I have a budget sized hp laptop that has a small hard drive (not upgradable) and windows use 90%. When my cache gets even a little filled it slows down to a crawl. I understand ubuntu takes up less hard drive space. Would it be worthwhile to switch to Ubuntu? Is it even possible, considering I have little space for swapping? uses
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Yes, Linux can be installed in a way that takes considerably less disk space than Windows. If you choose wisely (e.g. using a less resource-hungry desktop like Xfce which is the default for Xubuntu), it can even be faster because it will need less RAM, so it won't need to resort to swapping that much.
But... will it also do what you need your computer to do? If all you need are a browser (Firefox and/or Chrome), a desktop, a video player (VLC) etc., that's a clear "yes". If you are fine with using LibreOffice, great.
But if you need to use any dedicated Windows-only software (including, but not limited to, MS Office), you need to check out if there is a Linux equivalent that works well for you.
If you are into gaming, check out if there are Linux clients for your games.
You need to be aware that your existing Windows software will not run on Linux. There are some exceptions with using them with Wine or in a virtual machine (VirtualBox), but that can be very limiting, or it might not work at all; at the very minimum, it is additional work that requires some expertise on both sides (Linux and Windows) for setting up.
Linux is not Windows; you will have to keep that in mind. Many things work differently. Linux is not a drop-in replacement for Windows; it is a whole new world to explore, and you need to be willing to learn and to invest time.
If that all sounds good to you, why not get a live image, put it on a USB stick and start experimenting to see if you like it?
HuHa
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