[Animats]

The next step above Lubuntu is Xubuntu. If it will fit, use it. I buy old ASUS subnotebooks on eBay for about $40 and put Xubuntu on them when I need a little machine for something.

Drivers can be a problem. However, [UXL]buntu finally fixed the years-old bug where the cursor goes away on devices using built-in Intel graphics. (You could make the cursor come back with CTL-ALT-F1, CTL-ALT-F7, which switches the display to text mode and back.) That prevented anyone not heavily into Linux from using the thing.

[jlgaddis]

It's not just for old machines either!

I've used XFCE for years and prefer it, even on my well-equipped machines (4-core laptop w/ 32 GB RAM and a new 16-core workstation w/ 128 GB RAM).

It looks "nice enough" and is still flexible enough that I can customize it exactly how I want. I really liked Gnome back in the "good ol' days" (2.x) but I can't stand to use it anymore.

[unhammer]

I want to like Gnome and Unity, but Xfce just lets me get things done with no fuss.

The only issue is the name. My girlfriend pronounces "Xubuntu" like "Cthulhu".

[tbronchain]

You made me curious.. 128GB RAM on Xubuntu! Why? Which usage would require so much memory? Found 16cores quite a lot as well. Really wondering what you do?

[seabrookmx]

Not the person you're replying to, but we have lots of 64gb workstations at work for database and BI work, such a testing large queries in Apache Drill. With the right query, you can use up the 64gb quite quickly. Our servers run 384gb and have 16C/32T.

[dispose13432]

MATE?

[abrowne]

Ubuntu MATE is also a great option.