[creshal]

10 year old laptops with 2 RAM slots can take 16 GB RAM (32 GB for the 4-slot desktop replacements), you don't even need to find some esoteric artisan slimline Linux distribution, you can just slap Ubuntu/Fedora on it and call it a day.

> The statement that "It's just a browser!" is not a good argument. The modern web is very resource intensive so you need a decent computer.

The modern web is resource intensive, but not that resource intensive, unless you insist on keeping a myriad of tabs open and active.

A Linux desktop with half a dozen webapps open in Chrome (and more tabs suspended) can still stay under 3GB RAM used (I'm clocking in at 2.2 right now), so it's still viable on 32 bit hardware.

3GB RAM dualcore notebooks were available 15 years ago, and for the past ten years you could retrofit them with SSDs for reasonably cheap.

Both together are like 150 bucks according to a brief ebay survey, that's a very low bar for "decent".

[anthk]

On Chrome: try ZRAM first. Then, edit

/etc/profile.d/chrome.sh and chmod +x it.

If you use Chromium, replace CHROME_USER_FLAGS with CHROMIUM_USER_FLAGS .

      #!/bin/sh
        export CHROME_USER_FLAGS=" --no-default-browser-check --no-pings --no-wifi --no-recovery-component --no-report-upload --safebrowsing-disable-download-protection --safebrowsing-disable-extension-blacklist --safebrowsing-disable-auto-update --arc-disable-app-sync --arc-disable-locale-sync --arc-disable-play-auto-install --arc-force-cache-app-icons --ash-disable-touch-exploration-mode --autofill-server-url about:config --block-new-web-contents --bwsi --cloud-print-uri about:config --cloud-print-xmpp-endpoint about:config --connectivity-check-url about:config --crash-server-url about:config --cryptauth-http-host about:config --cryptauth-v2-http-host about:config --cryptauth-v2-enrollment-http-host about:config --data-reduction-proxy-config-url about:config --data-reduction-proxy-pingback-url about:config --data-reduction-proxy-server-experiments-disabled --device-management-url about:config --disable-background-networking --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --disable-data-reduction-proxy-warmup-url-fetch --disable-data-reduction-proxy-warmup-url-fetch-callback --disable-default-apps --disable-demo-mode --disable-device-disabling --disable-device-discovery-notifications --disable-dinosaur-easter-egg --disable-domain-reliability --disable-cloud-import --disable-component-cloud-policy --disable-eol-notification --disable-gaia-services --disable-login-screen-apps --disable-machine-cert-request --disable-notifications --disable-ntp-popular-sites --disable-ntp-most-likely-favicons-from-server --disable-offer-upload-credit-cards --disable-offer-store-unmasked-wallet-cards --disable-password-generation --disable-permission-action-reporting --disable-proximity-auth-bluetooth-low-energy-discovery --disable-push-api-background-mode  --disable-remote-core-animation --disable-signin-promo --disable-signin-scoped-device-id --disable-suggestions-ui --disable-sync-app-list --disable-sync --disable-system-timezone-automatic-detection --disable-test-root-certs --disable-wake-on-wifi --feedback-server about:config --gcm-checkin-url about:config --gcm-mcs-endpoint about:config --gcm-registration-url about:config --google-apis-url about:config --google-base-url about:config --google-doodl-url about:config --google-url about:config --light --lso-url about:config --market-url-for-testing about:config --oauth-account-manager-url about:config --optimization-guide-service-url about:config --override-metrics-upload-url about:config --permission-request-api-url about:config --realtime-reporting-url about:config --search-provider-logo-url about:config --sync-url about:config --third-party-doodle-url about:config --trace-upload-url about:config --variations-insecure-server-url about:config --variations-server about:config"