How to rescue an old laptop by installing Linux on it
No matter how snappy and fast your laptop was when you first bought it, it will inevitably slow down to a sluggish pace eventually. And it’s when you reach that point that you can’t really put off an upgrade anymore.
However, there is another solution: installing Linux. Although not as well known as Windows or macOS, Linux has been around since the early 1990s and runs comfortably on laptops and desktops. It is efficient, well maintained and regularly updated, and its use is completely free.
What’s important for our purposes here is that Linux is also lightweight. Its demands on your system can be much lower than software from Microsoft and Apple, meaning your laptop’s old components can get a new lease of life.
Because of Apple’s proprietary way of merging its hardware and software, this is really just an attempt on Windows laptops (you can install Linux on a Mac, but it’s complicated, especially on newer models). So if you have a creaky Windows laptop that needs a Linux refresh, here’s how to do it.
What is Linux?
Linux is actually a collective name for a whole series of different but related operating systems called distributions. You’re not actually installing Linux, you’re installing one of the Linux family distributions: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, and Fedora are among the most popular, although there are dozens to choose from.
Linux is not as widely used as Windows or macOS, and so generally you will find less software available for it. There’s no Photoshop for Linux, for example, although there are some very capable (and free) alternatives. That said, several renowned applications are available on the Linux platform, including Google Chrome and Spotify.
Some Linux distributions make a special effort to be as lightweight and minimal as possible, and these are the ones to look for if you want to back up an old laptop. They will remove aging components from your system and you should see faster performance than with Microsoft Windows.
Your options here include Puppy Linux, Lubuntu, and the appropriately named Linux Lite, and you’ll be able to find several other lightweight options if you search the web. There is no right or wrong answer as to which one to choose. Take a look at the screenshots and documentation and decide which one suits your current needs.
We recommend the three mentioned above, but no matter which Linux distribution you choose, you should find plenty of help along the way. Generally speaking, Linux users (and distro developers) are generous and community-minded, and if you need help with anything, there are plenty of resources to turn to online.
How to install Linux
Regardless of which version of Linux you install, you should first back up everything currently on your Windows laptop: a Linux installation will erase everything currently on your hard drive. Fortunately, backing up is easier than before, and we have a complete guide here. If you use something like OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive, you may already be covered.
With all your data safely copied elsewhere, there are a few different ways to install Linux on top of Windows, but the easiest is to grab a spare USB drive and place all the Linux installation files on it. Exactly how you do this will depend on the distribution you’re using, but the steps are broadly similar and each distribution will usually come with detailed instructions for installing it.
Let’s take Lubuntu as an example, because the installation process here is quite typical. The first step is to download an image (or ISO) of the distribution to your computer (this could be the one you are upgrading or another one). This image is simply the Linux software itself (and the download will be quite heavy), although it is not yet in a form from which you can run an installer.
Then you need an application to put the image on your USB drive. The generally recommended Windows tool for this is Rufus, which is free to download and use. Once it’s up and running, you can simply point it at the Linux distribution image you downloaded earlier and your connected USB drive, and it will take care of the rest.
The final step is to boot your laptop from the USB drive rather than its hard drive, which will then present you with the Linux installer, which you can follow step by step. How you switch to booting from USB depends on your laptop, but you’ll usually press a key such as F2 or Del while the laptop boots: look for an on-screen message right after turning on your computer, or check online for further instructions.
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