I installed Linux Mint XFCE on my sister's laptop.

Freepoorman

Freepoorman

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My sister's laptop was running very slow. It has an i5 CPU and 8gb RAM, but still has an HDD as the boot drive. After seeing how fast my (similar spec) laptop is running Xubuntu, she asked if I could install Linux but keep it as user-friendly as possible for her. She's only ever used Windows, so I used B00merang's Windows 10 theme and customized some icons and fonts...

I know it looks ridiculous, but I tried to keep it as familiar as possible for her, and she had no trouble moving directly over to Linux and has been super grateful that she can actually do things on her laptop again without it freezing...
 

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Can you swap out the hdd for a ssd ?.....it is not usually hard to do....YouTube is full of videos showing how to do it......be specific in the model number you use in the search....it will give you a step by step procedure. Proceed gently and carefully

You sister will be nothing short of amazed.

PS once she has become used to the system, you could ease her off the theme. She will eventually lose her nervousness
 
It's a common fact...windoze is slow. My 12 year old Laptop came with windoze 7 and wasn't really fast but when I switched to Linux (Linux Lite) I couldn't believe how fast it suddenly became.
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A few years ago I swapped the HDD for an SSD and it became even faster at least 10 times faster.
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It won't be long before your sister will be saying...what's windoze.
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Condobloke said:
Can you swap out the hdd for a ssd ?....
Click to expand...
I don't have the funds to do things like that at the moment, but I did recommend it to her.

I found that most windows computers considered "obsolete" today are easily brought back to life with software tweaks.. Replacing the OS with a lite Linux distro seems to be the holy grail
 
Freepoorman said:
I found that most windows computers considered "obsolete" today are easily brought back to life with software tweaks.. Replacing the OS with a lite Linux distro seems to be the holy grail
Click to expand...

Don't believe what m$ says...my old Laptop is running Mint Cinnamon 21.1 which is very user friendly...she might want to try it.
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Give us the make/model, specs....RAM, etc etc of your sisters laptop
 
Condobloke said:
Give us the make/model, specs....RAM, etc etc of your sisters laptop
Click to expand...
It's a 2018 Asus Vivobook.

Specs:
  • Display: 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) anti-glare display with ASUS NanoEdge design
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-8250U processor (1.6GHz, up to 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost, 6MB cache)
  • Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
  • Memory: 8GB of DDR4 2400MHz RAM
  • Storage: 256GB SATA3 M.2 SSD + 1TB 5400RPM HDD
  • Keyboard: Backlit keyboard with 1.4mm key travel
  • Touchpad: Large touchpad with support for Windows Precision Touchpad gestures and integrated fingerprint sensor
  • Audio: Harman Kardon speakers with ASUS SonicMaster audio technology
  • Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
  • Ports: 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, 1 x USB 2.0 port, 1 x HDMI port, 1 x microSD card reader, 1 x headphone jack
  • Camera: HD (720p) webcam
  • Battery: 3-cell 42Wh lithium-polymer battery with up to 8 hours of battery life
  • Dimensions: 14.2 x 9.6 x 0.6 inches (361.4 x 243.5 x 17.9mm)
  • Weight: 3.97 pounds (1.8kg)
 
Freepoorman said:
It's a 2018 Asus Vivobook.
Click to expand...
Basic spec is very good for a late 2017/early 2018 machine, a I5 quad-core hyper threaded [2 threads per core] CPU is more than enough for everyday computing,
 
next time you get your hands on it, try running inxi from sudo and it will give you a lot more information sudo inxi -FBnxxx [but never use this command to post online as it does contain sensitive information[ for online use stick to inxi-Fnxxz]
 
Brickwizard said:
next time you get your hands on it, try running inxi from sudo and it will give you a lot more information sudo inxi -FBnxxx [but never use this command to post online as it does contain sensitive information[ for online use stick to inxi-Fnxxz]
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will definitely keep that in mind.
 
That will run any Linux you like.

It will run Linux Mint Cinnamon like a breeze.

How sure are you it is a noisy hard drive ?....Could be a fan ?

 
Condobloke said:
That will run any Linux you like.
Click to expand...
Hi Brian,
That is what he has chosen, BUT deliberately made it look like windows, including the icons and layout for her, Not something most of us would do, but it works for her, and that's the most important part of the operation.
Freepoorman said:
It is good but the HDD is very noisy.
Click to expand...
Be afraid, be very afraid, make sure she backs everything up to external drives, if it goes [and you say its noisy so it could happen any time] she will lose everything, and clone her current hard-drive as is, so you just need to ghost it back to a new drive
 
Time will tell......or, in Software Manager, there is an app called Gsmartcontrol.

Install that in LIVE mode......in other words boot from the usb stick, then install it

Type its name in menu...select the drive....then click onDevice....and select perform tests

The Test Type...can either be a Short Self Test or an Extended Self test....(the extended take only 2 minutes)

Once you have chosen one....click on Execute.

Have a coffee....or tea...

I still think its a fan.

EDIT: just saw your post Brian....it would help if I actually read his first post !!

Thanks mate.
 
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