I have an old HP 14-dq0000dx model laptop that originally ran Windows 11 that I got from Amazon to supplement my most basic needs while I’m in school. I’m talking browser and coding only because, while it has 32GB of RAM, it only has 64GB eMMC of memory that’s not upgradable. Currently, I am supplementing with an SD card with 128GB of storage space for any files that I need to work with and it’s been able to serve it’s purpose so far without become e-waste.
That being said, I didn’t initially realize that there was an issue until I started noticing how slow my laptop was while running multiple applications, like Google chrome and VSCode, or opening multiple tabs in a browser. My windows and apps would take forever to open, and even after trying to debloat and optimize settings during start up, my laptop still continued to struggle with any “intensive tasks” - so task manager became my best friend during the past two years of using this laptop.
And, while I did use my laptop a lot when I initially bought it thanks to the touchscreen feature making it very accessible (and also pretty cool to me), the added bloat of the push Microsoft made to put Copilot on every one of the Windows OS-based machines I had was really something that ticked me off and just bogged down all of my devices. And no matter how many of the extra apps that I deleted from me (1) not using them and (2) not having the extra space, eventually I was stuck with what essentially an expensive brick as Windows 11 basically became bloatware that made my laptop unusable. Every time I tried to uninstall and reinstall Windows 11 OS, I would get really frustrated from how Microsoft would try to squeeze every bit of data that they could about me and then put ad after ad in my face upon installation and initial startup.
Eventually, I became so fed up with my laptop running slow I switched to another laptop I had, which was an ASUS Vivobook Go in Pink because, (1) it was a gift and (2) it ran far smoother than mine old one, which wasn’t saying much because that laptop also struggled to keep up with my needs as it also ran Windows 11 and even after getting rid as much of the bloatware as possible.
Fast forward to July 2026 and I kept on getting videos about different Linux distributions pop up on YouTube since I’ve been super into Linux OS and home-labbing lately and wanted to try one for myself without risking my main PC. I dusted off my old laptop and did the song and dance of trying to find something lightweight and beginner friendly for an introduction into Linux and I end up finding out about Linux Mint. More specifically, I find the XFCE Edition, which is quoted to be a “lightweight desktop environment” that is “lighter on resource usage.”
The first time I tried installing Linux Mint was a bit of a hassle, mostly due to my impatience and not following instructions initially, but once I was able to wipe Windows 11 off of my laptop and boot into Linux Mint I could instantly feel the difference in performance and overall quality between the two. The initial setup for installing Linux Mint was night and day compared to Windows, as it gave the option to opt out of signing into my WiFi without me having to access a terminal to bypass any creepy data collection services, at this point, that Windows 11 makes you do. Right after installation, the only three things it asked of my, which were really two, were (1) what’s your username, which also became my laptop’s name, and (2) what’s a good password for you. And then I was in.
Boom. Done. Now all I had to do was download any updates, customize a bit, get my apps, and I was good to go.
Admittedly, I will say that learning anything new will take some time to get used to. I’ve been a Windows user since version 10 and have been with the Windows OS up til this point so I didn’t really have a frame of reference, other than the occasional video popping up on my feed, for how other operating systems compared. I just knew that Mac OS was mostly for creatives, Windows for general use, and Linux for wizards who probably ran Arch and riced their environments. But, the switch so far has been so smooth it’s not even funny.
Off rip because the XFCE Edition is so lightweight, I was able to install more than one application to my main storage (again, 64GB) and my laptop didn’t run slow. It just booted them up and I was free to do whatever I wanted - whether record with OBS Studio, code with Geany, write with Obsidian, the possibilities were endless. I ditched Google Chrome for Firefox since I had made the switch earlier on my main PC and was surprised to find that was the initial browser already preinstalled with the system. Everything that I had been running on my main PC was either already available to me here, or I was able to find and open-source alternative that was probably more lightweight and wasn’t running telemetry data runs back and forth to big corporations.
Literally the next day, my mom’s laptop got bricked. She had forgotten her Bit-locker password and her laptop was effectively made moot - it had done this without warning and worse yet she had lost a lot of files concerning writing projects and original copies of important documents she had scanned. Luckily she had sent a lot of what she had to her email so she was able to recover a majority of what could’ve been lost, but the way this happened was shady and it only cemented my decision to switch to Linux Mint on my main PC as soon as possible because I can’t even remember if I set up a Bit-locker for mine and I don’t want to risk myself getting essentially bricked from everything I have at this point.
I ended up giving her my Pink ASUS Vivobook with a catch - after seeing the disaster that happened to her I suggested switching over to Linux Mint too and she signed off on it pretty quickly. The second time around installing Linux Mint went way better than the first since I had a bit of experience with it. After installing, I helped her with the initial setup process of getting updates and setting themes and then handed it off to her and she’s been having a blast. She has more basic needs than me when it comes to what she wants from her laptop, writing documents compatible with Microsoft Word (thank you Libre Office Suite) and a browser (thank you FireFox) for searching the web. I showed her a few of the applications that I had played around with before letting her loose to enjoy her “new” laptop and I just have to say, I think we’re both better off for it.
After all of this, if I had to give anyone any advice for people who want to make the switch because they’re tired of Big Tech or don’t want their old devices to become e-waste in some landfill. If you have access to the internet, a USB, and want to make the switch, do it. Expect a learning curve for the first week or so as you get used to your new OS it’ll be smooth sailing. It all just depends on what you need rally, so do your research and don’t be afraid to experiment.