Top 10 Best Lightweight Linux Distros for MAXIMUM SPEED | The Ultimate Performance Showdown! (NEW)
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In this video, we’ll be having a look at the top 10 best lightweight Linux distro that will supercharge your computing performance and take your experience to the next level.
In today’s fast paced digital world, staying ahead means being light, fast and efficient. And if you want to elevate your computer's speed, and break the limitations of endless loading screens and sluggish performance, join me in this countdown of the top 10 high performance operating systems, each carefully tested and selected to turn your computer into a high-performance powerhouse.
Whether you want to breathe a new life into your old computer or turn your computer into a high speed beast, I’ve got just the right thing for you. I’ve also covered a wide range of Linux distros here, from high stability systems to bleeding edge distros, from tech loaded advanced distros to absolute stunners in the user interface department. So whatever your computing preferences are, you’re surely gonna find something that resonates with you here.
Linux Mint Cinnamon is peak....I never had any graphical issues with it. Its just so smooth along with being fast
@@paxalotin lmde just drains my battery otherwise I would have mentioned that.
That's interesting, how come?@@user-sm1jp4en9u
Linux Mint Cinnamon is Definitely NOT Peak. you need to try Linux Mint MATE with COmpiz and Linux Mint XFCE to know what Peak means. Cinnamon is sluggish. try the Expo and windows effects and compare them and see. Cinnamon becomes a joke and toy instantly. That is one of the reasons I hate it...its based on Gnome which is already heavy.
@@paxalotinI want what you're smoking, nothing Debian even Sid is never going to be Peak anything, stable yes, so I hate to burst your bubble. Debian is always 3 to 4 years behind in software even with Sid. Mint team only included the Debian edition as a fallback in case Ubucrap really screwed up and dropped support for the Mint team. No, I am not an Arch BTW user, I'm a Gentoo Cinnamon and LM Cinnamon User. Though there is nothing wrong with LMDE, it's just never going to be PEAK.
@@kevinsteinman8967 ... 3-4 years behind ?!! .. HaHa ... nope. That is a gross exaggeration. _Maybe_ 3-4 months behind an unstable task specific distro. Debian can be adapted to do anything. It is a rock solid distro, and if one where to install Debian Xfce, they would have stable and up-to-date GPU drivers that support Radeon FSR right out of the box for an excellent gaming experience. Debian 12 Xfce is Awesome.
Linux Lite can be downloaded with different from GA Kernels, and that saved a very old machine I have that refused to install anything with current kernels. And it's light and beautiful too. Plenty of very straight and useful tools. I came very impressed.
Hi Tex, Thanks for your Video. I agree. Think would be helpful to include a LIST with all distros or - at least - to show them on the video sequencer.
Just installed Antix Linux on my aging ThinkPad today. Really impressed about the RAM usage about 360MB of RAM used before launching a web browser! Thank you for the video! You are a new Linux youtuber to me, I will be exploring your channel and seeing what other videos you have!
i really love the unique choices you got there and i really take them into consideration when changing to linux, maybe a month from now
🎉 excellent video explaining all these Fast distributions. Thank you.
LXLE and EndeavourOS with either Sway or BSPWM are also really good lightweight distros.
Thanks for the video, good job.
What version of sparky are you using
Can we get a "Top 10 Most Stylish Distros"? I know it would be somewhat subjective but I think many people are looking for something elegant because they feel it's an important part of the experience.
DEs matter more than the distros.
O Mx-linux é o melhor, mas não é Elegante... Verdade, tem muitas pessoas que prezam por luxo.. Elegancia é importante , pra muitas pessoas...
nice video bro. keep it up. please upload more videos like this.
I use Slackware for years now because it is totally adapted for my needs. It is very lightweight, fast and stable. I use it for my desktop and also headless server.
I came to see the video looking for antix to be the top 1 and you didn’t disappointed Antix is my day to day distro and I love it
Good video very informative and comprehensive, thanks
Great info, thank you very much 😊
So which one of these would be lightest and binary blob enabled by default for gaming?
That pre install firefox thing is so true. Always uninstall the browser in your linux machine use deb version of chrome or firefox, you will be surprised.
I'm not though..what machine are you using a potato? I have used both Snap and .deb, I cannot see a difference..unless you did not upgrade it from software manager?
@@dfbess I3, kind of potato.
