Poll on performance of Unity on your machine

[bobblex]

Doesn't work so well on my old Dell.

 
description: Desktop Computer
    product: Dimension 2350
    vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
    version: A02
    serial: 7WZL521
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3 smp-1.4 smp
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=1 uuid=44454C4C-5700-105A-804C-B7C04F353231
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
       physical id: 0
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Mitac International
          physical id: 1
          version: A02
          date: 03/24/2003
          size: 128KiB
          capacity: 192KiB
          capabilities: pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 5
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 15.2.7
          slot: Socket 478
          size: 1800MHz
          capacity: 2800MHz
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 400MHz
          capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid
          configuration: id=0
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 9
             slot: Internal Cache
             size: 8KiB
             capacity: 8KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: a
             slot: External Cache
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: synchronous external write-back unified
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 20
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 1536MiB
          capacity: 2GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 0
             serial: None
             slot: A0
             size: 1GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 1
             serial: None
             slot: A1
             size: 512MiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 03
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel
          resources: irq:0 memory:d8000000-dbffffff
        *-display UNCLAIMED
             description: Display controller
             product: 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:d0000000-d7ffffff memory:e0000000-e007ffff
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:16 ioport:d800(size=32)
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:19 ioport:d000(size=32)
        *-usb:2
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:d400(size=32)
        *-usb:3
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=0
             resources: irq:23 memory:e0080000-e00803ff
        *-pci
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801 PCI Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: 82
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master
             resources: ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:dc000000-dfffffff memory:b0000000-cfffffff
           *-display
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: NV44A [GeForce 6200]
                vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
                physical id: 4
                bus info: pci@0000:01:04.0
                version: a1
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 66MHz
                capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
                configuration: driver=nvidia latency=248 maxlatency=1 mingnt=5
                resources: irq:16 memory:dc000000-dcffffff memory:80000000-9fffffff memory:dd000000-ddffffff memory:b0000000-b001ffff
           *-network
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: RTL8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 6
                bus info: pci@0000:01:06.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 10
                serial: 00:e2:8c:50:2f:c1
                size: 1Gbit/s
                capacity: 1Gbit/s
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 66MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.3 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
                resources: irq:18 ioport:c000(size=256) memory:df000000-df0000ff memory:b0020000-b003ffff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Interface Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: driver=lpc_ich latency=0
             resources: irq:0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: 82801DB (ICH4) IDE Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ide bus_master
             configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:f000(size=16) memory:60000000-600003ff
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: ioport:500(size=32)
        *-multimedia
             description: Multimedia audio controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.5
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.5
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_intel8x0 latency=0
             resources: irq:17 ioport:e000(size=256) ioport:e400(size=64) memory:e0081000-e00811ff memory:e0082000-e00820ff
     *-scsi:0
          physical id: 0
          logical name: scsi0
          capabilities: emulated
        *-disk:0
             description: ATA Disk
             product: WDC WD800BB-75JH
             vendor: Western Digital
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/sda
             version: 06.0
             serial: WD-WCAM9N537649
             size: 74GiB (80GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=76577657
           *-volume
                description: Windows NTFS volume
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sda1
                version: 3.1
                serial: e4ad4eec-3163-b240-a11b-452a8656452f
                size: 74GiB
                capacity: 74GiB
                capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized
                configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2013-01-12 03:58:38 filesystem=ntfs state=clean
        *-disk:1
             description: ATA Disk
             product: Maxtor 98196H8
             vendor: Maxtor
             physical id: 0.1.0
             bus info: scsi@0:0.1.0
             logical name: /dev/sdb
             version: ZAH8
             serial: V80B5A9C
             size: 74GiB (80GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=000ebd6d
           *-volume:0
                description: EXT3 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@0:0.1.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sdb1
                logical name: /boot
                version: 1.0
                serial: 8277ccba-d5e7-4a64-af9d-b6ff1720e8fd
                size: 475MiB
                capacity: 475MiB
                capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes recover ext3 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-10-24 19:47:18 filesystem=ext3 modified=2013-11-02 12:34:58 mount.fstype=ext3 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=continue,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2013-11-02 12:34:58 state=mounted
           *-volume:1
                description: Extended partition
                physical id: 2
                bus info: scsi@0:0.1.0,2
                logical name: /dev/sdb2
                size: 74GiB
                capacity: 74GiB
                capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
              *-logicalvolume:0
                   description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
                   physical id: 5
                   logical name: /dev/sdb5
                   capacity: 1952MiB
                   capabilities: nofs
              *-logicalvolume:1
                   description: Linux filesystem partition
                   physical id: 6
                   logical name: /dev/sdb6
                   logical name: /
                   capacity: 19GiB
                   configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered state=mounted
              *-logicalvolume:2
                   description: Linux filesystem partition
                   physical id: 7
                   logical name: /dev/sdb7
                   logical name: /home
                   capacity: 53GiB
                   configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered state=mounted
     *-scsi:1
          physical id: 2
          logical name: scsi1
          capabilities: emulated
        *-cdrom
             description: DVD-RAM writer
             product: DVDRAM GH24NS90
             vendor: HL-DT-ST
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/cdrom
             logical name: /dev/sr0
             version: IN01
             capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
             configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

