[SOLVED] Install 22.04 on old (2014) laptop?

[Qqmike]

I have an older laptop here, circa 2014 (specs are listed below), with Windows 10 and Kubuntu 18.04. Laptop is lightly used -- always plugged in, on the desk, never moved around.
Windows is never booted into.
Kubuntu is used for simple stuff -- learning, study, YouTubes, email.
Would you upgrade to Kubuntu 20.04, or leave well enough alone, use it the way it is?
Any issues in upgrading to 20.04?

- - - - - - - - - -
Laptop specs:
(original price: $750, Best Buy)
ASUS - 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - 8GB Memory - 750GB Hard Drive - Black
Model: Q501LA-BSI5T19
4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4200U mobile processor
8GB system memory
1920 x 1080 resolution, IPS
Intel® HD Graphics 4400
750 GB HDD
Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
3 - USB 3.0 ports
Battery: 4 hr, 38 min
1.0MP webcam with microphone
Voice recognition
media reader: Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Capacity, SDXC and MultiMediaCard memory card
Next-Gen Intel® Wireless-AC connectivity
--no cd/dvd --

[Snowhog]

Well, create a LiveUSB of 20.04 and see how it runs.

[claydoh]

I'd go to 20.04, for sure. Those specs should be more than enough to run a more current distro and Plasma version, even, and the next LTS isn't too far off. 20.04 isn't going to be much 'heavier' than 18.04, if at ll tbh.

I never had any issues upgrading my slightly older i5 desktop PC from 18.04 to 20.04, but of course ymmv. Backups, etc etc yada yada. et al ad nauseum.
If you want an easy speed boost, a SATA ssd to replace that HDD won't be very expensive, and will perk that laptop right up, if it does feel a bit pokey.

[Snowhog]

My HP Pavilion g7-1070us i3 M380 64-bit laptop is running 22.04 with no issues at all. This PC was first released in 2011, and according to my BIOS data, the BIOS shows Version F.04 and a Release Date of 02/11/2011, so it may in fact be (now) 11-years old.

[jglen490]

A 4th Gen i5 is still a very capable CPU. 8GB for what you do, is more than adequate. I remember the first time I swapped an HDD for an SSD, it felt like stepping out of a Ford Tempo and getting into a Mustang 350 GT.

Yep, back up your data, do an update (or fresh install) to 20.04, and use it for a few more years. You can't go wrong

[Bings]

I would kick the can down the road for a few months and see how it fares with 22.04

[kc1di]

20.04 runs fine on my Lenovo with I5 and 8 Gigs of ram works just fine no problems.

[Qqmike]

Wow, good replies, good -- and encouraging -- advice, everyone. I'll put it on the short list to-do. Thanks! 👍👌

[GreyGeek]

I would kick the can down the road for a few months and see how it fares with 22.04

Ditto. The wait for the 22.04 LTS isn't long, and it will probably be the last installation you'll do on that box.
If the battery hasn't been cycled in a long time it may have less discharge capacity than that 4hr+ implies.
I kept my 2012 Acer plugged in all the time. It, too, had a 4 hour battery, but about 3 or 4 years ago I ran it on battery and it lasted less than 50 minutes. So, I replaced the battery for about $40. Now, however, I gutted it for the two SSD's I had put into it to upgrade my new HP.

If I hadn't gotten that unexpected xmas present I planned to continue using the Acer until one of us expired.

[Qqmike]

… continuing my 1st post (above), going to install 22.04 on the (old) 2014 laptop:


That laptop came with Windows 8, now upgraded to 10, NEVER used any more, and I’d rather just clean up the hard drive and use it for Kubuntu only.

As you can see, there are 8 partitions, UEFI, 5 used for Windows.

To wipe this clean and start over, I would use KDE Partition Manager (from a live USB Kubuntu), delete everything, then create a new GPT, ESP, and /, /home, swap for K 22.04.

Anyone see any problems doing this? -->

Specifically, Windows: no problem wiping out its partitions? No lock-down things going on with MS, etc.?

(too lazy to do a dd zero wipe, and not really necessary)

Thanks.

[GreyGeek]

My new HP 17-cn1*** had Win11 on it. I booted into a Live USB of Kubuntu 20.04, ran the install and at its HD preparation section I blew everything away and created a new partition table using EFI, @, @home and swap. My BTRFS install went on beautifully from there. Later I moved @home into /home and took out the line in /etc/fstab that mounted @home to /home. Then I deleted @home.

[Schwarzer Kater]

I expect no problems at all with the former installation(s) if you create a new partition table.

You could additionally swap the HDD for an SSD to speed things up a bit - otherwise Kubuntu 22.04 will run perfectly fine on this machine (Snaps aside… <- partly personal opinion ). Take a look at my laptop specs - not much different from yours and I am sure that I will keep this machine for some more years!

[Qqmike]

Many thanks. If this were a desktop PC, of which I have built several, I would consider SSD. I just don't have experience working with laptops, don't even know how to begin, how to open one. And it is an older machine, anyway, 2014. I suppose the mobo would support an SSD, though.
Well, I will not hesitate then to use, say KDE Partition Manager, to delete the partition table and build a new GPT and go from there.
Thanks, again.

[claydoh]

Actually, older laptops can be a little easier to open than new one, often quite a bit.
I will wager that there are simple tutorials for your model on the topic.
More so if it is a 'business' class laptop.
My 2013 i3 laptop, an HP -something-something-numbers 17" beast is a consumer grade laptop, and it has a simple panel to access the ram and HDD.
A SATA SSD, which can be had for around 25 dollars for a small 128Gb 500Gb model from a half-decent brand, It will be shaped like, connect directly, and work exactly the same as a spinning HDD. The motherboard won't know or care
But the speed difference is quite large, huge, and enormous.
On my i3 lappy, it makes it actually usable for daily tasks. I haven't thrown anything heavy at it yet, say virtualbox or Steam for old games.
On the original HDD, it was slow to boot, slow to log in, slow to load software, even simple things. Now it is *almost* ...snappy?
Larger SSDs tend to be faster than smaller capacity ones, among the same brand and model, though it probably is not as noticeable on an older system.

[Qqmike]

I will check into this laptop thingy. YouTube is usually a good friend. Thanks.