1

So I have quite an old macbook air, it’s from 2011. It has an i5 and 4gb of ram. Apple stopped supporting it and I couldn’t update anymore. I installed a catalina patcher and got myself an os on an unsupported device and it worked. I wanted something faster so went for ubuntu but now this mac is running slower than before. How is that possible and what can I do about it?

Zoofa
  • 11
  • 1
    You weren't clear as to which Ubuntu 22.04 you installed; but on older hardware I'd suggest using a lighter desktop than the default GNOME (ie. a lighter flavor). For best results (esp. on 4GB of limited RAM) ensure you chosen apps share resources with the chosen desktop, ie. what you'll run on that machine should be considered in choosing desktop for best performance when RAM is less than 6GB. – guiverc Oct 05 '22 at 21:51
  • @guiverc I went to the ubuntu site and downloaded the desktop version 22.04 that is promoted there. how do I take something else than GNOME and do the apps share resources thing? – Zoofa Oct 05 '22 at 22:27
  • Ubuntu flavors can be found here on the Ubuntu site (https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours) though if you were me, I'd add other flavors to your existing space (making your install very bloated on disk) and allowing you to explore them on your existing machine. For a newbie though, that approach adds complexity and is far from ideal. Ubuntu Desktop uses GNOME, a GTK based system which will be most efficient using GTK apps; Kubuntu using KDE uses Qt (as does Lubuntu using LXQt) thus will be best using Qt apps (I'm skipping versions, eg. GTK2, GTK3, GTK4.. too avoiding complexity) – guiverc Oct 05 '22 at 22:34
  • If you can (far from easy for a newbie), decide which apps you'll use (there are usually multiple choices), then knowing that choose a desktop that shares resources (toolkit, libraries, ie. GTK3, Qt5 etc) with the desktop & then select the desktop using those resources that best suits your tastes. https://askubuntu.com/questions/206407/how-do-i-find-out-which-version-and-derivative-of-ubuntu-is-right-for-my-hardwar maybe helpful. If you've 6GB or more you can generally ignore the libraries/toolkit decision. PS: Play, experiment, learn to non-destructive re-install to fix issues etc. – guiverc Oct 05 '22 at 22:37
  • when you talk about apps do you mean programs i would use on this machine? – Zoofa Oct 05 '22 at 22:43
  • Check out Xubuntu, I am using that on my old hardware. XFCE4 is - in my opinion - the best DE around. You can even tweak it to look like an apple.. – kanehekili Oct 05 '22 at 22:45
  • 2
    You can try either Lubuntu or Xubuntu. They are much lighter than regular Ubuntu. – Archisman Panigrahi Oct 05 '22 at 22:45
  • i heard about both lubuntu and xubuntu but never new which on was the best, what would you then recommend? Would I have to reflash the whole macbook or is it just an update? – Zoofa Oct 05 '22 at 23:11
  • Yes I meant user-application programs when I said apps. Xubuntu uses Xfce which is GTK3, it'll perform great if using GTK3 apps (it's lighter than GNOME), where as Lubuntu uses LXQt which is Qt5 & whilst lighter than Xubuntu/GTK3, it won't be lighter when using GTK3 apps (Xubuntu won't be light using Qt5 apps). Only you can decide which is best for you, and the apps you'll use. I'm involved with both teams (Lubuntu & Xubuntu) & far more heavily involved with one (Lubuntu) than the other, but trying to be fair to each. Our tastes play a part too (ie. which will make you happy) – guiverc Oct 06 '22 at 00:21

2 Answers2

0

Install Xubuntu with XFCE desktop environment. It uses much lesser CPU & Memory resources and has the famous Thunar file manager. Goto to the XFCE site (https://XFCE.org) and download the XFCE desktop separately or just download Xubuntu directly (https://xubuntu.org/) and reinstall. All the best and may your 2011 puppy prance around again.

Neel
  • 1
0

Nahhhh this is more likely a driver or kernel issues many are complaining about it. Try Linux 20.04 and report back. I'm having similar problems with my Mac Pro 1,1... which should run fast. Running a faster window manager would just be a bandaid.

Thomas Pfaff
  • 1