computer

[joneall]

My present desktop is running slow. It's not because of the network, which is fiber running most of the time at about 400MB/s. My current computer was built locally and has a dual-core Pentum G3258 @ 3.2GHz, with 16GB of memory. That's all the memory I can put on this machine, which is one reason for changing. I typically have 30 or more Firefox tabs open and it is really slow. Frankly, I am not sure if I should get a faster computer or do something to Firefox, but I have tried a bunch of things.

The guy who assembled my current computer has retired, so I will have to get on thru ordinary channels, which means a standard brand like HP or Dell. Any recommendations, guaranteed to run kubuntu?

If this request violates any principles, just say so and I'll end it.

[Snowhog]

If this request violates any principles, just say so and I'll end it.

Why would you think that?

Firefox has/is/can be a memory hog. 30+ tabs open is a lot. How responsive is your PC when you first boot it up, and without Firefox launched? When you launch Firefox, how many tabs auto-load?

[claydoh]

An 11 year old CPU that is blow an i3 but still better than a Celeron may well struggle at times.

I'd take a look at your system monitor app and see what iot shows when doing normal tasks.
Specifically look at swap usage -- this will slow things down a lot, as it is using your hard rive as extra RAM.

Firefox has a built-in memory saver that will 'unload' tabs as needed to help things,


But as to PC suggestions, that will be hard -- most desktop PCs will work just fine, the exceptions are mostly with the wifi cards, Many realtek brand ones are a pain, and can require manually installing/building drivers. Intel ones almost always Just Work.

But this spec is not always advertised, and often they use whatever wifi card is handy.

A good idea is to have an all-Intel system with no external graphics card and an intel wifi, these usually need zero config or tweaks to work. An i3 CPU or better, with IMO an i5 being the sweet spot. More cores are more better-er but you don't always need the top end i7 and i9.

AMD CPUs and GPUs can need tweaks, but not always.

Nvidia -- well we all know these very often need extra work.

Essentially most branded systems like HP, Dell, Lenovo with Intel platforms are good choices, and their business models maybe more so.

[oshunluvr]

2 cents: Generally, Dell and Lenovo have good hardware compatibility since they offer Linux (or have in the past). Not as sure about Lenovo lately, but on my 2019 Lenovo Yoga laptop everything works fine except the fingerprint reader - which most desktops don't have.