Best Distro to my laptop

[wauhtihomer_666]

Hello there!
I am new with Linux, and I thought to ask the question:
I have Dell Latitude E7440 laptop and i decided to switch from Windows to Linux because Windows is no longer in my laptop an optimal operating system.
What kind of distro do you recommend for surfing the web, distance learning and watching Youtube videos?
I can imagine there are a lot of them, but what do you recommend mostly?
I'm not very good at coding, but if you could find an easy distro then that would be a good thing

 

[MatsuShimizu]

Dell Latitude E7440 has 4GB RAM, and I recommend that you go for Linux Mint. Lots of features, lightweight on your system, easy to use, supportive community forum and the environment is similar to Windows.

 

[samokosik]

Distribution (usually) does not really matter, what matters is how you customise and edit it.

But mint is awesome - tried-and-true.

 

[KGIII]

I'm not very good at coding,

You don't need to code in order to use Linux. So, there's that.

This may also interest you: https://linuxtips.gq/2021/01/11/what-is-the-best-linux-distro/ - a bit about the philosophy behind picking your distro.

There are many distros out there. So, finding the one that suits you best can be quite a journey.

 

[Tolkem]

I have Dell Latitude E7440

This one? https://www1.la.dell.com/content/pr...itude-e7440-ultrabook?c=bb&l=en&s=corp&~ck=pn
Please, we need more info to help you; RAM, storage capacity, CPU and anything else that you think might be helpful. However, I suggest you take a look at this https://www.q4os.org/ it's a fine distro based on Debian; pretty fast, easy to use and stable. It ships with the Trinity desktop https://www.q4os.org/dnt11.html or Plasma desktop https://www.q4os.org/dnt10.html I use the one with Plasma and it works great on my HP notebook with this specs

CPU: 2 × AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
RAM: 2 GiB 
GPU: AMD PALM

Also, take a look here https://linux-hardware.org/ and here https://distrowatch.com/

 

[Condobloke]

Simple choice.

Linux Mint 20.1

Quick. Reliable. Stable. Lots of support. Updates regularly without problems.

Download from Here (attach it to a usb stick with Balena Etcher ...download Balena to your windows pc and use it to 'burn' the Linux Mint you just downloaded to a USB stick. This makes the usb stick bootable.
You will then boot your laptop to that usb stick. (more later)

Surfing the web?...Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, etc.....browser of your choice

Coding is unnecessary.

What is involved in your distance learning?....Tell us more, please. Do you access it via just a simple browser? etc

Youtube etc....no problem.

 

[wauhtihomer_666]

Simple choice.

Linux Mint 20.1

Quick. Reliable. Stable. Lots of support. Updates regularly without problems.

Download from Here (attach it to a usb stick with Balena Etcher ...download Balena to your windows pc and use it to 'burn' the Linux Mint you just downloaded to a USB stick. This makes the usb stick bootable.
You will then boot your laptop to that usb stick. (more later)

Surfing the web?...Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, etc.....browser of your choice

Coding is unnecessary.

What is involved in your distance learning?....Tell us more, please. Do you access it via just a simple browser? etc

Youtube etc....no problem.

In distance learning, i use mostly Office 365 programs

 

[wauhtihomer_666]

What link i should choose?

 

[wauhtihomer_666]

This one? https://www1.la.dell.com/content/pr...itude-e7440-ultrabook?c=bb&l=en&s=corp&~ck=pn
Please, we need more info to help you; RAM, storage capacity, CPU and anything else that you think might be helpful. However, I suggest you take a look at this https://www.q4os.org/ it's a fine distro based on Debian; pretty fast, easy to use and stable. It ships with the Trinity desktop https://www.q4os.org/dnt11.html or Plasma desktop https://www.q4os.org/dnt10.html I use the one with Plasma and it works great on my HP notebook with this specs

CPU: 2 × AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
RAM: 2 GiB
GPU: AMD PALM

Also, take a look here https://linux-hardware.org/ and here https://distrowatch.com/

My laptop has Intel I5 4300U 1.90Ghz and 8Gb ram

 

[wauhtihomer_666]

Simple choice.