@@RakibHasan-hs1mei3 from the ice age
Glad to see MX Linux and AntiX Linux here haha. Watching this video from a Thinkpad with MX Linux 23 =)
Mx and AntiX are the pro lightweight distributions. OG🤟
I actually used MX and AntiX for a lot of years and was enjoyable experience, newbies/oldies can't go wrong with it if they option to use it as very stable and really good for old hardware. Very small team, but dedicated to there system.
mx linux is the best
@@rigel875 Com certeza, Eu uso Mx-linux 23.2 num computador modernissimo... Supera todos, muito facil e completo...
I will try your course- as soon as I can-- I'm on SS so it's TIGHT right now.. :)
3:00 Snaps aren't slower than flatpaks. Both of them are pretty much the same speed. Since all of them are native binaries. But in very rare cases, a distro will have a package optimized for certain configurations and that MIGHT give some users better performance. But not always.
agreed. snap used to be a little slower opening apps but i havent noticed in a while any difference.
What version of mini os you are using in the video Mine one comes with xfce and this one is definitely not that
It seems the Flux version is the only one that doesn't come with XFCE - that's the one he's using, I think.
MX Linux is amazing super fast on old laptops, just superb
I want to know more about your course-- is it ACTUAL virtual classroom type or VIDEO- or pdf? Self- paced or group paced? etc... I'm VERY interested and might order when I get paid first of next month.
Cool 😎! Have a HP Chromebook from 2018, W/4GB Ram. Rather than recycling it, your lightweight Linux systems will make it a competent laptop to learn Linux! Also Have an 8GB Lenovo Core i5. But I need to learn Linux to isolate my activity from the Windows Jungle!
Just stick in a live ISO on a USB stick. You can then try without trashing the installed OS before you commit.
antiX is excellent. It made my Celeron N3060 2GB DDR3 laptop usable. I also use it on my main PC, which has Ryzen 5 5600, 32GB 3200MHz DDR4, and RX 6700 XT.
Very good information,,,,🎉
Thank you very much😊
SPARKY--- YES... GREAT!!!!! It IS very fast and it is the only one I ever used with ZERO issues-- no matter what I do to it!!! I have a habit of messing things up- but so far have been unable to with Sparky!!! shows it's GREAT!!!.
Can u make video on best laptop for fedora 39
I've never even heard of Mini OS! Nice to see a hidden gem in the lineup
The only issue i have with Zorin is i can't change the font quality when using Wine which i have to use for some things. Ubuntu wine fonts are great
The real answer is Void Linux with a tiling window manager. But it's not everyone's cup of tea.
i sign that
Great video as always but I would suggest that u try new BGMs for your videos... don't feel bad but I am kinda bored of the same BGM
@linuxtex No love for BigLinux , 4M linux, or Project BlueFin?
BigLinux is awesome
i replaced zorin os 17 with linux mint mate 21 since i heard you and other reviewers say its faster. applications dont launch immediately after click like brave browser or ghostery. Also i havent seen any speed improvements with boot up time with linux mint. it appears to take the same boot time as zorin os. should i replace linux mint mate with antix linux? i'm currently on Acer Aspire i5 5th generation with 8gb ram. Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated
Q4os kde, atleast try once. I am using from years works amazing and fast still.
The best way to decrease amount of views on video is to place red elements at bottom of thumbnail that looks like partially watched progress bar.
this exact thing confused me so much...
Linux X6CE, which is it?
Hello sir thanks for the video. I'm not sure if you running these on Virtual machines. But Zorin Lite is not actually very light. It eats 1.1GB to 1.3GB on idle. That's bad for my 2GB laptop. I tried most of them on your list and more. The lightest are as per trying on my laptop. Porteus LXDE, Xfce then sparky, LXLE, Peppermint, debian 11 lxde. They actually lighter than Bionic pup and fossa pup.
where do you get zorin light? i checked the website and they only have normal, pro and education.
It's there. I just upgraded my old laptop from Zorin 16.3 Lite to 17 Lite. It should be the option on the right.
@@quantumleap8888 this is driving me mad because all i see on the official zorin website on the download page is pro at the top and then core and education under it. is it only available in certain regions or something? im in the UK
@@quantumleap8888never mind i found it though a different link on google. it was not on the same page as the others on the website and it made it rather confusing
I"m running ARTIX right now-- with the NEW kde6 on it-- and if I run it X11 everything works PERFECTLY-- even my krohnkite tiling works GREAT-- but turn on Wayland and a LOT of the stuff will NOT work at all and a lot more LOCKS UP or just goes out.. and Iv'e had the same issue with WAYLAND on anything.. The new kde6 still has enough bugs of its OWN without Wayland f... g it up MORE.... ARTIX with the new kde6 is beautiful- and I can tile on it- flawlessly-- no hangups, no jitters, no locks NOTHINg.. just GREAT.
