What are the best Linux distros for old notebooks/laptops?

Init-System:SysVInit

Faster than other distros tested, including many on this list. See More

Top Pro

Works very well on ASUS 1005HA netbook

Top Con

Not available for download in Iran

BraveCarmanor's Experience

Flawless setup and great built-in tools, especially Live USB ones. Recommended for anyone with basic-to-intermediate Linux knowledge See More

Top Pro

Works well on 32-bit PC

Fewer distros are available to work on 32-bit machines. This works well on old Toshiba. Quick enough on older machines not to notice any lagging. See More

IntelligentUgallu's Experience

I has brought back to life an old Sony VAIO P11 See More

Top Pro

Extremely lightweight

Has a 70-90MB memory footprint. See More

FearlessNuliajuk's Experience

Works without any problems on Dell Latitude X300 - really old sub notebook-Pentium M 1.4GHz, single core, 32bit, non PAE. I can browse the Internet and even to watch you tube videos with some of the light-weighted browsers or with SMtube. LibreOffice running without any problems. What more can I want from an 15 year old notebook! Antix is really great OS for old laptops, and maybe the only one which works on non PAE machines. Thank you Antix. See More

Top Pro

Stats appear on the desktop

AmbitiousNusku's Experience

I've run antiX 17.4 from a laptop with 6 Gb RAM, built circa 2012, running BIOS. It booted flawlessly from a USB stick and did all as advertised. It is better than Puppy, which I have tested on the same machine, for those who want to install their preferred software owing to the Debian 9 "Stretch" compatibility. Remastering is a breeze. Frugal install keeps all software installs. Persistence keeps browser data on reboots. Also, antiX forces the user to learn the most important bits about Linux OS usage: using a terminal, mounting, package install (apt-get, synaptic, adding repositories), git install and use. antiX is for someone who comes from a gooey world, e.g., Microsoft Windows, and has a bit of tech know-how and who wants to learn Linux is a less painful way, e.g., not Linux from Scratch nor from Slackware. See More

Top Pro

It is the only distro suitable for an old Sony vaio P

In the case of any "workaholic boss' emergency", it can connect to the Wi-Fi, use Libre Office to edit any word or excel file and send it back by email. Not big deals but good enough for on-duty tasks with a complete physical keyboard. See More

PersonableBochica's Experience

no systemd See More

AssertiveMorrigan's Experience

Extremely lightweight. Runs fast on my 32-bit netbook without a hitch. See More

Puppy Linux requires 128MB of RAM and 333Mhz of CPU, although 256MB of RAM is recommended. See More

19 Other Options Considered

Puppy Linux

Top Pro

Extremely low minimum system requirements

Top Con

Smallest software library ever

You can barely find any precompiled packages for Puppy. See More

KnowledgeableAhti's Experience

Very small distro with smallest size and almost all needed software. Very good choice! See More

Top Pro

The whole OS runs off of RAM

Since Puppy Linux is completely loaded and run off of RAM instead of HDD, it's read/write speed is not a factor. See More

Top Con

Downloadable software does not always work as expected.

Software can be downloaded from a variety of sources; however, it may not always work as Puppy Linux strips a lot of binaries from the base package. See More

BlurpleFedora's Experience

As far as I know, Puppy runs on RAM (after startup). It's a good choice for old laptops (and/or towers) because it runs on RAM, which could mean better results with old laptops. But, it looks really really really old (like Kaspersky Rescue 10 or 11). See More

Top Pro

Designed to run as a live USB/CD

A portable version, that can be carried on a thumb drive without requiring installation, weighs less than 100MB; a Live CD - less than 150MB. You can even save your settings and files for Puppy on the external device/media. Running off a live CD also has security benefits, as your system will reset to the known config after each boot. See More

Top Con

A bit ugly

Using puppy makes you feel like you just jumped 20 years into the past. Being that the purpose of Puppy Linux is to run or really low resource machines the software used is often on the older side, which is precisely why it has a 20 year old look. See More

CheerfulKaratgurk's Experience

It solve all my problems on any desktop or laptop computer. See More

Top Pro

It can be the only distro that works

Sometimes, Puppy Linux is the only distro that works on an old machine: all other distros are more demanding. See More

