Battle Windows 10 or Any Linux Distro for Overall Efficiency and Performance

ifacedown

Level 18
Thread author
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Hello,

The title says it all.

I have tried several Linux distros before (with Gnome, Unity, Cinnamon and KDE shell) but even though in many ways I find them more secure, customizable, and geeky than Windows, I kept coming back to Windows because many apps that I use run best in Windows despite Linux having Wine and PlayonLinux (apps that allow Linux to run Windows apps).

Windows has apps that set the "standard" in today's everyday computing and use, like Microsoft Office, among many others. So even though Linux has thousands of free apps, there is a really need for me to return to Windows or at least dual boot with Linux.

Please share your opinions. I want this thread to be informative, objective, and even subjective.

Thanks.
 

Kate_L

in memoriam
Verified
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Well-known
Jun 21, 2014
1,044
Windows 10 has amazing boot time, the downside is that the performance is really bad, that's why I went back to Windows 7.

Linux is fast by default and if you really wanna have performance you need to install LXDE or XFCE. If you really wanna have performance, remove the DE and just use it as CLI.

Overall: I had Windows 10, Windows 7 and Arch (XFCE) on the same PC. In my testing (I have a small network 3-4 Virtual PCs running), Linux offers the best performance, the second place is by Windows 7 and the last is by Windows 10.
 

Dani Santos

From Xvirus
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Developer
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Jun 3, 2014
1,136
Windows 10 has amazing boot time, the downside is that the performance is really bad, that's why I went back to Windows 7.

Linux is fast by default and if you really wanna have performance you need to install LXDE or XFCE. If you really wanna have performance, remove the DE and just use it as CLI.

Overall: I had Windows 10, Windows 7 and Arch (XFCE) on the same PC. In my testing (I have a small network 3-4 Virtual PCs running), Linux offers the best performance, the second place is by Windows 7 and the last is by Windows 10.
In my pc windows 10 is faster and uses less ram than windows 7. On low end pc linux runs pretty well while windows, even xp, crashes a lot. It all depends if you have a good pc or not.
 
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bitbizket

Level 3
Jul 26, 2011
250
Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 + Tails tailored for TOR.
Windows 8.1.

A short intro, i'm a fan of Ubuntu since 2006 when i was working for a computer company in the debugging department of the production line.
Linux distro was not that variants back in the days and less appealing for the home consumers though it was much popular in places like India and Russia going by the orders that we received globally.

GNOME has so far surpassed Unity in improvements.
The design was beautiful and polished, the features and function works really smooth and efficient.
Performance wise it work exactly what i wanted.
No crashes whatsoever very stable, launching application, networking was amazingly smooth and fast.
The bad, i wish the USC could be better it has change very little over the years.
With the release of Ubuntu 16.10, i'm looking foward for the GNOME Software to become the default software center.

Windows 7 is great for older generation hardware (<10years old) even it was running fine with my old Pentium 4.
Build a new medium level machine this year so it makes much sense to upgrade to a newer OS.
Windows 8.1.. better performance gain and hardware efficiency than the previous windows version.
First thing i did was to removed all the bloatware and privacy craps that came along with it.
Installed all the important stuffs and did a backup of the windows partition incase later on if anything bad happens.
I'm happy with my OS's performance so far with an under 20 secs bootime on average.

As for Windows 10 - Windows 7 and 8.1 are matured OS personally i think there's no reasons to fall for the freemium hype however gamers will no doubt benefit from the latest dirextX 12.
 
D

Deleted member 178

  • Resource Usage (eg: CPU, RAM): Linux
  • Real World System Impact: Linux
  • User Friendliness: Windows
  • User Interface: Windows

and some important other factors:

  • Security: Linux
  • hardware compatibility: Windows
So
  • Overall Winner: none
To explain more accurately, unless you do nothing else than surfing or like security & tweaking, Linux is the best choice.

But if you like gaming, being a hardware aficionados, working in big companies; you will need Windows (just for Office, photoshop, etc.. and a better hardware compatibility from drivers).

i personally use Win10 as host and various security/anonymity-oriented Linux distros in a VM. so I get best of my machine with Win10 while getting the best of Linux in a VM.
 

OokamiCreed

Level 18
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May 8, 2015
881
For me Windows 10 is slow on both boot and speed due to it's excessive disk usages especially on TH2. My computer CPU, disk, and RAM are not low in in the least, they just don't have everything worked out in Windows 10 quite yet. Windows 7 boots faster than both 8 and 10 (although I'm giving Windows 8 another try).

