Looking for lightweight Windows that I can put on old Win XP computer

GrandpaR said:

I'm looking for a lightweight Windows that I can put on an old Win XP laptop. The machine is still very functional, but low on resources (~2-4GB of RAM and 40-70GB HDD), so it might not do well with full Win 10 Home.
Any suggestions?

Your problem will not the the main resources because you can use Windows 10 32 bit to reduce demands. I ran Windows 10 x86 [32 bit] on an old WinXP for a couple of years; it was a bit slower than it had been with WinXP. I had 2GB RAM & 100GB HDD but added a bigger additional HDD in the DVD slot so I could have the same set of audio files that I was used to having on my other computers.

Your problems will be
1 getting hardware drivers, and
2 getting the users to accept the very slow performance [compared to what they are used to these days].

You will only know for sure how it will perform by trying it. So do that before parting with any money.
Or, if you value your own time, retire your old XP and buy a Win10 computer - this would probably remain suitable for use for a decade, by which time your little darlings will be at university learning how to develop their own systems.

Denis
@Brink - you might want to move his post & mine into a new thread.

GrandpaR said:

I'm looking for a lightweight Windows that I can put on an old Win XP laptop. The machine is still very functional, but low on resources (~2-4GB of RAM and 40-70GB HDD), so it might not do well with full Win 10 Home.

I had seen something about Win 10 Lite and came looking for it here, but in researching further, I see it's actually called Win 12 Lite and it's Linux based (webhouses.co.uk/lite) and out of UK.

While I could likely cope with Linux, this PC might be used by grandkids and the apps might be too different for them. Of course, I might be able to load Chrome and make it similar to a Chromebook.

Any suggestions?

(Sorry if this should be in another thread. I'm not sure where to post it.)

Depends on CPU... 2-4GB RAM is OK (particularly for 32 bit), you are going to struggle with that HDD - adding a small SSD (even 120GB) for the OS will give so much better performance

Alternatively - Linux will work - dunno about Win 12 but I recall modding/theming Mint to look and behave like Win 10 back in the day - I may still have that theme somewhere.

Try3 said:

That is pure speculation.

denis

Maybe, but won't matter. Can still download and install a free version to test. If it works OK, then buy. If not ....

Agree with above comment also about Linux. Try one of the "lighter" versions like Puppy or Mint (although getting externally connected hardware to work is a whole new learning experience).

GrandpaR said:

... I guess I should just bite the bullet and recycle it. Just hard for me to do when it's not broken. (I know, drop it first)

I'm the same. I have a 2005 XP computer that I upgraded to Windows 10, a Dell Inspiron 9300. It was, as I reported earlier, a bit slower than it had been with XP.
- Windows 10 allowed me to bring this, my favourite computer, back into use.
- I kept it going up to Windows 10 Version 1709. It could not take any further updates or be clean installed with a later Version**.
- Since then I have used it for a few odd jobs and I keep it on a desk ready to be used.
- It must be two years since I used it though.
- I really want to find something I can do with it to justify keeping it out ready for use because, in addition to having been a very good computer, 2005 was a very good year for me and this computer reminds me of that fact.
- So I do appreciate your feelings about not quite wanting to bite the bullet.

I only found out that Windows 10 could run on it decently by trying it.
- And I had to spend some time figuring out which drivers were best.
- And it always had a couple of minor limitations caused by a lack of complete compatibility with Windows 10.
- I helped a couple of other users of the same model get their's going with Windows 10 but there was one failure. Same model, same hardware, same software, completely different [unsatisfactory] results.
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Denis

[** Another TenForums user had the same model & found the same problem. He went to great lengths to get assistance here but never managed to resolve the problem.]