Top Con

Not as light as it used to be

It's light, but not as light as it was 1-2 years ago. See More

InventivePtah's Experience

Huge variety of Puppy OS'; I've more or less settled with BionicPup, both 32b and 64b v's. See More

Top Pro

Linux distro designed for this exact purpose

Top Con

No built in compositing

Being a low resource distro there is zero built in compositing for the JWM window manager. Though one can be added through a bit of work. See More

Top Pro

JWM used as window manager

JWM is a low resource window manager that is used in most Puppy Linux installs. See More

Top Pro

Offers a long term support release

Puppy Linux offers an LTS release called Precise. See More

Top Pro

Different distro based versions available

Puppy Linux offers a few different releases. The first is an Ubuntu based release called Tahrpup, by using this version the user is able to take advantage of all software and support from Ubuntu. The second version is called Slacko, which is built upon the Slackware binaries. The third is called Wary and it is built to support older hardware than the rest. And the fourth is called Quirky, which is used as a base to explore new ideas. See More

Peppermint 9OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA. See More

Peppermint Linux OS

Top Pro

Peppermint9 is stable

Top Con

Michael

PassionateBellona's Experience

fastest See More

Specs

Based On:Debian and Devuan

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Init-System:Systemd (not in Devuan base)

There are enough useful back end packages installed by default to make the system useable for normal use right after the installation of the base distro. See More

Top Pro

It works well "Out Of The Box"

Top Con

Since it is based on Lubuntu, the double click speed needs to be slowed down

It's false that Peppermint 7 is tout court based on Lubuntu. Take a look at this: "Peppermint Seven makes use of the Xfwm4 window manager and Xfce bottom panel in the LXDE desktop environment. This is unlike other Linux distributions that use LXDE as the default desktop environment where it is common to use the Openbox window manager and lxpanel." And more: "Peppermint Seven is built on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS code base and makes use of its package repositories." Contrarily to other Linux distributions, Peppermint creators never said Peppermint 7 is based on Lubuntu, like LXLE. Using LXDE and being based on Ubuntu is very different from being simply based on Lubuntu. In fact, Lubuntu is not faster than Peppermint and has loads of lacks for a nowadays OS experience. See More

Top Pro

Fast and light on resources

RAM consumption is the same as LxLE, but more efficient and because of Whisker Menu and other tweaks that let us feel more like we have a XFCE desktop environment, as keyboard shortcuts, for instance, it looks like we got here the fastest and lightest, globally speaking. Very good on performance. Download Respin 7 (March 2017), install Libreoffice and then compare, for example, opening Libreoffice Writer inside Peppermint 7, Extix 17.04, Lubuntu 16.10, Xubuntu 16.04, Backbox 4.7, Linux Mint 18.1 Xfce an Mate or Linux Lite 3.4 (and others). Finally, you'll find out that after opening a few apps in Peppermint it remains smooth and light. Nemo file explorer on Peppermint is incredibly faster than on Mint Cinnamon; lx terminal is very fast when opening; updating is fast. And after all this, distro keeps working and working very solidly and consistently along the time. And yet the look and feel of the environment is pleasant. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a variety of helpful tools

Works great with Teamviewer, Synaptic, XNview, KODI, and Pdf-Xchange editor (via playonlinux). Netflix works awesome with Chrome browser. The ICE SSB tool is great for creating web apps that run as if you installed them locally. The Software Boutique (packaged with The MATE Welcome software Center) recognizes all software and installs it with one click. See More

Top Pro

Peppermint 7 is stable

Peppermint 7OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA . Kernel updated to 4.9.24 on 23-April -2017 with no issues and all software still runs great. See More

Top Pro

Looks great

The XFCE Whisker menus and dark theme are well designed. Easy to move the panel to the top and add plank on the bottom. See More

Top Pro

Friendly and helpful forum

Among the most friendly Linux systems for beginners: (1) easy to set up commonly-used additional packages; (2) has facilities to just 'tick-and-go', and (3) based on well-known Ubuntu system. See More

Linux Lite

Top Pro

Very beginner-friendly

Top Con

Not compatible with 32-Bit machines

Only series 1.x - 3.x supported 32bit. Otherwise Peppermint is recommended. See More

