When comparing Lubuntu vs Solus, the Slant community recommends Solus for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for laptops?” Solus is ranked 8th while Lubuntu is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Solus is:
Which means you don't have to suffer from version to version updates that can break it.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Part of the Ubuntu family
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.
Pro Lightweight
By utilizing minimal software Lubuntu is able to use less resources and power.
Pro Stable
Pro LXDE desktop
Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment performs fast and conserves resources.
Pro Offers a long term support release
Lubuntu offers a long term support release with their 14.04 Trusty Tahr based version.
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.
Pro Rolling release
Which means you don't have to suffer from version to version updates that can break it.
Pro Easy installation
The installation procedure for this distribution is quite simple. It's GUI based and all you have to do is to follow the instructions given by the installation window itself.
Pro Modern desktop environment
The default desktop environment used by Solus is called Budgie and is quite nice and minimalistic.
Pro Stable
The system itself is very stable. All packages in the repository seem to be carefully picked, well prepared and run stable.
Pro Responsive
System boots quickly and stays responsive. Does what operating system should do, and does it really well.
Pro Most stable Rolling Release Distro
Pro Exclusively for desktop systems
Pro Great package management
The software center makes it really easy to install the latest software through Snappy and Flatpak. Including third party software.
Pro Rock-solid Distro
Very stable and well curated.
Pro Lightning fast boot time
Pro Seamless packages
It may not have the most obscure packages, but the packages it does have is a good number of everything a Linux user needs. Gamers, developers, desktop users, etc. all have the necessary packages and then some. The packages themselves are integrated perfectly and are very well updated.
Pro Default experience is clean and easy
The default desktop experience on the Budgie version is very clean and streamlined. Although the Budgie DE isn't the most customisable, but it's customisable enough for me to recreate the desktop style of ElementaryOS with the dock and bar at the top.
Pro Friendly towards proprietary codecs, firmware and drivers
So you won't have to enable PPAs or extra repos for that.
Pro Well curated software
The software is well curated in the repos, you have access to flatpaks and snaps, so virtually, all the software you'll ever need is there for you.
Pro Friendly community
The only community who values the newcomers. Very helpful community.
Pro Built from scratch
Cons
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Con Not much software
There is not much software available.
Con Lack of software in repositories
There is a lack of software in the repositories. This is the only OS where I have had to build some applications from source or install from the app's site within the first month os usage. Though this is most likely because the distro is still relatively new.
Con There is often a black screen after update
Con An upgrade breaks the system quite often
Con Forums are not very friendly
Con Systemd
Con No USB Image writer
Con The default desktop environment is not very customizable
Maybe because it's a relatively new project still in its infancy and this may be fixed in the future, but Budgie is not very customizable. You can only change the theme and wallpaper.