[bball1515]

I know this has probably been discussed before in these forums but i haven't yet come across the answer i am looking for and that is, which OS is the best to run on a mini 9 with 2gb of ram performance wise, ie speed and reliability for normal operations like web surfing and document writing etc. Windows XP, OSX or Ubuntu?

[Matt_H]

Well, you aren't going to get an actual answer - just people's opinions. 2GB RAM is plenty to run any of the three you mention, assuming you have enough hard drive space. RAM is not the bottleneck, the processor or the hard drive speed is, and you will find all three OSs run slower on the mini than on a more powerful machine. You'll have to find which one is best for you. Once installed and running, any of the three will do "normal operations like web surfing and document writing etc." If you are not a fanatic about any particular OS, why not give Ubuntu a try - it's free, after all, it has web browsers, office software, etc. Then if you don't find that Ubuntu is the best for you, spend some money and try one of the other OSs.

[safemode]

I was going to type out a long reply that would have sounded condescending, but really, what kind of response to that kind of question would you really expect? Are they all equal, god no. All they all capable of working on the netbook and doing their thing, sure. Is one any better than the other, sure, depending on what you're going to do with it and how much you know.

In short, use xp. Your question and the fact that all 3 are an option implies that you're going to use xp anyway.

[reydemia]

Originally Posted by safemode

I was going to type out a long reply that would have sounded condescending, but really, what kind of response to that kind of question would you really expect? Are they all equal, god no. All they all capable of working on the netbook and doing their thing, sure. Is one any better than the other, sure, depending on what you're going to do with it and how much you know.

In short, use xp. Your question and the fact that all 3 are an option implies that you're going to use xp anyway.

internet + linux user elsewhere = Ubuntu
casual browsing + a bit of other little things = OSX
gaming + everything else = windows XP/7

that's the short of it. Except Ubuntu and OSX usually win over the favor of capable beings because of the added coolness factor you get for running them on a mini, but windows 7 has had that effect recently too. Ultimately you decide. However, XP will be your best bet if your trying to squeeze out all the juice you can.

[NoisufnoC]

I'm a big ubuntu fan. Its free and easy to use.

[unixfool]

Just install them all and evaluate for yourself...that way you'll not get any jaded opinions that may lead you astray. You can even install them all on one drive if you've a big enough drive.

[lswartz]

If you want to pay for XP, get it. If you want free get Ubuntu & if you can't stand it go buy XP or OSX.

There are other considerations besides $$ but I think all 3 operating systems will do what you want.

Now for the opinion Get whatever you want & have fun with your mini. It has certainly exceeded my expectations. Dell put out a quality product.

[tntc.tig]

I'd go with Ubuntu. You'll have a lot of space left on your ssd, neat wobbly windows if you want, and if you are going to reinstall no matter what, ubuntu will require the least work to get running (No drivers to install, no goofy efi bootloader stuff to deal with, easily installed from a USB flash drive).

[unixfool]

Originally Posted by tntc.tig

I'd go with Ubuntu. You'll have a lot of space left on your ssd, neat wobbly windows if you want, and if you are going to reinstall no matter what, ubuntu will require the least work to get running (No drivers to install, no goofy efi bootloader stuff to deal with, easily installed from a USB flash drive).

Gotta have to agree with this one, especially the comment about the least amount of work. Another biggie is the space left after the install, and if a default install is still to big for you, its trivial to begin removing unneeded software. Even then, there are some very minimalist yet entirely usable Linux distros out there.

[bball1515]

Thanks for the input, my mini came preinstalled with xp, but i am leaning towards installing ubuntu to save space, so long as there is not a loss in video playback capabilities.