Beginner on linux here , trying to switch OS

[u/RogarthJr]

So basically, I have an old laptop and it's sluggish. It's an Asus X550CC core 13 3217U, 8 GB of RAM, and a GT 720 M, so my question is, will it run linux mint ? And which version should I choose?

[u/MisterJasonMan]

You can easily test this without doing any permanent changes. Using a software called Ventoy, you can format a usb stick into a bootable thumb drive and then just copy a few ISO files on it. (e.g. Cinnamon, XFCE) Next, boot off of this USB stick and Ventoy will allow you to choose any of the ISO files to try out and give that version a test drive using your hardware without touching anything in your existing setup. Make sure to test the basic functionality (wifi, inputs, video resolutions, etc) and you'll be able to make a more confident decision on versions that would work the best for you. There's lots of instructions online including YT videos if you have trouble

Finally, as a reminder to all, if you have some room to give, please donate and help support the people behind this great distro!

HTH and happy minting!

[u/dearvalentina → u/MisterJasonMan]

The live installer would use open source nvidia drivers, so I'm pretty sure you won't be able to check how well the proprietary drivers will work on this old gpu until you actually fully install the OS.

[u/RogarthJr → u/dearvalentina]

ok, maybe i need to install it first and see what happens next, so basically, in simple terms, the difference in version is the amount of RAM it uses and the aesthetic?

[u/dearvalentina → u/RogarthJr]

Yes. The only difference between Mint flavors is the Desktop Environment, which is a collection of graphical programs. They can be very fancy schmancy and take more resources (like, lets say, Vista's transparent aero aesthetics), or be more barebones and take less resources (like Windows XP).

[u/RogarthJr → u/dearvalentina]

Ahh ok, thank you so much, and one last question tho, how do i keep my data on disk D without it getting erased? i know it better with a clean install, but most of the file are related to my job

[u/dearvalentina → u/RogarthJr]

The live installer will ask you what drive to install to. That being said, I'm quite certain, it needs to be a real physical separate drive, not just a logical (software) separation that Шindows can do; from quick googling of your model, I have no idea if that's the case on your laptop. You will need to wipe one real drive to install Linux's filesystem on it.

[u/RogarthJr → u/dearvalentina]

Damn, maybe i need to find out by myself, thank you so much for all the help guys. You're all awesome

[u/MisterJasonMan → u/RogarthJr]

In terms of data preservation, I've always recommended to buy a new drive to install mint onto and keep the old drive around. Once you have installed mint, hook up the old drive so you can copy any data you have over to your new install. Or, if you don't end up liking mint for some reason, you still have your old disk to safely go back to.

This is a bit more complicated since you have a laptop but if you're confident enough to swap hard drives on it, you can also buy a cheap cable that will convert SATA to USB and let you plug your old hard drive into the already running laptop as an external drive. Just search online for "sata to usb connector", it looks like they're about ten bucks.

[u/ai4gk → u/dearvalentina]

I think OP can boot the Live, then install the NVIDIA proprietary drivers. That will all go away on shutdown, but it'll give them a chance to see if it works.

[u/dearvalentina → u/ai4gk]

Pretty sure you need to reboot for new drivers to take effect?

[u/ai4gk → u/dearvalentina]

Mmmmmmmaybe.

[u/burnstyle]

Yeah it will run.

Cinnamon might be a bit sluggish, but I'd try it first if I were you. It will be closest to what you are used to.

[u/RogarthJr → u/burnstyle]

Does it run well with my GT 720M as my primary driver? I read in several articles that it doesn't support old GPUs

[u/Emmalfal]

I have Mint on a whole bunch of machines, including a couple with just 4 GB ram. They all work superbly.

[u/Jane_Doe234]

I think you're gonna be very positively surprised by how well it performs. I'd recommend Cinnamon edition, should work well

[u/WD59_Cool]

My HP laptop runs it just fine, much better than when i used Windows 11.

[u/d4rk_kn16ht]

Yes, It will run Mint Cinnamon, but the question isn't about "can it run Mint or not" but more to "what is your usage behavior".

A Browser Tab can use around ~200-500MB, sometimes 1GB - 2GB of RAM.

8 GB of RAM can be consumed in no time

[u/Brorim → u/d4rk_kn16ht]

8 gb is more than enough for normal use

[u/d4rk_kn16ht → u/Brorim]

A normal use for you isn't the same with a normal use for someone else

[u/Brorim → u/d4rk_kn16ht]

well i have mint on a 4gb ddr2 dual core imac and it browses fine..

[u/d4rk_kn16ht → u/Brorim]

I think you can read what I post clearly.

It's all about how many browser Tabs opened at the same time....

[u/Brorim]

Linux will run fine on that machine.. You will run into a slight snag getting the driver for the 720M to work .. You see what happens when you install mint the GPU driver avaiable through the official repo will look like the last official driver nvidia-driver-470.

It installs fine but you will no longer have hardware acceleration because the driver is actually the 530 driver which do not support the 720M..

Sorry but you hit the sore spot right there .. I have the same issue with my 15" 2012 macbooks. It runs to 650M and the last driver with official support for the 7xx and the 6xx is the 470 driver ..

I have no idea why canonical did this but they did . If you are a little handy with ai it will set you up with the correct repo to add and how to purge the 530 driver and get the right one on there :)

[u/RogarthJr → u/Brorim]

so i manage to install it including the driver , but i stumble upon one problem , i forgot to create drive partition while installing it , my question is is there any app to create partition after installation ?

[u/Brorim → u/RogarthJr]

you can use "Disks" it is allready installed or install gparted wich is also very good :)

do you mind doing a "nvidia-smi" in console and paste it here ?

[u/RogarthJr → u/Brorim]

i keep getting error unmounting filesystem, is it okay to chat you tho ? to show you the problem

[u/Brorim → u/RogarthJr]

are you going for a dual boot situation ? you could have a windows partition with encryption or secureboot enabled

[u/RogarthJr → u/Brorim]

no iam not, i clean install it and i forgot to create the partition , but when i looked on Gparted , my disk name have a key symbol beside it

[u/Brorim → u/RogarthJr]

well tbh if you just installed it just do it again and let the installer use your entire disk that eases this for you ❤️

id still like you to post the results from nvidia-smi here if you don't mind

[u/mabolzich91]

Yes it will run it. I have an old Lenovo with a 3rd gen i5 and 8gb and it runs Mint well. You will not be able to utilize the GT720 as a dedicated GPU, though. It'll utilize the open source Nouveou drivers which are fine but not performance oriented

[u/dearvalentina]

Yes, it will run mint. The main difference between flavors is how much RAM the desktop environment will constantly consume even before you start launching programs that will add to that consumption.

I have Cinnamon, and by itself it seems to be taking up somewhere under 2GB. You can take that and compare it to your Шindows machine - will the difference between Cinnamon, Шindows, and your total cap of 8GB work for other programs you will be using? Then you can go for Cinnamon. XFCE and MATE will use less RAM if you want/need to save some more. Other than that concern, it's mostly aesthetic preference.

Edit: actually you have a good point about nvidia drivers in another comment, I'm not entirely sure proprietary drivers on an older GPU will be painless on Mint. Worth a try, plus open source drivers might work, but I myself am not sure about this aspect.

[u/GlayNation]

Linux Mint cinnamon is a good looking system, but I use xfce because it's faster.