LinuxDistroBro's Experience

I've tried several distros for old laptops. Linux Lite is great for noobs with old computers. I really appreciate the intuitiveness and customizability. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Linux Lite is laid out similar to Windows XP/Vista/7. See More

Top Pro

Great for ex-Windows users

ReliableCacoch's Experience

Was easy to install & setup and brought life back to a couple of old computers with crashed/broken operating systems. See More

Top Pro

Light distro

Top Pro

Great default aesthetics using XFCE

The GTK icon packs, theme configurations and tweaks are excellently handpicked, allowing for a cleaner interface that is aesthetically pleasing. See More

Top Pro

Very stable and easy to use

Very stable, easy to use. Recommended for professionals and beginners. See More

Once installed you can almost forget about it and start to use your desktop for your daily tasks. See More

Debian GNU/Linux

Top Pro

Install and forget

Top Con

Hard to learn

Specs

Package Manager:dpkg (Debian Package Manager)

Release Schedule:approximately every 24 months

Main Usage:Universal

Official Supported Architectures:amd64 (x86_64), arm64 (aarch64), armel, armhf, i386, mipsel, mips64el, ppc64el, s390x

Debian releases live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives, for the i386 and amd64 architectures, and with a choice of desktop environments. These Debian Live images allow the user to boot from a removable media and run Debian without affecting the contents of their computer. See More

Top Pro

Live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives

Top Con

Buggy and non-user friendly

You need to know almost as much as Arch and deal with documentation not as good as the Arch wiki in order for Debian to work. See More

Top Pro

Easy to find help with any problem

Debian is one of the oldest and most popular distros out there. Debian's popularity means that you will always be able to find a solution for your problem just by searching on Google, or if by chance nobody has had the problem you are having it's very easy to ask the community and quickly get a solution. See More

Top Con

Ridiculous package splitting

Even though it makes sense to split devel and the actual binary of an application, the splitting has become as mess in debian and its derivates: for example the nvidia driver is splitted into over 40 different packages: https://packages.debian.org/en/source/sid/nvidia-graphics-drivers See More

Top Pro

Very stable

Debian has a Stable branch, where packages are thoroughly tested before release. Furthermore Debian is know to be the definition of stable when it comes to production systems. See More

Top Con

Internal quarrels harm the project

Instead of working all together to provide the best Operating System, some maintainers are just ignorant and aggressive to new ideas or new maintainers. That led to many crises and controversy in Debian's history. See More

Top Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

Debian runs standard Gnome, XFCE, KDE - it doesn't use its own special desktop environment or debian specific modifications or customisations, which means that users benefit from the work of the whole Linux community, Debian developers can focus on the distribution itself, and any support for your desktop environment on other distributions should work on Debian as well. See More

Top Con

No default support for unfree drivers

Debian does not official support unfree software so if you have a wifi card or anything elese that requires an unfree driver you will need to download the unofficial/non-advertised non-free iso image which contains all unfree driver packages. See More

Top Pro

Wide choice of hardware platforms

Debian has the widest choice of hardware platforms, including: amd64, armel, armhf, i386, ia64, kfreebsd-i386, kfreebsd-amd64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, sparc, s390, s390x, source, multi-arch. See More

Top Con

Stable release contains extremely outdated packages

If you want the newest packages, you'll have to do a minimal installation of Debian stable then upgrade to testing or you need to install testing directly: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting. See More

Top Pro

Wide choice in desktop environments

Debian offers stable and testing CD images specifically built for GNOME (the default), KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce and LXDE. Less common window managers such as Enlightenment, Openbox, Fluxbox, GNUstep, IceWM, Window Maker and others can also be installed. See More

Top Con

Uses SystemD as default init

Debian has support for other init-systems like SysV, runit or OpenRC, however, there is no way to choose a different init-system in the installer, so all Debian Linux installations will default to SystemD. See More

Top Pro

Highly secure system

Known for being consistent in maintaining a highly secure system. Several other popular distros use Debian as a base or core for their own Linux OS, the security being one of the main factors why it's so commonly used. See More