As for Linux vs Windows 10, both can be as insecure as the user makes it. With control comes more problems (I see people break Linux distros all the time by simply trying to customize it... it's overly complicated and not user friendly so you need experience). Windows on the other hand is very user friendly and difficult to butcher unless you are just trying to screw it up... or your point and click on anything on a browser (what's up with that?)

I recommendation (if you are willing to make mistakes), to use Manjaro (based on Arch for user friendliness) XFCE. Lightweight, very fast, seemingly easier to customize than Ubuntu, etc (personal opinion). I love it's package manager over that slow and heavy software manager with fancy graphics and pictures. Just gives details and names of the package. Also allows easy installation of any video drivers that you might need via the Manjaro settings and you can also change the kernel in there with 2-3 clicks (unlike Ubuntu, etc). If anyone uses Manjaro XFCE, I recommend installing Boje-red for themes (window manager/appearance). It's like having a dark themed Windows 8 but better.

I dual boot Manjaro XFCE with Windows. No real point in using only one if you have likes about both. Both have advantages, neither can completely win. Unless you do simple things like browsing, word documents, music, photos, etc. Linux would be better for you. Some games also run better using the Linux version. Terraria, Making History: The Great War, etc. After all Steam is on Linux and it works great. Anytime I can run a game natively in Linux, I do it. Running Windows only games on Linux wine has mixed results. Some play better, some just suck, and some play the same.

I voted for Windows 10 and Mint Linux. Mint is a second favorite of mine and I saw no XFCE option. Mint also has XFCE installation option. Obviously you can use any desktop environment on Manjaro. Official builds (XFCE and KDE), or community builds (pretty much everything else).

Personally I can't/won't chose between Windows and Linux. Love them both, use them both. Recommend dual booting to get full experience out of your PC.
 

Soulbound

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Well-known
Jan 14, 2015
1,761
Am a Windows and Linux user.

There are two main reasons I run both systems (not yet the choice of distribution base, let alone DE):
1 - I'm a gamer
2 - Hardware compatibility

1st one is easy: 90% of my games run fine on Windows, yet when you do attempt to run them on Linux, welcome to the roller coaster ride of your life
2nd one: Ignoring the different approaches of base distributions in terms of hardware, and even using latest available kernel/manual kernel optimization built from ground up specific for your system, you are bound to face some hiccups when it comes to drivers compatibility (and we ain't yet touched open source vs proprietary drivers...)

So since the two reasons above dictate that I should technically run Windows, why do I run Linux too? well easy answer is Hobby.

Great that's out of the way right? Except Linux is not as easy as 1 base system and few desktop environments. Nope. For a Linux user, depending on your knowledge you have to decide on:

What base do you want?
Do you want Stability? Head over to CentOS (RPM packages based) or Debian (Stable branch) - just forget you have the latest version of anything (easy price to pay unless you start straight away to suffer from drivers issues etc)
Do you want latest and greatest software? Head over to Arch Linux, Gentoo and Fedora (Debian Unstable/SID branches to a certain extend)
Do you want a balance between stability and updates software? Head over to Ubuntu/Ubuntu official variants or Debian (Testing branch) or even OpenSUSE

Great you made a choice right? Hold your horses, 'cause there is more:

How is your Linux knowledge and how far can you handle yourself with maintaining one type of system?
Beginner: head over to Ubuntu/Ubuntu variants or OpenSUSE, but remember: Ubuntu uses totally different commands than OpenSUSE.
Some knowledge on some basic systems: more choice: Debian Stable, Ubuntu/Ubuntu variants, OpenSUSE, CentOS (the basics of CentOS that is)
Intermediate and advanced: all of the above plus: Debian Testing/Unstable/SID branches, Fedora, Arch Linux and Gentoo (because the nature of such distros base, when something breaks, you are expected to know how to dig the error out, research and fix, as opposed to just roll out a backup and boom, never ending loop of issues.

