Re: [tlug] Laptop and Macbook related query

["Curt J. Sampson" <cjs@example.com>]

On 2020-11-01 10:13 +0900 (Sun), Lyle H Saxon wrote:

> If you up the RAM to at least 4GB (8GB would be better) then that should
> work pretty well with Linux.

4 GB has worked reasonably well for me with lightweight desktop usage,
where Chrome is the only memory-hungry application and I keep it down to a
couple of dozen tabs or less. But I am using fvwm2 and urxvt; if you're
going to use things like Gnome desktop and terminal, I would suspect that
4 GB would throw you into swapping.

> I think the bottom end of what will work is a Core-2 Duo processor, but
> that doesn't work very well as there isn't enough power for some
> applications.  But Core i5 processors work fine (in my experience).

Actually, the Pentium N4200 (PassMark=2024) in my Livia Z was fairly
livable, though heavy web pages were somewhat laggy. The eight-year-old
Core i5-3450 (PM=6513) in my main desktop system is just fine, so I expect
even any i3 (so long as it's not designed for mobile) will be ok. Note that
age of the CPU has not been a good indicator of speed in the past decade.
The Core i7-3770 (PM=9299) in my gaming machine is also eight years old and
hasn't been worth upgrading (despite the system being on its third GPU
since I first put it together); it's still faster than a three-year-old
Core i3 (i3-8100 PM=8057) and has only 20% more power consumption.

> A 500GB HDD is no problem, provided you don't keep a lot of extra stuff
> on your hard drive.

A 500 GB HDD is huge; a desktop Linux system will fit comfortably in 16 GB.
The real question is whether you're installing any large applications and
how much of your own data you're keeping on the system.

But I'd _strongly_ recommend you replace the HDD with an SSD, even a cheap,
smallish one. (If you're really pressed for cash, you can get 240 GB SSDs
for under ¥4000.) That will do significantly more than anything else to
speed up your system. These days I find pretty much all HDD desktop systems
to be uncomfortably slow.

FWIW, on the laptop/notebook side I've been using strictly used, older
Lenovo systems for about 15 years now; my current ones are an X203s and
T510, both about eight years old IIRC. They're cheap, reliable, and run
Linux well. I've not had any issues with power adapters (though I have a
number of them so I don't need to move them between my bag and desk, and I
also use them for other things such as my Apple IIc). The batteries do fade
after a few years, though; third-party replacements go for something like
¥3000.

cjs
-- 
Curt J. Sampson      <cjs@example.com>      +81 90 7737 2974

To iterate is human, to recurse divine.
    - L Peter Deutsch