@nostupidquestions is it true that linux cannot run on a laptop without any SSD ?

I had gone inquiring at a couple of local stores regarding restoring my 2gb Ram laptop with 500gb HDD. At both of the places l was told that l need to put in at least 4gb of fresh ram + insert a bare minimum SSD, otherwise windows wouldn’t run on it.

When l said that l’d be working on linux, this technician guy told me that even linux has become heavy these days. Not sure what he meant by this, but extra ram burns a lot of holes, not mention about the price of SSD.

So, l just want to make sure. Is it true that modern machines won’t work without any SSD or machines with 2gb rams are simply fit for the museum ?

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    3·
    14 days ago

    This depends a lot more on what you plan on doing once the OS boots. I accidentally loaded Win11 on an HDD (disk 0 was HDD, not SSD) for a few hours. It was noticeably slow, but it ran my diagnostics utilities well enough.

    If you’re using it for light web browsing, basic office software, etc, then it might be fine.

    But something else caught my attention - you inquired about “restoring” it at shops, meaning you intend to pay money. SSD and RAM are obviously what anyone would upgrade, and you’re balking at it. More to the point, you expect to run Linux, but didn’t even install it as-is to test it out?

    There’s some missing context here. Also, 2gb laptops haven’t been a thing in a very long time. You might very well get a better deal by just buying a used newer model that already has what you’re looking for.