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.

    • NostraDavid@programming.dev
      4·
      13 hours ago

      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.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        11 hours 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.

  • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

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

  • BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com
    12·
    2 days 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
        7·
        2 days 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.

  • 0x0@programming.dev
    4·
    1 day 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.

  • zitrone 🍋@lemmings.world
    4·
    2 days ago

    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).