Antix with Lxde - i love it - its very fast... 🙂
What about Q4OS lite ?
Amazingly polished, perfect os after testing all of them. But i used q4os kde
I was waiting for a long time but 'intejar ka fal mitha hota hai' 😂 see the reply of the creater those who knows Hindi 8:18
Hah 😂
All of them are fast bro. Just use a distro that has all the packages you need in the repos or preinstalled, so u dont need to download everything from scratch.
I use Antix on a MacBook 13 2007 2GB ram for video editing , compared to Snow Leopard, the User interface is more minimalist, but performances are very good, wifi card works out of the box, only iSight camera and Bluetooth don't work.
instala , mx-linux 23.2 xfce 54 bits ou 32 bits... Funcionará tudo... e nao é necessario usar terminal... Muito bom Mx-linux 23.2 Video ...shotcuts kadenlive
Which distro is light and have the latest kernel?
@@RahulPalXDA something with a GUI please.
@@skelebro9999EndeavourOS, basically preconfigured Arch with a simple GUI installer. You can even select between a bunch of different desktop environments during installation, including tiling WMs. But tbh, installing Arch is not very difficult either, especially with the Archinstall script.
@@penta5421 Alright. Thanks.
@@skelebro9999 Majaro os with kde
@@vimadgamer7598 that's not light. I've tried that and it eats like 1 gigs of ram.
I tried miniOS, it's good for me but the problem is after installing it on my old potato laptop it kept booting on live version.
Lint Mint is the main distro for now... This is a good place to start if you are a Windows or Mac user.
why fedora is not on the list?
what about tiny core linux that runs on RAM ?
Agreed with the number 1 :) I would never recommend Lubuntu. A lot of smaller and snappier applications are writen in GTK instead of QT, and well combine them doesn't make your system lighter. Sure there might be replacements for those programs, but most of the times they are written for KDE, and that doesn't make it faster too.
Arch Linux is the way.
DSL deserved an honorable mention, out of respect if nothing else. It just got updated recently.
now being based on anitX/debian. past versions based on knoppix/debian
I don't know about Antix being easy on CPU, as idle desktop shows 30%+ usage. Also you have 16GB ram on that machine, which likely means the CPU ain't that old either.
I have high fidelity screen recording running. That's why usage is higher. But on idle CPU just stays at 1-2%.
using distrobox make antix very good..
Hello I have very old intel celeron m 530 processor with 1. 73ghz so is there any os compatable with it?
I would try antix for that If it has a 1gb RAM or more antix should run good on it I hope this helps and I hope you're having a good day a good weekend and a good Lord's Sunday God bless you and your family God bless you Jeremy Scruggs
I would recommend trying antix As long as you have a gig around or more it should run pretty good on that computer Give her to try it's definitely work a shot Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a good day a good weekend and a good Lord's Sunday God bless you and your family God bless you Jeremy Scruggs
@@engagedswitch same to you and thank you!
@@Mr.StrangeGuY You're welcome no problem at all sorry for the duplicate comment My phone was acting weird Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a good day God bless you and your family God bless you Jeremy Scruggs
Starts at 1:48
Mini OS - i have more Problems with stable in and Programs... best is Sparky Lxqt or much better and Stable ---> Linux Mint Xfce !! 🙂
even the lightweight liinux become bloated once you start browsing and opening spreadsheet. Windows in much much better in this: OS, idling, firefox+libreoffice, open big file opensusetumbleweed, 1366 MB, +1512 MB, 47 s ubuntu 23.10, 1720 MB, +1336 MB, 1:11 s endeavouros, 2220 MB, +1514 MB, 1:21 s fedora, 2188 MB, +1187 MB, 1:24 s rocky, 1852 MB, +1724 MB, 1:25 s mx, 1190 MB, +1884 MB, 1:40 sd windows 10 2GB SSD, 550 MB, +405 MB, 1:45 s ghost, 1179 MB, +1139 MB, 1:53 s linuxmint, 919 MB, +1781 MB, 2:07 s debian, 2034 MB, +1873 MB, 2:15 s solus, 629 MB, +1900 MB, 2:29 s ubuntu 12.04, 1269 MB, +3412 MB, 4:15 s openbsd, 1329 MB, +1973 MB , 5:08 s
Mageia for me !!!
what about cachy os
Brother can you recommend me something, because you can call me newbie on Linux, but Pro on Windows User, i only want to use it for personal security because I've websites to manage and do posting only there. and also one small software Called ( Fast Stone Image Resizer ) to convert Multiple images with one click the resolution i want to put them on website. my system configuration is Intel Core i5 8th Gen, 16 GB Ram, 512 GB M2 Hard drive. i really love Linux Mint and Zorn-OS.. but still i want to use less ram consuming Linux with security. and after work simple watch movies web series nothing more.
