Help setting up my system thats best for my 2015 macbook pro 8gb ram

[PeakyBoy007]

Hello! I am new to linux and switched from mint cinnamon to Kubuntu and loving it so far it's much easier and running better on my system so far. I mostly browse on the internet and watch twitch and youtube and also use ChatGPT and Gemini. while using chatgpt my brave browser crashed and my system told me I ran out of memory so I changed my settings to this: (6gbswap) (zswap enabled) (swappiness40) chatgpt told me this was best for my system is this true? or is there better settings I could apply? also anything else I should do for performance or that would give me a smoother experience I did install TLP but chatgpt told me I did not need mbpfan. I did update my system as well I believe. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

[Snowhog]

Welcome. What we need to start with, is your PCs system specifications.

[PeakyBoy007]

2015 Macbook pro
8gb ram
128gbSSD
2.7 processor speed

[Snowhog]

What version of Kubuntu are you running? Are you running Kubuntu in a virtual machine, and if so, which one?

[PeakyBoy007]

Kubuntu 26.04 LTS version

Kernel : 7.0.0-14-generic (64-bit)
wayland
Graphics: Intel® Iris® Graphics 6100

[Snowhog]

Are you running Kubuntu in a virtual machine, and if so, which one?

Are you running Kubuntu in a virtual machine, or did you replace the Apple OS and are running Kubuntu as the sole OS on the macbook?

[PeakyBoy007]

replaced MacOS with Kubuntu

[die.boer]

please post output of

inxi -Fx

[PeakyBoy007]

System:
Host: MoneyMachine Kernel: 7.0.0-14-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 15.2.0
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.6.4 Distro: Kubuntu 26.04 (Resolute Raccoon)
base: Ubuntu
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBookPro12,1 v: 1.0
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-E43C1C25D4880AD6 v: MacBookPro12,1
serial: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: Apple v: 489.0.0.0.0
date: 10/07/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 62.4 Wh (91.8%) condition: 68/74.9 Wh (90.7%)
temp: 31.2 C volts: 12.28 min: 11.42 model: SMP bq20z451 status: discharging
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-5257U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Broadwell rev: 4 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 500 min/max: 500/3100 cores: 1: 500 2: 500 3: 500 4: 500
bogomips: 21600
Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Broadwell-U GT3 [Iris Graphics 6100] vendor: Apple
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-8 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.10 compositor: kwin_wayland
driver: gpu: i915 resolution: 2560x1600~60Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms:
active: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device inactive: N/A
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.0.3-1ubuntu1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Iris Graphics 6100 (BDW
GT3)
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A devices: 2
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo,
xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Broadwell-U Audio vendor: Apple driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel bus-ID: 00:03.0
Device-2: Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Device-3: Broadcom 720p FaceTime HD Camera driver: N/A bus-ID: 02:00.0
API: ALSA v: k7.0.0-14-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.6.2 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Broadcom BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC vendor: Apple
driver: brcmfmac v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 4c:32:75:94:29:cd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Apple Bluetooth Host Controller driver: btusb,hid-generic,usbhid
type: USB bus-ID: 1-3:2
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down
bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
address: 4C:32:75:94:29:CE
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 113 GiB used: 20.81 GiB (18.4%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Apple model: SSD SM0128G size: 113 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 110.38 GiB used: 20.8 GiB (18.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 8.1 MiB (2.7%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 6 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0 C pch: 56.5 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.66 GiB used: 2.61 GiB (34.1%)
Processes: 216 Uptime: 42m Init: systemd
Packages: 2289 Compilers: N/A Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9 inxi: 3.3.40
taymoore149@MoneyMachine:~$

[die.boer]

try these 1st:
set swappiness to 15 instead of 40

sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=15

echo "vm.swappiness=15" | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-swappiness.conf​

sudo sysctl --system

Switch from zswap to zram:

sudo apt install zram-tools

sudo nano /etc/default/zramswap

set to PERCENT=50,if not already on 50%
save and exit (ctrl+O - enter - ctrl+X)
you can keep the 6gig swapfile as backup , but zram will be used 1st.

enable memory saver on brave:

In brave ,type in url bar
brave://settings/system
enable memory saver

[PeakyBoy007]

thank you man I will def try this one question though how is this setup better than me having ( 6gb swap) (zswap enabled) and swappiness=40