Hello, I would like to ask your recommendation for my parents old laptop? They are using an Acer Aspire 5536, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor, 2GB Ram and ATI RadeonHD 3200 graphics card. Currently they are using Windows 7 and the boot time takes over 2-3min. Besides they are really not very keen with PCs and Windows, but recently more with tablets. Therefore I was thinking to install them a better operating systems, which is simpler to use. Initially I was thinking about Ubuntu, but I am afraid that Ubuntu also will not give a good performance on this laptop. Therefore I would like get some opinions for Elementary OS and performance on older hardware? Do you think it can still run snappy? Some people also recommended me Linux Mint 17.2 mate or Xfce. I have heard that especially Athlon processors/graphic cards are not always compatible with Linux. I really would appreciate any recommendations! Best Wishes and thanks in advance! Darjeeling
Hi, I have an Acer Aspire 5517 that is pretty old. I am currently using elementaryOS Freya 64-bit. So you can install it onto your laptop too. Just remember that Freya doesn't come with all the needed software to really enjoy surfing the Internet, making videos, or music. You will have to install what you need on your own. First thing I suggest would be to install Google Chrome and use that as your default browser. Another issue you will have is that the video driver that comes with Freya and most other Linux distro's will not allow you to have 3D acceleration. If you need this for games then you will have to download the proprietary driver from the AMD website and install it yourself. If you want to play 3D games then you need to do this otherwise your games will have lag. Good luck.
Thanks for your comment @BigIndie805 ! So my understanding is that elementary OS should still give an acceptable performance on the Acer Aspire 5536. Regarding the software, I am aware of it. However, I always preferred Firefox over Chrome ! Best Wishes !!