We are finally there but still, 2 more decisions to make:
Default distributions configurations and which Desktop Environment or Window Manager?
Some swear by Ubuntu and Ubuntu family, but others prefer how other authors did spinoffs of the base Ubuntu
Some swear by Arch Linux, while others say Manjaro (yet not aware that Manjaro team does test packages longer than Arch based, so there is a window of usually a week before the same package that is available in Arch official repos are available in Manjaro repos)
Some like a distro based on its DE/WM configuration
Others like to mix Debian Stable with Debian Testing
Others prefer Debian Unstable/SID as its closer to bleeding edge rolling release found in Arch/Gentoo

Now onto DEs/WMs (NOTE: considering vanilla state, not configured and tweak by authors):
Gnome Shell: Users love or hate, no middle ground - resource usage is high but thats not the issue. The issue is the amount of GNOME dependencies tied to it. A bit of a hassle to do some cleanup
KDE: will say out front: Arch already recommended to upgrade to Plasma (KDE 5), but aside from the total difference between KDE4 and KDE5, Plasma is still a bit buggy (don't worry Gnome wasnt a breeze between the point releases of GNOME 3). KDE dependencies? Don't know where to start (tho KDENLIVE is a hell of a program, I give them that)
Cinnamon: Linux Mint team take on a Gnome Shell to create a new DE. Uses nearly same as Gnome Shell in terms of resources. Not as mature and Gnome and although there has been improvements since its first release, still has a lot of Gnome dependencies and not a common DE found outside Linux Mint spinoff's of Ubuntu based system
XFCE: for a long time, it was considered the DE which would just sit there while the war was always between Gnome vs KDE for all the bells and whistles, customization etc.
XFCE was and still is however a great DE and uses way less memory and cpu tends to be quiet than any of the above. Does pull some Gnome dependencies but way less and suitable for old hardware
MATE: Linux Mint's fork of Gnome2. Bascially now they trying to completely move away from Gnome2 dependencies. Former native Gnome2 applications where renamed and basically gave the Gnome2 hardcore fans who didn't like Gnome3 some hope. Tends to be a bit more busy in system resources/cpu than XFCE but thats about it.
LXDE: less bells and whistles than XFCE but in turn you get a lighter DE which runs well on old machines. Well, LXDE is composed of LX modules + Openbox window manager, so thats where the lighter than XFCE comes from
Pantheon: Only found in Elementary OS, built from scratch DE, based on Gnome Shell.
Unity: Ubuntu's own response for the Gnome3, another love or hate type of DE. Found also on Makulu Linux by the way.
Trinity: Spinoff of KDE3. Why you say? well KDE4 launch wasn't as smooth as one might think. shares shames pros/cons of KDE4 and KDE5. Trinity is found on some distros, usually based on Debian.

Window Managers (too many to list, so will omit quite a few):
Openbox + Tint2 Panel or with XFCE panel or LXpanel - Light as a feather but prepare to dig into config files to manually configure menus etc (obmenu etc). Tint2 Panel in particular = more configuration - stacking window manager
Fluxbox - Blackbox fork originally - another stacking window manager which is light, and once fully configured via its config files, looks nice
IceWM and JWM: two separate stacking window managers, light as feathers but not appealing to the eyes on first glance
i3: dynamic window manager - stacks and tiles, shortcut based window manager, not to hard to configure at all and easy to use, granted you have read the documentation
awesome: another dynamic window manager, however unlike i3, if you want to theme it and tweak it, prepare to spend some time in its config files and or pull some already done configs from users via github.
Tiling only managers: forget about any easy to use beginner friendly, but will list some: ratpoison, dwm, spectrwm

Also, one thing to look at window managers: how exactly you want to customize etc.

So based on all the above, once a user has some basic knowledge on Linux, you are presented with countless choices. This is why I said I run Linux as a Hobby.

I can manage Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora and Arch to a certain extend and if anything breaks I can fix it, also ran in the past a mix of Debian Stable, Testing and Unstable branches (not recommended unless you know what your doing); know how to flag packages in Arch not to be updated etc; however I can truly say I have not delved into Gentoo due to 2 things: Time and knowledge.
As far as DE/WM goes, I have only been able to easily work with i3, configured Openbox with Tint2 Panel and did an ok job configuring Fluxbox.

Other WMs I have tried and well its too much to learn to use it. Bad enough that what you know of Debian/Ubuntu cant be easily applied to say Arch linux as commands are different etc.

One recommendation: always build your system from ground up once you have been familiar with it, which means manually installing xorg, customizing your kernel and only pulling the sofware/packages you want and know how to look for its dependencies.
 
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Tani

Level 9
Verified
Nov 25, 2014
402
I had returned back to windows 8.1 before November update for windows 10, it might have become bit stable now, linux distros have proved themselves to be unreliable for me as well, couldn't be with them for more than a week due to software availability and (with ones I'm already good at) & specially that I had to face issues with chrome due to builtin security of linux. I'll prefer windows 10 agian, in January.
 

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