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I have a samsung netbook n150 1Gb Ram (Intel graphic card), 1,66GHz Intel Atom processor. It was working great with the ubuntu 10.04 netbook edition, really fast boot very eficient but I have updated to 12.04 (the netbook edition doesn't exist anymore) and now the system is so slow: slow boot, sometimes it doesn't even boot properly, strange screen light on and off behaviour, when you click on an icon takes for ever to open the app even the terminal it takes like more than 10s! It seems that this new distro was made for a far more powerful systems than this netbook.

I am considering to revert back to 10.04 or choose another linux distro but is there anythhing i can do to fix these problems? Any body else had similar problems. Thanks in advance

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My 12.04 was running REALLY fast, but then i kept installing updates - I have a quad core / 8 thread, 16GB of Ram (yes 16) and the UI is now slow.. oh and a SSD drive. So the apps open quick but when i minimize, its choppy to minimize back to the unity pane. All I am saying is, depending on Unity / Compiz settings its possible to be slow regardless of hardware – schmoopy Jul 19 '12 at 22:52

5 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I would suggest that you try installing the "Gnome" package from the Ubuntu software centre, this means that you will be able to to choose to boot into "Gnome Classic" at login where you will be presented with the traditional Gnome 2.x UI found in Ubuntu 10.04. This seems to make my netbook run faster than with Unity (I even wrote an article about it on my blog here, when it was still in beta)

Although I still use Unity 3d with my netbook as I LOVE unity.

If you still want to experience Unity but can't live with the speed that your getting try logging in to "Unity 2d" as this will put less strain on your processor. Or another option would be to upgrade your RAM as this will also improve Unity's performance.

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thks using the gnome classic desktop has solved the problem – vallllll Apr 29 '12 at 14:05
up vote 2 down vote

An option could be to install Lubuntu, which is a recent variation of Ubuntu, using the lightweight window manager LXDE and a selection of lightweight software.

But if you want to enjoy Unity with all its new capacities, you can also upgrade your RAM. I own a Samsung N310, and had difficulties with Unity in 12.04 until today, as I upgraded my RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB. It is extremely easy to replace your RAM card with a new one, which should cost you between 20 and 40 AU$, depending on where you buy it (online or your local IT shop).

I can tell you that I really notice the difference. Before, it was struggling with LibreOffice, Nautilus and Firefox together, but at the moment for example it can handle 6 apps at the same time without slowing down.

Finally, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal (supposed to be released in October 2012) will get rid of Unity 2D and have a lone version of Unity that won't need 3D acceleration to work flawlessly, so hopefully this next version of Ubuntu will be easier to run on old computer and low specs devices like netbooks!

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up vote 1 down vote

You will find that by default composite is on so unless you have one the newer dual core Intel netbooks you are kinda stuck. If looking for alternatives and still want to go with the 12.04 LTS releases then try Xubuntu or Ubuntu Studio. I tried the beta 2 of Ubuntu studio and it uses the XFCE desktop and this will run even on the older i830 Intels. From my experience Unity 2D is not quite up to scratch, but if you'd like to experiment with if you can select that from the login screen (to switch between different desktops).

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Thanks, what do you mean by "the default composite is on"? – vallllll May 1 '12 at 10:03
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@vallllll The default desktop environment installed by Ubuntu is called Unity. Unity uses a compositing window manager, called Compiz, to draw and manage the GUI elements you see on the screen, such as windows. Unity 2D does not use Compiz, so cannot do some of the cool effects Compiz allows, but is less intensive on system resources. – Chan-Ho Suh May 4 '12 at 4:39
The dual core intel netbooks don't solve the problem at all because the problem is not the CPU, it is simply the GPU (for me an Intel GMA3150, and for other the Intel GMA950 which is better in terms of drivers). In fact, I have in my possession a Asus 1215N, and I just can't use Gnome3 or Unity, because it is to slow to use ! I have to use Arch Linux with KDE (and disable a lot of things), to have a decent and modern Desktop. – aliasbody Jun 13 '12 at 0:45
up vote 1 down vote

I know this is an old question, but as I have the exact same netbook and the exact same problem, I feel like I should answer anyway.

I really loved the ubuntu netbook remix, and I was very sad when I had to upgrade. The new Unity just didn't feel right, as you said it felt slow, and also big and clumsy. I really liked the layout and workflow of the netbook remix.

I was already familiar with lubuntu, but I don't quite think it's ready for everyday use. Yes it's amazingly small and fast, but it still seems to lag behind the more performance hungry competitors in terms of usability. I often have to use the command line in order to do stuff that should be really simple.

Enough bad things said about other desktop managers. What I ended up choosing, was xfce (xubuntu). I know someone else mentioned it, but I think it deserves more credit. I was really skeptical at first, because last i tried it, it had the same issues as lxde (fast but not very user friendly), but having read a really positive review on deoimedo, I felt like I should give it a new try.

It was everything I could have hoped for, and more. The customization tools are just awesome. I was able to mold it into something extremely similar to the netbook remix. That is, the panels are shrinkable, movable and custimizable in every way. Text on the taskbar buttons can be disabled to save space like in the netbook remix.

I also got a lot of stuff that I missed on the netbook remix, like several work spaces. The only thing that's missing, is the menu that used to be where the desktop is, and the window border doesn't integrate with the taskbar like on the old unity.

The performance and snappiness also felt better than on the netbook remix. And in terms of usability, everything is just great, I still haven't had to use the command line for anything that should be simple.

So in my opinion, xubuntu is both faster, and has better usability than the netbook remix.

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up vote 0 down vote

Unity 3D seems to be the culprit. I am running 12.04 in VM Ware and it was slow as heck until I signed in to Unity 2D. Save 3D for real hardware.

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The difference with Unity 2D is that it does all the graphics on the processor rather than the GPU, so it will eat up more processor but may be faster if there isn't a worthwhile GPU in place. – glenatron May 21 '12 at 10:42

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