Will SUSE Linux 10.1 perform better than Windows XP?

Question

Considering installing SUSE on a Pentium 4 1.2 Ghz, 512 MB RAM notebook, since Windows is dog slow. Will this OS be any better in terms of performance?

Answer 1

i'm running SuSE 10.1 and 2k3 side by side (on four different HDs, 2GB RAM, 2 CPUs so, yup, i'm performance aware...)

good news: stick w/ SuSE; out of the box, it's the best performing install / config and matches a lot more (even unusual, see above ~:o) HW configs then most (tried Kubuntu, Debian, FC, the free version of RH, name it, i probably still have some HOWTOs & all on one of my parittions (13, not counting >;) for any of'em
SuSE, the choice to go

bad new... i used to have 1GB, thinking that THAT should be enough for anything, right? well, think again, since i'm using SuSE on a regular basis (admitedly, not only as an average browser <:-P ) i felt that 2GB would come in handy, sometime.
so, no, from a basic performance point of view, no Linux is going to beat XP, anytime soon; mostly because M$ has very strict directives, as to how SW developers have to make their job, to deserve the M$ logo & all;
a LINUX SW has to run on ANYTHING; from RH 9 (the last "free" release RH made, three yrs ago) to Debian Sid.
that comes with some Xtra code, alas and **NO** tuning whichsoever will change it; tuning allows you to drop BlueTooth, WireLess and all that kind of stuff (if you don't use it), but it won't make the programs run better unless you systematically download the SOURCE code & compile the SW for your PC;
if you are coming from XP and ogle towards SuSE, that's probably not your idea of Linux, is it?

BOTTOM LINE:
SuSE is your best choice; but don't expect any performance jumps from your current HW; you'll get about the same performance for the same (basic) tasks; however, a P4 & 512MB RAM running pourly suggest that your XP is clogged down (registry, adware & the like) and Linux will definitely fix that <:-P

Answer 2

That is a very open-ended question, any brand of Linux inherited the modular design and can be tuned to make a Core Duo jealous of a Pentium 2's performance.

But as the stocked, unmodified SUSE goes, it is not likely to gibe any performance boost right out the box until you tune and strip those that you don't want.

Answer 3

xp is definitely for user-friendly and widely used. suse is definitely more stable. i would recommend Ubuntu Linux though. You may wanna see opinions of others before deciding on which distribution

http://www.distrowatch.com