Top Con

Outdated kernel of the live system

Since the LiveCD is based on Debian stable the kernel is old, outdated but stable. See More

Default Desktop Environment:Openbox

BunsenLabs Linux

Based On:Debian Stable

Easy on the specs and still blazingly fast. See More

Endeavour OS

Top Pro

Great for low performance hardware

Top Con

Same Cons that apply for Arch Linux

Since it is based on Arch, it is harder to install and can easily break. See More

TalentedSuadela's Experience

Easy to install, runs very fast. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Default Desktop Environment:Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, Xfce

Package Manager:pacman

One of the best reasons to use an Arch based distro. You can find almost every package there is in the Linux world! See More

Top Pro

AUR support

Top Con

Uses systemd

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Pro

Cutting edge rolling release

Exactly as Arch - allows users to stay on the most up-to-date versions of the software they are using. See More

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

Top Pro

Good overall system quality and performance

Lean, fast and surprisingly stable. See More

Top Pro

No restrictive handholding, pure control over everything

The user can do whatever he wishes because the distro IS Arch - with and easy installer and great themes. See More

Top Pro

Great community

Top Pro

As slim as you want it

Based on Arch, Endevour OS keeps its core repositories slim and free of unnecessary dependencies. The distro comes with no bloatware, only the necessary packages. The repositories are nearly as full as those of Ubuntu, while they are often more up to date. See More

Top Pro

Fast and simple package management

There can only be one Package Manager (pacman) ;) See More

Top Pro

Helpful community

Great team of developers and excellent forum support on their official website. See More

Top Pro

Easy installer

Top Pro

Arch Linux Wiki

Being an "easy to install version of Arch" means it is exactly easy to use the famous Arch Wiki! See More

Top Pro

Great hardware support

Top Pro

Stripped down to the bone

Since its stripped down, it is fast and you don't have to deal with bloatware. See More

Top Pro

Support for a large variety of new hardware

Rolling release means newer, up to date, mesa and kernel versions able to handle newer hardware with better performance! See More

Top Pro

Great XFCE implementation

Their use of themes and configuration look great! See More

There's no easy way to switch from local keyboard layout if non-Latin installer language is selected. See More

Manjaro Linux

Top Con

Installation is extremely buggy

Top Pro

Very good looking desktops

All desktops look good by default. See More

CooperativeZisa's Experience

couldn't install at all on one laptop, successful on second machine but the small screen and the terrible colour scheme/fonts made it impossible to use so it was binned almost immediately. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE, KDE Plasma, GNOME

Package Manager:pamac

Init-System:systemd

Also available as independent variants. See More

Top Pro

All major desktops and even less common ones like Budgie, Lumina, LXQT, Deepin, Enlightenment, etc. can be directly installed from official repositories

Being based on Ubuntu (which itself is based on Debian), there's a good amount of information and support to be found when searching for it, both on Lubuntu specifically and Ubuntu that also applies to Lubuntu. It also means that there are certain security and usability standards enforced and you can use Ubuntu .deb packages. See More

Lubuntu

Top Pro

Part of the Ubuntu family

Top Con

Long term support not as long as other Ubuntu spins

Lubuntu has not always had LTS support. Luckily they do offer a 3 year LTS now but it is shorter than other Ubuntu spins that receive a full 5 years of support. See More

R Harrington's Experience

Installed it on a 4GB RAM, HDD-using notebook from 2010. I use it to rip CDs, since Windows (7) has been bloated and is virtually unusable. It runs well, even from a 4GB USB 2.0 drive on Live Preview See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:LXQt

By utilizing minimal software Lubuntu is able to use less resources and power. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Lacks some window management features

There's no built-in way to snap windows to the sides, re-size them by double clicking the bar, or dragging to the edges. See More

AdventurousHecaterus's Experience

ISO won't finish booting on Dell Studio 1747 See More

Top Pro

Stable

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Lubuntu install. See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

Top Pro

Easy install

Top Con

No composite manager

Being a modern desktop many users expect compositing, even on lightweight systems. Without compositing there will be screen tearing, a lot of it. Though there is built in support for users to add their own compositors such as Compton. See More

