I have a 7 year old Windows 8 HP netbook that I wanted to "reform". It has 2GB of DDR3 ram, pretty crummy internal graphics, oddly enough, a touch screen, a 320GB mechanical SATA HDD, a very basic Intel processor and Windows 8.
So I installed Mint Debian replacing Windows 8. The latter which never, in my opinion, ran well on this netbook, will not be missed. I've been running Debbie for a few weeks now and I can say thus far I'm impressed. What stands out is its ability to provide an appealing experience on the hardware equivalent of an "oily rag". I have installed a theme with transparencies in the menu and lower panel plus wallpaper, loaded up Vivaldi, VLC and Sublime text editor. Everything runs seamlessly, no discernible performance deficit from the eye candy I installed and so far, a vastly superior experience, than anything I ever managed with Windows 8.
Browsing in Vivaldi is no problem although I did find Falkon offered a not unsurprisingly, snappier experience. Coding using Sublime is dead easy but what really blew me away was how well films and video's run using VLC player. Its seamless, no screen artefacts, stuttering or lag. Audio has been just as good and blue tooth support is excellent. My blue tooth speakers which had issues under Manjaro run without fault on Mint.
So far everything is much as it was using Ubuntu based Mint Tricia 19.2 on my primary laptop (I've since moved to Manjaro). Same interface, all the pre bundled software is there and software manager is for the most part, as good as ever. The only minor issue was an occasional glitch installing some software that kept asking for my password but installed anyway, even after declined to keep entering it.
What I can say for anyone considering the move is its hard to discern much difference between Debian and Ubuntu based Mint so unless you can see some compelling reason or you just like Debian derivatives, in my opinion, you might as well stay with Tricia. That said this is a great release which has given an old laptop, I was unsure I'd ever use again, a valid reason take down off the shelf and take with me when I'm out and about or on holiday.
So I installed Mint Debian replacing Windows 8. The latter which never, in my opinion, ran well on this netbook, will not be missed. I've been running Debbie for a few weeks now and I can say thus far I'm impressed. What stands out is its ability to provide an appealing experience on the hardware equivalent of an "oily rag". I have installed a theme with transparencies in the menu and lower panel plus wallpaper, loaded up Vivaldi, VLC and Sublime text editor. Everything runs seamlessly, no discernible performance deficit from the eye candy I installed and so far, a vastly superior experience, than anything I ever managed with Windows 8.
Browsing in Vivaldi is no problem although I did find Falkon offered a not unsurprisingly, snappier experience. Coding using Sublime is dead easy but what really blew me away was how well films and video's run using VLC player. Its seamless, no screen artefacts, stuttering or lag. Audio has been just as good and blue tooth support is excellent. My blue tooth speakers which had issues under Manjaro run without fault on Mint.
So far everything is much as it was using Ubuntu based Mint Tricia 19.2 on my primary laptop (I've since moved to Manjaro). Same interface, all the pre bundled software is there and software manager is for the most part, as good as ever. The only minor issue was an occasional glitch installing some software that kept asking for my password but installed anyway, even after declined to keep entering it.
What I can say for anyone considering the move is its hard to discern much difference between Debian and Ubuntu based Mint so unless you can see some compelling reason or you just like Debian derivatives, in my opinion, you might as well stay with Tricia. That said this is a great release which has given an old laptop, I was unsure I'd ever use again, a valid reason take down off the shelf and take with me when I'm out and about or on holiday.