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Ask HN: LXDE (Mint) or Xfce (XUbuntu)

by mrng on 10/9/12, 12:53 AM with 5 comments

1. I have a relatively old laptop (Pentium Dual-Core, T4200); 2. Its memory is OK(-ish): 4GB; 3. I never cared about eye candy and fluff, I always wanted the snappiest response available with zero visual effects; 4. I've narrowed down my choices to Xfce4 or LXDE (Ubuntu, respectively Mint);

Has anyone gone from one to the other? Which one has provided you with a better experience overall (meaning here not only the Desktop layer, but also the patches and general stability of the respective distribution)?

  • by bbakersmith on 10/9/12, 7:04 PM

    I've tried both and have settled on Xubuntu because it runs faster (particularly on my Netbook) and provides a solid non-Unity experience.

    Mint is pretty nice too, but I generally recommend it to people who are new to Linux because it comes with more software out-the-box, looks a bit flashier, and seems to be a bit more familiar to people coming from Windows.

  • by thomaslee on 10/9/12, 1:41 AM

    I can't comment on XUbuntu, but I went from LXDE to Debian+Xfce and finally settled on Debian+OpenBox.

    If you're really only interested in Xfce vs. LXDE, I'd go with Xfce -- but only because it should be less of a memory hog & I doubt you'll miss much from its heavier cousin. Honestly though, either would probably work fine.

    Or hey, give OpenBox a crack. :)

    (Be warned I'm a keyboard junkie, so my love of OpenBox might be tainted by that :) Between the customizable shortcuts + menu & some of my own stuff [http://tomlee.co/code/ginvoke] I rarely have a reason to reach for the mouse outside of the browser.)

  • by devb0x on 10/11/12, 5:19 AM

    XFCE4 on a netbook.. 2gb RAM, Atom...

    Works awesome and really is my run around, using it alot. xfce is a great DE