ConfidentMammetun's Experience

Fast, stable, easy ... See More

Top Pro

LXDE desktop

Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment performs fast and conserves resources. See More

Top Con

i386 will be sunset in future 19.04 Disco Dingo releases

And until 2021 for 18.04 LTS. This is a disappointment since so many old computers use this architecture. See More

Top Pro

Uses Openbox as the default window manager

Lubuntu (LXDE) uses the lightweight Openbox window manager to manage its windows. By using Openbox by default LXDE is able to remain lightweight as there is no built in composite manager in Openbox to take up resources. See More

Top Con

Clock in panel is broken currently in LXDE

The clock panel applet does not work as expected in the newest versions of LXDE. If the clock is set to not show seconds in the display when waking from suspend the clock will not update until the time actually changes in the applet which means it can take up to a minute for the clock to update when seconds are not shown. The work around to this is to display seconds on the clock which allows it to update after suspend within one second. Sadly the clock does not display seconds correctly as it skips them by one to three at least once a minute, often more. This is also not the first time there have been problems with the panel clock which clearly illustrates this to be an ongoing problem for the developers. See More

Top Pro

Offers a long term support release

Lubuntu offers a long term support release with their 14.04 Trusty Tahr based version. See More

Xubuntu is very fast and makes good use of resources. See More

Xubuntu

Top Pro

Great performance

Top Con

UI is pretty generic without customization

The default XFCE UI is pretty generic and sometimes ugly unless customized to suit the user's needs and liking. Customization in XFCE is easier than on Unity, but still hard for beginners. See More

ResponsiveAsaruludu's Experience

It's very simple to use. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

It comes with all Ubuntu goodness but without bloat, a perfect mix between new ideas and usability. See More

Top Pro

Conservative, yet modern

Top Con

XFCE development is slow

The desktop environment used in Xubuntu has not been updated in over two years and is developed at a snail's pace. See More

Top Pro

Quick boot time

Boots at about double the speed of most distributions. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Xubuntu install. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

Official distro of XFCE, one of the most customizable desktop environments. In XFCE you can create as many tasks bars as you need and configure every one of their elements and behaviours. You can also change any icon, font, color... etc. Literally there's nothing you can't change in GUI. See More

Top Con

XFCE hasn't had an update for a long time

Top Pro

Comes with lightweight applications

Xubuntu is designed as a lightweight operating system and Linux distro. It uses XFCE by default and comes packed with XFCE applications which are generally pretty lightweight. See More

Many users report problems with closing and re-opening the laptop lid, this seems to be a known XFCE bug. See More

Zorin OS Lite

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

Top Con

Laptop lid problems

FunnyAchuguayo's Experience

On my 13 year old Samsung N210 netbook everything worked out of the box, even backlight dimming, which none of the other distros could, except Lubuntu 18.04, but that was no longer supported. I had no problem with the laptop lid closing, system went to sleep and woke up again. See More

Specs

Based On:Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce 4.14

Origin:Ireland

Top Pro

Good hardware support for old netbooks, like Samsung N210

Top Pro

Windows like

Zorin is compatible with Ubuntu's sizable repositories of Free Software. See More

Zorin OS

Top Pro

Ubuntu-based

Top Con

Zorin's repository app is very slow, though it looks very nice and is simple to use

FunnyAchuguayo's Experience

Very user friendly. Very good hardware support for netbook See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Gnome / Xfce

New users may be unaware of what software is available for Linux, but Zorin includes a good selection for everyday tasks out of the box. See More

Top Pro

Installer can set up dual boot

Top Pro

Good Selection of pre-installed software

It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops. See More

Ubuntu MATE

Top Pro

Works great on old laptops

Top Con

No very good Software Center by default

The Software Boutique is not good. You can install Gnome Software from it. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:MATE

Package Manager:Debian Package Manger

No better place to continue Unity experience with Ubuntu (Left-side panel, HUD) and not as awkward as Gnome See More

Top Pro

Behaves like Ubuntu with Unity - after Ubuntu-Gnome transformation

Top Con

Too much bloat included by default

Top Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Ubuntu MATE install. See More

