best os for this netbook

[sony mavica]

specs of the netbook are

Ram 2gb
CPU Intel Atom CPU N270 1.60Ghz
Gpu Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family 1024x600
hdd 160gb

what would be the best os to run on this netbook it has windows 7 on it atm and seems to be running fine just want a change from windows 7

[XOIIO]

Linux is probably the only other option, 2gb is pretty low for windows 7, but with a lightweight linux distro you can get by with a lot less.

[sony mavica]

Linux is probably the only other option, 2gb is pretty low for windows 7, but with a lightweight linux distro you can get by with a lot less.

i could upgrade to 4gb ram but im not sure the motherboard will support it

[sony mavica]

i will give 10 a go thx

[linux-works]

please, guys!  do NOT EVER install win10!  have you not heard of the EXTREME privacy issues and spyware that is baked in and cannot be turned off?

no one should be CHOOSING to install 10.  please, guys, read up on this before you tell others to propagate Microsoft Anal Probe 10 on others.

win7 is fine.  xp is fine.  linux is, of course, better.

and no, you can't run more than 2gig on those netbooks.  I have a few of those and the chipset they used will not see more than 2gb of ram.

linux runs great in 2gb of ram.  winxp does too.  even win7 is ok.  I would not go any 'newer' than win7 if you insist on windows, though.

and please, again, never tell people to install win10.   start here if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, but for your own sake, please read up on this before you fall into the trap of going win10.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/08/windows_10_privacy_problems_here_s_how_bad_they_are_and_how_to_plug_them.html

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/08/01/1923256/ask-slashdot-can-you-disable-windows-10s-privacy-invading-features

or just google 'windows 10 privacy' and start reading from there.

its amazing that people have not yet heard how BAD win10 is.  not that the os is buggy, per se (it is, but that's beside the point); but the new direction MS is taking is pretty disturbing and voluntarily taking win10 is one of the worst things you could do as a pc owner.

[RGB255_0_0]

7 Starter is limited to 2GB but the motherboard probably accepts more. Bear in mind the N270 is a 32-bit CPU also, so you're looking at ~3.5GB when factoring in VRAM.

And all this "privacy" voodoo people keep blowing about Windows 10: stop the shit spreading. It's blown way out of proportions.

[Mechanical Menace]

what would be the best os to run on this netbook

What do you want to use it for?

[sony mavica]

please, guys!  do NOT EVER install win10!  have you not heard of the EXTREME privacy issues and spyware that is baked in and cannot be turned off?

no one should be CHOOSING to install 10.  please, guys, read up on this before you tell others to propagate Microsoft Anal Probe 10 on others.

win7 is fine.  xp is fine.  linux is, of course, better.

and no, you can't run more than 2gig on those netbooks.  I have a few of those and the chipset they used will not see more than 2gb of ram.

linux runs great in 2gb of ram.  winxp does too.  even win7 is ok.  I would not go any 'newer' than win7 if you insist on windows, though.

and please, again, never tell people to install win10.   start here if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, but for your own sake, please read up on this before you fall into the trap of going win10.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/08/windows_10_privacy_problems_here_s_how_bad_they_are_and_how_to_plug_them.html

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/08/01/1923256/ask-slashdot-can-you-disable-windows-10s-privacy-invading-features

or just google 'windows 10 privacy' and start reading from there.

its amazing that people have not yet heard how BAD win10 is.  not that the os is buggy, per se (it is, but that's beside the point); but the new direction MS is taking is pretty disturbing and voluntarily taking win10 is one of the worst things you could do as a pc owner.

thanks for that info was just about to install windows 10

[sony mavica]

what would be the best os to run on this netbook

What do you want to use it for?

playing older pc games watching videos playing music ect

[crispy_tofu]

The netbook sounds familiar to the Lenovo S10, which can run XP quite well. You might want to give it a try if you have the disc/USB. 

[tggzzz]

xubuntu runs fine on 1.6GHz atoms and 1GB RAM

[miguelvp]

I wonder how many sign in automatically on Google via their phones and computing devices but still worry about W10 privacy concerns 

About OS on that netbook, If you have a free USB port you could get a ReadyBoost capable USB thumb drive so that the cache resides on it, making windows more bearable on a system with low memory.

Edit: ReadyBoost has been available since Vista and supported on Win7, Win8 and probably still supported on Win10 but not sure about that last one.

[DimitriP]

best os to run on this  best os to run on this netbook

The best OS is the one that runs the software you need to use.

it has windows 7 on it atm and seems to be running fine just want a change from windows 7

...and therein lies the rub.....
How do you really reconcile "best os" with "just want a change"?
I don't have an answer for that.

 

[ECEdesign]

I have always used Mac OS X.  They are taking away power from the operating system with every version though. 

We have some computers in the lab that run RedHat and I like it quite a bit.  They claim it is very secure.

[rrinker]

blah blah blah  Windows 10 is SOOOOO horrible. No, it's not. I've been using it for quite a while now on both my desktop and laptop, and both were upgrades, the laptop from 8.1 and the desktop from Windows 7. Upgrades between versions so seldom ever worked before, but both these were flawless. Neither of my machines sees any of these horrible bugs that keep being reported.

I have a small cube desktop box with the same specs as the OP's machine, although it does have 4GB RAM. That one runs Linux, it's really too slow for a really satisfying Windows experience. I use it for controlling my model railroad - the software I used for that runs on Windows, Linux, and OSX so no problems there, and I can browse the web when I need to look up some information, and I can stream music from it while I work. Years ago I bought the nicest Sony boombox I could find that DIDN'T have a CD player, but does have an aux in, and I use that on this machine instead of typical computer speakers.