Best OS for an old laptop

[The Xilent Penumbra]

So I have an old advent laptop which I originally bought with windows vista preinstalled around 6 years ago and now it's gotten very slow. I tried running Lubuntu and Linux Lite on it from a live USB to see if it might be an improvement but the screen would go into a flickering state after I choose to run from USB. This is definitely not the USB fault and the OSs were installed correctly cuz I tested the flash drives on my PC and it booted fine.

Here's the laptop that I have with the specs although I didn't get it from Aria
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Laptops/Advent+5421+Dual+Core+T1500+183GHz+Laptop+?productId=34727

I know it's by far better to just get a new one than bother with this old thing but I wanna make this one useful rather than it sitting there collecting dust. When I have enough money (currently a student looking for a part-time job) I'll definitely get a better, newer laptop like a zenbook or something (the zenbook 3 looks pretty great although I haven't looked into it in too much detail yet and this is really off topic)

My question is what OS I can install on it that would work and use the least resources, maybe previous versions of Lubuntu and Linux Lite but which ones. The main thing that I'll use the laptop for in the meantime is python and PyGame as well as the typical internet things like research and youtube

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

If you can find a 1GB stick of DDR2 laptop SODIM memory to upgrade to 2GB it will run Vista (32) much better than previously.
(But check it does not have 2 x 512K memory sticks)

Not Clear what operating system is currently on the hard disk Vista or Linux?

XP will run reasonably well in 1 GB.

regards
Mike Barnes

 

[The Xilent Penumbra]

Hi

If you can find a 1GB stick of DDR2 laptop SODIM memory to upgrade to 2GB it will run Vista (32) much better than previously.
(But check it does not have 2 x 512K memory sticks)

Not Clear what operating system is currently on the hard disk Vista or Linux?

XP will run reasonably well in 1 GB.

regards
Mike Barnes

Currently vista on the HDD, but I'm looking into getting Unix based operating systems onto it, XP is a possibility too though

 

[kelix09]

By all accounts Linux Mint is lightweight.

You could also try Windows 2000.

 

[The Paladin]

if you need windows I would suggest Windows XP, Vista is a memory hog.
if you don't need windows, try Linux, what version could all depend on many factors Linux Mint is nice but there are far small foot print Linuxes available, try some...

https://www.linux.com/news/best-lightweight-linux-distros

 

[michael diemer]

Vista will no longer be supported as of 4/17.
There are, as has been said, many fine Linux distros that will run well on this. For example, Linux Lite. And all the big, popular ones have lite versions as well. I would do some research and then try some. They're all free and easy to install (mostly). Stay with the Ubuntu-based ones and you should have no problems. The only cost is a DVD to put it on, unless you use a USB, but that is quite a bit more complicated.

 

[Autocrat]

Ubuntu Mate is very light, very well laid out, beautiful, and practical. It is by far the best lightweight Ubuntu derivative out there. Lubuntu is also worth a look at. Very light, easy to use.