How can I make Ubuntu more responsive on a netbook?

Question

I have Ubuntu 11.10 installed on my Asus 1015PEM (Atom N570). The interface seems pretty sluggish, compared to what I remember it being with Ubuntu 10 using Metacity. What's the easiest way to increase the responsiveness of the system and the UI?

Answer 1

Logout, and select Ubuntu2d as session. Ubuntu2s (aka Unity2d) looks very similar, still uses Metacity, and should provide better performance, especially on machines with Intel GPUs. If you like the result, make Ubuntu2d the default session:

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

change the line

user-session=ubuntu

to

user-session=ubuntu-2d

Info source: How do I change the default session for when using auto-logins?

Answer 2

On my netbook I saw improvements when upgrading the RAM from 1GB to 2GB, it's surprising how much it does. :)