[shantiq]

yes Bobblex and RAM size: 1536MiB ; so i am listening to the no it is not RAM-related info
but like myself low RAM for 2013 and not a smooth experience ,,, see what we get we have many more in ,,,

[mörgæs]

Bobblex, your problem is not memory but a weak graphics card not suitable for Ubuntu. Lubuntu 13.10 is a good choice.

As this is not for support please open a new thread if you need more advice.

[richardsdma]

on my machine, unity works good,

a have a dell inspiron 1521 amd dual core 1.9 ghz and ati mobility radeon 1270. only ONE GB of ram.

be very carefull, sometimes, not so often, compiz use at very start, 50 % of cpu.....in this case, unity is unuseable. you need to restart lightdm to solve the problem (at least in my case!)

so, whan unity seems sluggish, just open the terminal and check using "top" command. in idle, you should have 0-1%.

[Gyokuro]

@Shantiq It's not the RAM that matters, it's the way Ubuntu swaps. Once you hit 40% RAM usage (which I often do since I compile in tmpfs) it will start swapping, even though I have more than 4GB RAM free. On 2 GB that's 800MB, if it comes close to it, it will swap. That affects performance since all that stuff in the swap partition needs to be moved back to RAM when you need it, instead of staying there in the first place since there's plenty of room available. I set swap to 5%, so when I hit 7.6GB it'll start swapping.

Then there's the CPU and graphics, back when i had a Core 2 Duo E4500, Radeon 4350 and 2GB RAM it would get abused by Unity, each one of those effects would yank up the CPU usage to 50-70% because Compiz was very CPU heavy when fglrx is installed and all those fancy effects didn't help one bit. Unity worked smoother with radeon than fglrx due to that high CPU usage, which doesn't matter one bit on an octa-core though.

@Gyokuro Check mount, see how much space has been mounted as tmpfs and where, that tends to happen when those locations get filled up. If it affects your performance, adjust the swappiness to your liking and/or change the tmpfs size.

Thank you but I'm able to fix problems myself but maybe I was not clear - Unity is a big resource hog as Gnome3 is using much less memory as Compiz/Unity and I have checked launchpad reports and it's a known problem but even with the latest Unity the problem remains (e.g. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...z/+bug/1127959) nor in this regard I can see that anything got fixed.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

it does run just fine for me, dont use unity but it does run just fine, used the open source driver.
i am not using a entry level system though (Phenom II 965 @4.2GHz w/ Nvidia GTX 550 TI)

