Our verdict

Lubuntu is the lightest of the official Ubuntu family. Version 26.04 LTS uses the LXQt desktop, supported until April 2029, and its whole reason to exist is using as little memory and processor time as possible so a tired laptop feels usable again.

You get a menu button, a taskbar and a tray, which is close enough to Windows to navigate on day one, but the look is plain and the hand holding is thin. If the machine can manage it, MX Linux or Linux Mint's Xfce edition give you the same lightness with friendlier tools around it.

Be aware of one gap in the official information. Lubuntu does not publish memory or disk requirements of its own, only a general claim that it works on anything from fast machines down to older and more limited hardware. The disk figure shown here is Ubuntu's published 25 GB for the same installer, and the memory figures are a conservative reading rather than an official number.

Best for: Older laptops, Netbooks and low powered PCs, Reviving a machine for light use.

What's good

Uses very little memory, so old hardware feels responsive again
Official Ubuntu family member, so updates and app compatibility come free
Supported until April 2029
Simple menu and taskbar, not a reinvented desktop

What to know first

Plain looking, with none of the polish of Zorin or elementary
Fewer helpful setup tools than Mint or MX, so more is left to you
The project does not publish its own hardware requirements
Not a gaming system

The details

Memory (RAM) needed

2 GB minimum, 4 GB comfortable

Disk space needed

25 GB

Desktop look

LXQt

Updates

A new version every so often, stable in between

Supported for

3 years per version

Built on

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS