Does Ubuntu run faster than Windows 10?

Question

I'm going to reinstall an operating system in my computer. I had Windows 10 earlier, and now I'm thinking of using Ubuntu. I haven't used Ubuntu before, so I have a few doubts.

Does Ubuntu run faster than Windows 10?

Solution 1

Is Ubuntu faster than Windows is a broad topic that depends on many topics including your computer's hardware. Try running the Ubuntu live USB (which can also be used to install Ubuntu) from a live session without installing it to your computer's hard drive. Then you can compare Ubuntu's performance with Windows 10's performance overall and on a per application basis.

Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested. Many Windows games can also being installed on Ubuntu using Wine, and they usually run faster (and better) in Windows than they do in Wine.

There are several different flavors of Ubuntu ranging from vanilla Ubuntu to the faster lightweight flavors like Lubuntu and Xubuntu, which allows the user to select the Ubuntu flavor that is most compatible with the computer's hardware.

Solution 2

Welcome to the Linux community!

First of all, I would like to clarify some things to you to help you make up you mind on which OS to pick. Nowadays, you'll need to take into account the fact that there are several Linux distributions (distros) for different purposes.

I'd bet you want a desktop distro, so Ubuntu 18.04 LTS can work for you perfectly.

In terms of difficulty, you don't need to worry, as desktop distributions are pretty user-friendly nowadays.

You will have to use the terminal for sure, so I would recommend you learn the basics about the Linux terminal.

In terms of speed, as Brandin mentioned, it depends on what are you going to use the OS for. If it is entirely for desktop purposes, like office, browser, ... You won't see any difference to Windows.

Hope this helps to you.

Solution 3

This is difficult to say and realy depends on your hardware and also on your way to use the computer.

If you have a SSD you may will not get a shorter booting time (Ubuntu vs. Win10) out of the box. Also the battery time (if using notebook) will decrease with Ubuntu / Linux compared to Win10 (for standard installation).

With Ubuntu / Linux the update cycles will be shorter and you do not waste hours of waiting to install updates from Microsoft, but for some hardware it can be difficult to get drivers or sometimes just strange screen flickering, etc. can happen. There you must be able to dig the internet / forum to find a possible solution.

I am using both Win10 and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (and derivates like elementary OS) and happy with it. Daily usage normally Ubuntu, but if I need special software then I use Win10 (not every software is existing for Linux and Wine is a lot of time not perfect to run Windows-Software on Linux).

Overall I like and use Ubuntu a lot, espacially for my older laptops (just update HDD to SDD). Therefore it is realy great. I can use my old laptop from 2006 with 2 GB RAM and old CPU in a way, which would never be possible with Windows anymore.

Comments

[Brandin]

What do you mean 'faster'? You need to say more about what you actually want to do: For example faster to install an application? Faster to browse the internet? Faster rendering (more frames per second) on your favourite game? And so on.

[thorstorm]

If you're new to Linux, I would recommend starting by dual-booting with Windows before you switch over completely to Linux. Also, it is important to make sure that your work does not depend on some particular software that is not available on Linux and to which there's no suitable substitute. Do some research before you install.

[cipricus]

If by faster you mean the system behavior as such (booting, applications startup), simple operations like folder browsing and trivial actions like internet browsing, and if Windows already proves to be slow on your machine, the answer is most probably YES. If Windows is not slow on your machine, the question makes no sense.

[Melebius]

Possible duplicate of Will Ubuntu be faster than my Windows, with these specs of my machine?