Alien OS , Alpine , PinLinux....
@@egilslauters6656 Thank U so much for suggestion bro but its too late, now im on Linux Mint (LMDE ) and its really working perfect for me.
@@RuoXuanMIng Never so late....You may test them on GNOME Boxes ( under Your LMDE ). My first linux distros was HybrideOS and Netrunner (11 years ago) ....At now I use Arch and Fedora ... Time change our habits . ☺
@@RuoXuanMIngMint really is the best option for windows switcher if you don't wanna deep dive into Ubuntu. Both OSes have very friendly communities with lots of resources to result issues. However you'll hear a lot of snob turn their noses up at them. After 20 Years of distro hoppingI keep falling back to Ubuntu to get productivity work done, so I've decided these snobs are idiots. Other favorites are lubuntu, MX/Anti-X for other hardware. For awhile I was using super odd distros based around X-Box Media Center/Kodi to run home theater pcs. This year I'll be trying Steam OS/proton based OSes. Although after watching all the reviews I think I might just be safer/cheaper buying a steam deck.
PopOS is great!
Kde neon ✌🏼✌🏼
Don't use Mini OS, its a Russian OS that encrypted my drive upon delete
Some descendants of Ubuntu are not friendly with Lenovo laptops. So Mint Rat or Xubuntu are not the best options for a netbook. Arco Linux or Artix(lxde/xfce/mate/lxqt) can be good
Estou no BRAZIL, Muito bom o seu canal... Eu gostei demais do MX-LINUX, hoje em dia com WINE, já consigo usar apenas LINUX... MX-LINUX 23.2 Xfce, 32 bits ou 64 bits , muito bom mesmo . Depois de uma semana aprendendo , Voce faz qualquer coisa ... Sem precisar de Mac Os , Windows... Pode ter certeza.... Base Debian , tem tudo em Programas gratis, muito Profissionais... Um pouco diferente de WINDOWS e MAC OS É COMO DIRIGIR UM CARRO COM VOLANTE DO LADO DIREITO , E CAMBIO SECO COM EMBREAGEM...
I'd add Garuda to that list also...
alpine kde plasma install❤❤
Iprefer Open Suse with XFCE interface
Zorin Lite isn't available anymore :( But the standard 17 version is super fast anyway.
It's available. 16.3 is available.
@@LinuxTexFor me the website only shows Pro, Core and Education. Perhaps they've hidden it? I know it was still there up until the 17.1 release.
@@LinuxTex No it isn't.
i haven't used anything faster than arch
??? Since debian 10 i used nvidia proprietary drivers including nvidia cudnn, and intel proprietary firmwares. And currently i use debian 12, no problem with nvidia.
I have an old HP netbook with an atom cpu from 2009 and the only way it is even remotely usable is with antix. It's so bad there is no noticeable speed improvement between a 5400rpm hdd and a 128gb sata ssd. I might have to move to tinycore if I want more speed.
Try Zorin Lite. I'm using it with no issues on an HP Laptop that's as old as yours.
@@quantumleap8888 Tried it. It's much heavier than antix and the theme it uses doesn't play well with super low res netbook screens. ANTIX is still the best bet but at this point I don't think anything is going to make this computer overly usable.
Learning Arch or, even better, Gentoo, you can probably squeeze more performance from that. The thing is that you have to get to know what packages to use and to customize the kernel, so it only has what you need and nothing else. With Gentoo, for example, you can find on YT a mad lad who, on 2019, installed the then-latest Gentoo version on a 486 with 32 MB of RAM. It was not fast, but it worked. It can safely download stuff from the internet. Another crazy person installed Arch on a Pentium 1 several years ago. Gentoo offers and streamlines maximum customization, and Arch is close by, offering ready-made packages. Both will take a while to properly learn, and then a bit more time when you learn better what packages/programs you need and which one has what dependencies, then extra, to learn what things you actually need (and what for) and what you don't need in the Linux kernel. If you've done nothing of the sort, you can start in a weekend and have something working, but it can take weeks or months to get a truly optimized system. Gentoo also has the downside of having to compile everything, which on a very old system can get to days. But you can (and should) do it on another machine, to get back into sane territory (minutes, sometimes hours)
18:39 isnt this slax ¿
Cinnamon should NEVER be mentioned when compared to MATE for example. Mate is even faster than XFCE...XFCE is just requiring less Memory.
i cant find zorin lite
It’s there at version 16.3
Nothing can be "more unique" or "less unique" than something else. Either something is unique or it is not. Look up the definition of "unique. "
Sparky kde is as fast as the xfce version- even fully loaded!!!! And it has EnOUGH tools-- not too many- just right.
