Best Linux Mint version for old HP Laptop

[ThailandJim]

I've inherited an old HP Compaq Presario CQ40 Laptop PC Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T6400 2 Ghz maybe new in 2008-09 ???
2 GB RAM C: 97.5 GB D: 368 GB 64 bit Nvidia Hi Def Audio DVD RW drive

What would be the best compatible Linux Mint version for this old laptop. Currently running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thank you for your time and assistance.
Jim

[diabolicbg]

Get a bigger flash drive, install Ventoy on it, copy the three versions of LM - Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce - into Ventoy. Boot the laptop with the flash and try each version live. Choose the one that suits you.
You can also test LM20 - it will be supported for another two years.

https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases

[Midnight True]

i recommend Xfce

but i guess your hardware is very old, perhaps checking out using live mode with other lightweight distros would give you more idea. With that in mind, i recommend https://www.bodhilinux.com/

for more info check this out https://itsfoss.com/lightweight-linux-beginners/

[diabolicbg]

I've inherited an old HP Compaq Presario CQ40 Laptop PC Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T6400 2 Ghz maybe new in 2008-09 ???
2 GB RAM C: 97.5 GB D: 368 GB 64 bit Nvidia Hi Def Audio DVD RW drive

What would be the best compatible Linux Mint version for this old laptop. Currently running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thank you for your time and assistance.
Jim

I have a similar configuration on a desktop computer. It currently runs fine with the latest 32 bit version of MX Linux, which will continue to support 32 bit systems.
https://mxlinux.org/blog/mx-21-3-wildflower-released/

[ThailandJim]

Thank you, diabolicbg and Midnight True. I will get back to you soon with my results. This forum is a godsend for newbies like me.

[The Muffin Man]

FWIW, I've run KDE Neon on an Asus 1015E, which was very low power. I couldn't run a vm and only have 1-2 tabs open in Firefox, but it was more thean adequate. Mate, XFCE versions of Mint should be fine.

[Reddog1]

I've run Mint Xfce as a VM with only 2GB of RAM allotted, and it was o.k. The drive was an SSD, though, but running as a VM probably negated that to a degree. I have an apple macbook core 2 duo with 4GB of RAM and an SSD and it runs both Mint 21.1 Xfce and MX linux really well.

I would actually try MX linux on that old laptop first. MX shares a lot of code with AntiX linux, which is designed to run on old hardware. For that matter, AntiX is a pretty good distro, but MX has more bells and whistles out of the box.

[rickNS]

In a VM, and on bare metal are not the same thing.
My last experience with Mint (Version 20) running on old 2 GB machine was unacceptable, and painfully slow if you use a web browser at all.

Linux Mint past version 19 just does NOT work on 2 GB RAM.

The recommendations of MX, or bodhi, or even Antix are MUCH better choices.

Antix will run on about 125MB, and is the smallest foot print I have seen personally, yet it lacks nothing.

[Hawaiihemd]

LMDE would be an excellent choice.
https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

[diabolicbg]

In a VM, and on bare metal are not the same thing.
My last experience with Mint (Version 20) running on old 2 GB machine was unacceptable, and painfully slow if you use a web browser at all.

Linux Mint past version 19 just does NOT work on 2 GB RAM.

This is not a true statement. LM 18-19 worked fine on a machine with 2GB memory - Acer Travelmate 117. At the moment my LM20.3 MATE is running on it and the only slowdown is the browser with many tabs at the same time.

LMDE would be an excellent choice.
https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

But with minimal support from the forum staff, if there are problems...

[ThailandJim]

Thank you, Everyone, for your great ideas. Today I made a Ventoy USB with LM 20 Xcfe. Installation went very smoothly. If I notice any slowness in its operation, I have more options from your additional ideas and suggestions. Thanks a bunch. Your assistance was greatly appreciated. Have a nice weekend.

[rickNS]

This is not a true statement. LM 18-19 worked fine on a machine with 2GB memory

Think you misread, I said Mint 19 was OK, after that, Mint 20 and later was unacceptable (for me) performance. If it is OK for 'you' that is 'your opinion', not right or wrong, true or false.

In this case it will be up to the OP, who was advised to try the live iso themselves.

