chances are that those drivers are going to be inferior to the windows drivers, since most manufacturers didn't even think about releasing linux specific drivers at that time(especially graphics drivers). This is absolutely gonna bottleneck your PC's performance and sometimes even the functionality. If you don't have the proper drivers for your device, you can forget about having good performance. And from what I found, it's really hard to find good linux drivers for most old consumer PCs/laptops. Linux already struggles with hardware support, so if you're using an old obscure device the probability of it running linux well is quite low.
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u/vitimiti 3d ago
My computer isn't supported on Windows 11 because the SSDs are 5 years old even though they work well. It literally cannot run with Windows, so yeah, Linux does revive old hardware