Top Pro

Perfect for people who like Gnome 2

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project. See More

Top Con

Not bleeding edge

Users who want the latest and greatest software would be happier using Arch Linux, Antergos or another rolling release distro. However, because Ubuntu MATE is based on Ubuntu, users still have access to a large repository of recent software. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system. See More

Top Pro

Based on Ubuntu

Only the software you would need like Terminal emulator, file manager, media player and a browser. See More

Ubuntu LTS

Add Video or Image

Kali Linux

Add Video or Image

Artix Linux

Top Pro

Lightweight

voldemort's Experience

Artix runs on old chromebook, and runs much better than peppermint linux. The lack of systemd speeds it up so much. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Default Desktop Environment:Bash (Unix shell), Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE and XFCE

Package Manager:Pacman

Release Schedule:Rolling release

Artix actively supports the runit init system known from Void Linux. (Equally besides the OpenRC init system known from Gentoo.) See More

Top Pro

runit

Top Pro

Flexibility

You can have a functional system in less than 10 mins using GUI installer OR you can do it "the Arch way" . See More

Top Pro

Rolling distro

Top Pro

Close to bare Arch Linux

No learning curve if you're coming from Arch or any of its derivatives. See More

Top Pro

No systemd

Very fast and good. See More

Other debian based XFCE distros- Xubuntu, Debian XFCE, Devuan leave small footprint on system whereas MXLinux uses too much CPU resources on same system. See More

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MX-Linux

Top Pro

Supports non-free drivers

Top Con

Causes overheating on some hardwares

IndustriousHannahannah's Experience

I like it so much! ☺ See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable>antiX

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

Init-System:SysV-init (default) & systemD

Installer and configuration tools are different and can take some time getting used to. See More

Top Pro

Runs well on older hardware

Top Con

Installer and configuration tools are different

InsightfulShullat's Experience

i have been using this since mx17 now using mx19 i have had no trouble putting this on my dell mini 1020 npq45 and desktop machine if you are just changing from windows this is easy to use See More

Top Pro

Easy install

It just works See More

Top Con

Old software

Many software applications are older. See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

Only one Desktop Environment

Wernight's Experience

This isn't the lightest OS, but neither the heaviest. It's in a kind of middle-ground to provide great app repository, drivers, etc. whilst working with low system resources (using XFCE window manager, no systemd...) and it has great tools to help system maintenance. See More

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Con

Too much preinstalled applications

Top Pro

Based on Debian

It is based on Debian and not based on Ubuntu. See More

Top Con

10s of media players preinstalled

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Too much customization

Top Pro

Good MX Tools and Package Installer

MX Linux comes with its own set of tools called MX Tools, designed to make life easier for users. See More

Top Con

Longer boot time

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Con

Includes non-free drivers

Top Pro

Support 32-bit

Top Con

Remixed Debian testing

It's mainly a Debian stable with some recompiled/backported Debian testing packages. See More

Top Pro

Help and Support

Built in help pages and online help groups are one of the best i have used very helpful and polite See More

Top Con

Debian based but requires sometimes tweaks to install Debian apps

For example to install Docker following the Debian guide will not work, because it won't use "uname" will not print the Debian base name but MX release name. Once you know, it's easy to install. See More

Top Pro

Can also be used as an emergency tool

It has almost all tools to repair non booting systems or recover files & folders and save them on a safe place. And when thought together with it starts quick on live-session. In addition, you can do these with "your own", customized distro (snapshot). See More

Top Con

More than 50 tweaking softwares pre-installed

Top Pro

Supported special function keys immediately (e.g. Volume, brightness, airplane mode)

Top Pro

MX Snapshot: lets you make your own distro

Can create your own ISO (snapshot) and use it either as live-session and install back when needed. With the (pre-installed) Snapshot tool you can easily create an ISO of your running system and then save it to a USB (or other media) and use "your own" distro as a live session or install back whenever you like (even on a different PC with different specs with no issues). You can even give that customized ISO to friends (selecting "non-personal" ISO when creating the snapshot; thus resetting the accounts & passwords and Home folder etc.). Also you can save that ISO directly encrypted via MX Live USB Maker tool. Again, you can install MX encrypted during installation with just ticking a box, no matter if it's the official ISO or your snapshot. See More