FWIW I threw away my 2008 Acer laptop with 2 GB, because of it's unacceptable performance.

[diabolicbg]

Linux Mint past version 19 just does NOT work on 2 GB RAM.

I don't know how that sentence should be read, but there's no point in starting an argument. ThailandJim has found a solution that suits him and we have no reason to comment further, other than pure spam.

Thank you, Everyone, for your great ideas. Today I made a Ventoy USB with LM 20 Xcfe. Installation went very smoothly. If I notice any slowness in its operation, I have more options from your additional ideas and suggestions. Thanks a bunch. Your assistance was greatly appreciated. Have a nice weekend.

You are welcome! Have a nice weekend too.

[Hoser Rob]

LMDE would be an excellent choice.
https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

But with minimal support from the forum staff, if there are problems...

True, the support isn;t as good as Ubuntu based Mint. But the word 'staff' is a bit msleading because it implies that forum users are paid. They aren't, it's all volunteer based.

And doesn't LMDE only ship with Cinnamon? Cinnamon is not going to work any better in 2Gb RAM with LMDE than with Ubuntu based Mint.

[Hoser Rob]

... I would actually try MX linux on that old laptop first. MX shares a lot of code with AntiX linux, which is designed to run on old hardware. For that matter, AntiX is a pretty good distro, but MX has more bells and whistles out of the box.

I run MX 21 on my main laptop and will soon be running Antix on my POS old netbook (which is my shlepping about Linux box) before Mint 19.3 goes EOL.

MX is related to Antix because they share a dev base. But MX is NOT meant for old boxes like the OP's as Antix is. MX Xfce uses about the same RAM as Mint Xfce.

I would definitely recommend Antix with a window manager though. Certainly not Cinnamon, which isn't going to run properly on a 15 year old Nvidia card.

Personally I'd try aNtix and run the 4.9 kernel.

[diabolicbg]

True, the support isn;t as good as Ubuntu based Mint. But the word 'staff' is a bit msleading because it implies that forum users are paid. They aren't, it's all volunteer based.

And doesn't LMDE only ship with Cinnamon? Cinnamon is not going to work any better in 2Gb RAM with LMDE than with Ubuntu based Mint.

English is very far from my mother language and sometimes I don't find the right word - I have written staff instead of users.
I absolutely agree with the last statement about LMDE.

[Hawaiihemd]

...
And doesn't LMDE only ship with Cinnamon? Cinnamon is not going to work any better in 2Gb RAM with LMDE than with Ubuntu based Mint.

...
I absolutely agree with the last statement about LMDE.

All I can say to that is that in my personal experience on bare metal on one of my 32bit-only laptops with 2gb RAM, LMDE 5 runs better than LM19 xfce did.

[RollyShed]

I have done installations on two HP Compaq 6730b laptops Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 / 2.4 GHz. 64-bit. Their Passmark Rating is 1,036.
The Compaq Presario CQ40-330TU with Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 / 2.4 GHz. Its Passmark Rating is 852.

There are worse out there.

The two I did have Linux Mint Cinnamon on them and are quite usable.

[Hoser Rob]

...
And doesn't LMDE only ship with Cinnamon? Cinnamon is not going to work any better in 2Gb RAM with LMDE than with Ubuntu based Mint.

...
I absolutely agree with the last statement about LMDE.

All I can say to that is that in my personal experience on bare metal on one of my 32bit-only laptops with 2gb RAM, LMDE 5 runs better than LM19 xfce did.

I should have mentioned that as far as I could tell the OP's machine has Nvidia video. 15 year old nvidia cards don't seem to have good Linux support. You can't use closed nvidia drivers and the reverse engineered open source one doesn't seem well maintained for old cards.

[diabolicbg]

I should have mentioned that as far as I could tell the OP's machine has Nvidia video. 15 year old nvidia cards don't seem to have good Linux support. You can't use closed nvidia drivers and the reverse engineered open source one doesn't seem well maintained for old cards.

This is an absolute truth. I switched several Nvidia cards until I got my current GF 1050, which is the first one truly certified for Linux. The previous ones worked too, but sometimes made unexpected problems, not serious, but annoying. I haven't tried how the GF740 will behave on the LM21, for example. I got curious and will have to check.