m4a79xtd-evo              
    description: Desktop Computer
    product: System Product Name (To Be Filled By O.E.M.)
    vendor: System manufacturer
    version: System Version
    serial: System Serial Number
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop family=To Be Filled By O.E.M. sku=To Be Filled By O.E.M. uuid=0059001E-8C00-003D-1ECB-BCAEC5B31F76
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: M4A79XTD EVO
       vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
       physical id: 0
       version: Rev X.0X
       serial: MT700CK19501272
       slot: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
          physical id: 0
          version: 2102
          date: 06/17/2010
          size: 64KiB
          capacity: 960KiB
          capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor
          serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
          slot: AM3
          size: 4200MHz
          capacity: 4200MHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 200MHz
          capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
          configuration: cores=4 enabledcores=4
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 5
             slot: L1-Cache
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies data
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 6
             slot: L2-Cache
             size: 2MiB
             capacity: 2MiB
             capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
        *-cache:2
             description: L3 cache
             physical id: 7
             slot: L3-Cache
             size: 6MiB
             capacity: 6MiB
             capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 36
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 12GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM [empty]
             product: ModulePartNumber00
             vendor: Manufacturer00
             physical id: 0
             serial: SerNum00
             slot: DIMM0
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
             product: ModulePartNumber01
             vendor: Manufacturer01
             physical id: 1
             serial: SerNum01
             slot: DIMM1
             size: 4GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 1600MHz (0.6ns)
        *-bank:2
             description: DIMM Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
             product: ModulePartNumber02
             vendor: Manufacturer02
             physical id: 2
             serial: SerNum02
             slot: DIMM2
             size: 4GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 1600MHz (0.6ns)
        *-bank:3
             description: DIMM Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
             product: ModulePartNumber03
             vendor: Manufacturer03
             physical id: 3
             serial: SerNum03
             slot: DIMM3
             size: 4GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 1600MHz (0.6ns)
     *-pci:0
          description: Host bridge
          product: RD780 Host Bridge
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 66MHz
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: RX780/RD790 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx0 port A)
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:40 ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:f8000000-fbdfffff ioport:d4000000(size=201326592)
           *-display
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti]
                vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: a1
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
                configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
                resources: irq:43 memory:f8000000-f9ffffff memory:d8000000-dfffffff memory:d4000000-d7ffffff ioport:cc00(size=128) memory:fbd00000-fbd7ffff
           *-multimedia
                description: Audio device
                product: GF116 High Definition Audio Controller
                vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
                physical id: 0.1
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
                version: a1
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
                resources: irq:19 memory:fbdfc000-fbdfffff
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: RX780/RD790 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D)
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:41 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:fbe00000-fbefffff
           *-firewire
                description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
                product: VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
                vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
                version: 01
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress ohci bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=firewire_ohci latency=0
                resources: irq:19 memory:fbeff800-fbefffff ioport:d800(size=256)
        *-storage
             description: SATA controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 11
             bus info: pci@0000:00:11.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: storage msi ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ahci latency=64
             resources: irq:42 ioport:b000(size=8) ioport:a000(size=4) ioport:9000(size=8) ioport:8000(size=4) ioport:7000(size=16) memory:f7fffc00-f7ffffff
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 12
             bus info: pci@0000:00:12.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ohci bus_master
             configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:16 memory:f7ffd000-f7ffdfff
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 12.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:12.1
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ohci bus_master
             configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:16 memory:f7ffe000-f7ffefff
        *-usb:2
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 12.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:12.2
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:17 memory:f7fff800-f7fff8ff
        *-usb:3
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13
             bus info: pci@0000:00:13.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ohci bus_master
             configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:18 memory:f7ffb000-f7ffbfff
        *-usb:4
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:13.1
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ohci bus_master
             configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:18 memory:f7ffc000-f7ffcfff
        *-usb:5
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:13.2
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:19 memory:f7fff400-f7fff4ff
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: SBx00 SMBus Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.0
             version: 3c
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ht cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.1
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ide msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pata_atiixp latency=64
             resources: irq:16 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ff00(size=16)
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.2
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=64
