this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Linux

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Dev with old laptop (slrpnk.net)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by wildflowertea@slrpnk.net to c/linux@programming.dev
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A dev friend wants to start taking steps away from Windows, starting with their old laptop.

The laptop has 4 GB ram, and an 8th gen i3 CPU, and they mostly will use it to program.

Some have recommended them Lubuntu. Would that be a good choice?

Thanks!

Edit: yeaaah. Definitely away from Windows, not Linux. Time for lunch.

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[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 14 points 11 months ago

Lubuntu would be fine, though personally I'd suggest the lightweight Linux Mint versions, such as Linux Mint XFCE.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Upgrade the ram and you will have a pretty good experience.

Also make sure it has a decent SSD

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Also make sure it has a decent SSD

That means any SATA SSD that can pull 500MB/s. No need to try to stick an m.2 7000GB/s SSD into such a weak laptop. Not trying to poop on his hardware - just staying realistic for when you look for an SSD (presuming he does not already have one).

After 10 years, I still remember switching to an SSD from a classic HDD. Probably the biggest hardware upgrade I've ever done.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 months ago

Not all SSDs are created equal. Some of the very cheap ones are worse than HDDs. Most reasonablely priced ones will be fine.

Also I have never seen a Sata SSD consistently pull 500m/s. You would need some serious flash for that.

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 12 points 11 months ago

Which language are they going to use? Because for some languages (thinking of Java or Node) they definitely would want more than 4GB of RAM. And I'm not even speaking of IDEs that tend to store data in RAM for their suggestion features.

On that note, if the RAM isn't soldered to the motherboard, I would strongly advice to upgrade the capacity.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They want to step AWAY from Linux? This might not be the right sub then.

[–] wildflowertea@slrpnk.net 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Haha thanks for pointing it out. Time to get some carbs for my brain…

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

No problem.

To your question: the RAM limitation is going to make developing on this machine very difficult with modern tooling or frameworks, even with the most efficient of languages. The build and package management systems of practically everything requires a fair amount of resources, so that's going to be what causes problems. If they're building off devices then probably NBD.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

LxQT maybe? Ubuntu MATE could work too.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Lubuntu now ships with LXQt.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago

Oh cool!

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 4 points 11 months ago

RAM adequacy will depends on the language(s) and their toolchain, but coming from windows i don't foresee a CLI-inclined dev.
And/Or get a second-hand ThinkPad that doesn't have soldered RAM.

[–] quantenzitrone@lemmings.world 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

TBH Ubuntu Gnome would probably also run alright, but ram increase would definitely be advised for coding. Some language servers and compilers can really eat ram almost like Google Chrome (supposedly i never used it).

[–] wildflowertea@slrpnk.net 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the suggestion!

The RAM is unfortunately welded.

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tiny Linux for speeed.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 months ago

It doesn't need to be tiny