Linux on Lenovo ideapad 120s-11IAP
by carki from LinuxQuestions.org on (#4SWJK)
Hello everyone.
We have a 2-3 year Lenovo ideapad 120s-11IAP laptop for basic things:
- Browse the web (facebook, youtube, etc)
- Print documents to the kyocera cs 1820 copier through usb. We first send the document to the pc through dropbox and then print what we need. We don't do it quite often, but when we do, we do it in hurry because it's usually important bank or goverment bureocracy related documents.
- watch videos on vlc player
- Make word documents or simple spreadsheets
The performance of this laptop is very poor, that is, we achieve what we set to do, but is pretty slow. The processor is always at 100%, and oddly enough I've seen dropbox can take up to 60% of the load, and when it's not dropbox is windows powershell, skype (which we don't even use) or service host something, each process taking more than half of the load at a time. It's pretty obscene.
We don't use this laptop very often, due to its poor performance, so I figure we should use it more. I've heard linux can revive very old pc's, so I'm wondering if installing some linux distribution I could reach better performance doing the tasks we usually perform on this device.
This laptop has the following features:
- Windows 10 Pro, version 10.0.17434. It came with a 10s version but I ditched it.
- Intel celeron N3350
- 4 gb ram
- 60 gb storage
- system info says the Bios Mode is UEFI (from what I read this is relevant, don't understand why)
Having in mind all these info I've got the following questions:
1) Which distribution should I try? From this last year reddit thread I reckon I should try Kubuntu. Some people used other distributions but got several issues, I don't know if this is still relevant for today. Also, if you're going to recommend some distribution, please give me some user-friendly ones, here at home we're not very tech-savvy
2) Is there any risk by trying linux? I've read some reports of damaged bios in lenovo and acer laptops. I don't want irreversible software/hardware damage.
3) will I be able to install the printer? or how can I check if I can install it with the distribution I'd choose? The printer is old, and I wasn't able to install it in the new gaming laptop I bought 3 months ago, fortunately I've got this budget laptop and the dropbox app. This function is very important, if I'm not able to use this printer with linux, I'd better settle for windows in this laptop.
4) Will I be able to return to windows afterwards? I'm not planning on keeping both OS's. It's either linux or windows. I think this way makes things easier and saves the precious scarce storage at my disposal. However I'm very ignorant about pc tech. Will I be able to install windows if linux doesn't fill my needs? would I have to buy a new windows license? Is the windows 10 pro key saved in the bios or something? is it enough if I just save the windows key/id?
Thank you in advance for any input or advice you can offer.
We have a 2-3 year Lenovo ideapad 120s-11IAP laptop for basic things:
- Browse the web (facebook, youtube, etc)
- Print documents to the kyocera cs 1820 copier through usb. We first send the document to the pc through dropbox and then print what we need. We don't do it quite often, but when we do, we do it in hurry because it's usually important bank or goverment bureocracy related documents.
- watch videos on vlc player
- Make word documents or simple spreadsheets
The performance of this laptop is very poor, that is, we achieve what we set to do, but is pretty slow. The processor is always at 100%, and oddly enough I've seen dropbox can take up to 60% of the load, and when it's not dropbox is windows powershell, skype (which we don't even use) or service host something, each process taking more than half of the load at a time. It's pretty obscene.
We don't use this laptop very often, due to its poor performance, so I figure we should use it more. I've heard linux can revive very old pc's, so I'm wondering if installing some linux distribution I could reach better performance doing the tasks we usually perform on this device.
This laptop has the following features:
- Windows 10 Pro, version 10.0.17434. It came with a 10s version but I ditched it.
- Intel celeron N3350
- 4 gb ram
- 60 gb storage
- system info says the Bios Mode is UEFI (from what I read this is relevant, don't understand why)
Having in mind all these info I've got the following questions:
1) Which distribution should I try? From this last year reddit thread I reckon I should try Kubuntu. Some people used other distributions but got several issues, I don't know if this is still relevant for today. Also, if you're going to recommend some distribution, please give me some user-friendly ones, here at home we're not very tech-savvy
2) Is there any risk by trying linux? I've read some reports of damaged bios in lenovo and acer laptops. I don't want irreversible software/hardware damage.
3) will I be able to install the printer? or how can I check if I can install it with the distribution I'd choose? The printer is old, and I wasn't able to install it in the new gaming laptop I bought 3 months ago, fortunately I've got this budget laptop and the dropbox app. This function is very important, if I'm not able to use this printer with linux, I'd better settle for windows in this laptop.
4) Will I be able to return to windows afterwards? I'm not planning on keeping both OS's. It's either linux or windows. I think this way makes things easier and saves the precious scarce storage at my disposal. However I'm very ignorant about pc tech. Will I be able to install windows if linux doesn't fill my needs? would I have to buy a new windows license? Is the windows 10 pro key saved in the bios or something? is it enough if I just save the windows key/id?
Thank you in advance for any input or advice you can offer.