Linux Mint 20.1

Quick. Reliable. Stable. Lots of support. Updates regularly without problems.

Download from Here (attach it to a usb stick with Balena Etcher ...download Balena to your windows pc and use it to 'burn' the Linux Mint you just downloaded to a USB stick. This makes the usb stick bootable.
You will then boot your laptop to that usb stick. (more later)

Surfing the web?...Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, etc.....browser of your choice

Coding is unnecessary.

What is involved in your distance learning?....Tell us more, please. Do you access it via just a simple browser? etc

Youtube etc....no problem.

In distance learning, i mostly use Office 365 programs

 

[Deleted member 101831]

Have a read.

Choose the right edition — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Create the bootable media — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Boot Linux Mint — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Install Linux Mint — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Linux Mint Documentation.

Linux Mint Installation Guide — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

A good read.

Linux is NOT Windows

 

[Condobloke]

Cinnamon is a "full" desktop......it is the linux 'flagship' desktop environment......also the most popular.

Mate ...is very reminiscent of the earlier windows desktops

xfce.....is very light and fast

It is possible for you to download each one, and put them on a usb stick, and try each one individually without actually installing them.

download, use balena to 'burn' to usb stick (makes it bootable), boot the laptop to the usb stick (change the boot order), play with it. ....for cinnamon, for mate, for xfce.

Doing this does not harm your hard drive......they only load in the systems ram (so they may be a touch slower than normal).....when you shut down and withdraw the usb stick...kapoof....gone!...no trace left.

When you find the one you wish to install ....there is an icon on the desktops which simply says "Install Linux"

Double click on that, and you are on your way.

READ....AS LINUX MINT INSTALLS< IT WILL WIPE WINDOWS>>>>FOREVER GONE>>>>COMPLETELY

Take your time.

The links above this post by @Nelson Muntz are well worth a read. Again...take your time.

 

[70 Tango Charlie]

Welcome @wauhtihomer_666 to the forum.
My own preference would be for the MATE version of Linux Mint. I have been an LM user for a few years and have found the MATE version to be the easiest to transition to from Windows. That's just my opinion of course - for whatever that's worth.
One helpful piece of advice I give anyone coming from Windows over to Linux is this:
please do yourself a favor and slow down. Make sure you take the time to learn what you are doing in Linux. It is a lot different from Windows or Mac.
@Condobloke gives a lot of good advice. You can hardly go wrong if you follow it.
Once again, Welcome!
Old Geezer Tango Charlie

 

[KGIII]

You can also get a limited feel for things (without downloading anything) by using DistroTest.

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To add to the other advice, and one that I need to update the site to include:

Keep notes. Create a text file in your Documents directory called "notes.txt" and use it to keep notes of the commands you run, the tidbits you pick up along the way, and the more major things you've done to change your operating system.

Computers don't really do random all that well, and their behavior isn't random. So, having that to look back upon will potentially save you hours of frustration. You can be certain when you say, "Well, I last ran these three commands in my terminal. Then this unexpected behavior happened."

And, finally, keep good backups. Mint's a lovely distro, but everything needs backups.

 

[Deleted member 101831]

If this is your laptop than any version of Linux Mint 20.1 would be fine.

https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/us/Latitude_7000_Series_spec_sheet.pdf

 

[daydream]

Linux Mint, it is a good distribution and it can handle low specs pretty well as being a stable environment

 

[Tolkem]

My laptop has Intel I5 4300U 1.90Ghz and 8Gb ram

Then Q4OS will run really great, in my machine it uses around 400mb in idle, that is, no programs running other than the desktop and basic tools, plus IMHO, KDE Plasma is a very good desktop environment; I mainly use my keyboard to do pretty much anything: Launch apps, open/close windows, navigate the system and much more, Plasma allows me to do that, other DE's don't, at least not as much as KDE. I say give it a try and see if you like it. Also, you can use Ventoy https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html copy a few .isos, depending on the USB stick storage capacity you can easily put 2,3,4... boot one, try it, reboot, choose another one, try it... To learn how to use Ventoy read here https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_start.html You might want to read here too https://www.fosslinux.com/41109/top-10-reasons-to-use-kde-as-your-desktop-environment.htm