Should try mint debian very fast 😉less bloat
Bodhi Linux is still better 👍
Where about Puppy linux?
arch + hyprland >>
i use arch btw
Where is Alpine?
Linux is very jitterish and laggy or just say it has alot of screen tearing when i use it on my mid 2012 macbook pro which has 10gb ram intel hd 4000, i searched alot but there is no solution can someone help
The best solution is to trade someone straight across for a 2012 Thinkpad!
I have a MacBook 13 Intel core duo 64 2GB ram 2007, I installed Refit to enable boot from USB and then Antix, I use it as daily driver for video editing (when I do rendering I have only one program running), but with a 2012 MacBook it should work much better.
@@pierpig7058 i tried many distros but all were the same except mx linux. It works very well and no lagginess maybe it was some driver issue with other distro which mx linux was able to resolve.
i shall never understand my fellow people from india that love os from such an ugly base, never the less ,i get what you are about here. thank you very much about the content. if you are ever in portland oregon i should love to meet you.
What is your idea of an attractive base?
@@k.b.tidwell I am torn between gnome and KDE. KDE because we can make a build like gnome,an example would be the use of overview in gnome and and let’s face it it’s tweak-able until we are left like a mad scientist and lately it’s been lower on resources. I admire gnome because of simplicity and its very easy to use,my first is in the distro “ pin guy” os. Gnome was my first os when they took away windows xp. Believe me,I understand the bent was about lightness, but I could never quite make the lighter bases my own. Great content by the way.
@@williams.ritter3010 yes, I see what you mean. My favorite currently is the Cinnamon desktop. It's nicer looking than XFCE, but a little heavier. It's lighter and less complicated than KDE but it can still be customized quite well. Of course I first ran across it with Linux Mint, but now I install it on any distro I use. Have a great day.
XFCE is not lightweight. Debian LXDE, Crunchbang ++/Bunsenlabs, Archlabs, Mabox, and Lilidog are much more lightweight.
Yes, I'd consider anything with XFCE to be middleweight. Mabox is one of the most beautiful distros I've ever used. So well-put-together!
Agreed. Lillidog, Mabox & #!/BL are great openbox implementations
Archlabs is dead.
So I tried this mini os out of curiousity and was disgusted to find that its running as root by default. Thats really bad.
Void linux is the best
Yes but not easy to use.
Void + dwm >>
oh thank you very much, God brought me here to escape from windows!!
just make video for arch based distros..
No Clear Linux???? This distro was Benched the Fastest. >_>
Linux Mint mit Lxqt... 🙂
Timecode? 10 Linux distro in the description? ... I don't want to watch videos blind.
🙂 timestamps pls,pretty pleeease 😁!!
sorry english is not my native language and with your dialect i tend to zone out because i don't even understand all words. the nearly 2 minute intro before the actual content starts doesn't help on this...anyway where is arch? where is artix? where is gentoo? where is void? where is debian or devuan? if i tell you you can take any of these distros and tailor it for speed it will be faster and more lightweight than every single distros on your list there are even more, mabox, bunsenlabs, heck emmabuntüs, all are quicker and lighter than half of your list who made that list? did you throw dices? that's ridiculous, NOT the ultimate performance showdown
You seem like you've got a good grip over linux bro.. Please send your KZhead channel link.. Love to see more of your content.. ❤
Thank you, I was looking for a comment like this! This video is mostly a cashgrab, overly inflated with useless and/or meaningless stuff.
Manjaro xfc
Congratulations I am first ❤
🎉🎉🎉💯
I am extremly hurt that you havent put PCLinux OS, better than MX linux and linux lite, dispite being a bloated with apps.
Absolute bullshit! Any discussion of speed without older distros like Gentoo and Slackware is ridiculous. All you are presenting here is "boutique" distros that are in fashion and have NOTHING to do with speed. I'm running Slackware on machines from as far as back as 2009 every day. Gentoo is even faster. Where are the benchmarks?
Arch is faster than Slack and Gentoo also the package manager. But have fun with it.
@@DCM777. Arch is faster than Gentoo if you don't customize anything. If you actually use it and customize it (the main point of using Gentoo in the first place, those sweet sweet use flags) then it's hands down faster than Arch. And everything else, really.
@@Winnetou17 Have fun!>
LocOS wins!!!!!