             resources: irq:16 memory:f7ff4000-f7ff7fff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: latency=0
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.4
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master
             resources: ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:fbf00000-fbffffff
           *-network
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: RTL8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 6
                bus info: pci@0000:03:06.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 10
                serial: 00:e0:4c:78:37:ce
                size: 100Mbit/s
                capacity: 1Gbit/s
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 66MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=10.0.0.50 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
                resources: irq:21 ioport:e800(size=256) memory:fbfffc00-fbfffcff memory:fbfc0000-fbfdffff
        *-usb:6
             description: USB controller
             product: SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.5
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.5
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ohci bus_master
             configuration: driver=ohci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:18 memory:f7ffa000-f7ffafff
     *-pci:1
          description: Host bridge
          product: Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
          physical id: 101
          bus info: pci@0000:00:18.0
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
     *-pci:2
          description: Host bridge
          product: Family 10h Processor Address Map
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
          physical id: 102
          bus info: pci@0000:00:18.1
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
     *-pci:3
          description: Host bridge
          product: Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
          physical id: 103
          bus info: pci@0000:00:18.2
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
     *-pci:4
          description: Host bridge
          product: Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
          physical id: 104
          bus info: pci@0000:00:18.3
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=k10temp
          resources: irq:0
     *-pci:5
          description: Host bridge
          product: Family 10h Processor Link Control
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]
          physical id: 105
          bus info: pci@0000:00:18.4
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
     *-scsi:0
          physical id: 1
          logical name: scsi2
          capabilities: emulated
        *-disk
             description: ATA Disk
             product: Corsair Nova 2 S
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/sda
             version: 1.3.
             serial: 12036509000013450523
             size: 27GiB (30GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=000ef58a
           *-volume
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sda1
                logical name: /
                version: 1.0
                serial: d842f936-1037-4cd8-96b1-b43e104b4bb0
                size: 19GiB
                capacity: 19GiB
                capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-01 11:31:02 filesystem=ext4 label=Root lastmountpoint=/ modified=2013-10-25 21:16:56 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,noatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-25 21:17:00 state=mounted
     *-scsi:1
          physical id: 2
          logical name: scsi4
          capabilities: emulated
        *-disk
             description: ATA Disk
             product: WDC WD5000AAKX-0
             vendor: Western Digital
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/sdb
             version: 15.0
             serial: WD-WCAYUY966338
             size: 465GiB (500GB)
             capabilities: gpt-1.00 partitioned partitioned:gpt
             configuration: ansiversion=5 guid=1e38adcd-cdf7-4355-a43c-276becf26c5e sectorsize=512
           *-volume:0
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sdb1
                logical name: /var
                version: 1.0
                serial: 3d1dd4e3-d423-4802-b52a-aa74d6fdc8bd
                size: 2557MiB
                capacity: 2557MiB
                capabilities: journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-01 11:53:00 filesystem=ext4 label=Var lastmountpoint=/var modified=2013-10-28 03:49:18 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-25 21:17:00 state=mounted
           *-volume:1
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 2
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,2
                logical name: /dev/sdb2
                logical name: /home
                logical name: /root
                version: 1.0
                serial: b8362e2b-2cdb-40f4-a2a8-a9ed1207cb81
                size: 230GiB
                capacity: 230GiB
                capabilities: journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-01 11:40:48 filesystem=ext4 label=Home lastmountpoint=/root modified=2013-10-28 12:59:11 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-28 12:59:11 state=mounted
           *-volume:2
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 3
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,3
                logical name: /dev/sdb3
                logical name: /var/cache/apt/archives
                version: 1.0
                serial: 39fbf8c6-5d6f-49b2-8433-c06f58278d36
                size: 1536MiB
                capacity: 1537MiB
                capabilities: journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-03 09:35:55 filesystem=ext4 label=Archives lastmountpoint=/var/cache/apt/archives modified=2013-10-28 12:59:14 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-28 12:59:14 state=mounted
           *-volume:3
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 4
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,4
                logical name: /dev/sdb4
                logical name: /mnt/virtual_box
                version: 1.0
                serial: 03cc0da7-dc02-4f82-832a-805f8c2e6c4d
                size: 183GiB
                capacity: 183GiB
                capabilities: journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-03 02:27:43 filesystem=ext4 label=VirtualBox lastmountpoint=/mnt/virtual_box modified=2013-10-28 12:59:14 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-28 12:59:14 state=mounted
           *-volume:4
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 5
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,5
                logical name: /dev/sdb5
                logical name: /mnt/iso
                version: 1.0
                serial: 156f2dd4-0bfe-414c-95a8-080973d9bedc
                size: 31GiB
                capacity: 31GiB
                capabilities: journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-05-03 09:34:26 filesystem=ext4 label=DiskImages lastmountpoint=/mnt/iso modified=2013-10-28 12:59:14 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,data=ordered mounted=2013-10-28 12:59:14 state=mounted
           *-volume:5
                description: Linux swap volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 6
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,6
                logical name: /dev/sdb6
                version: 1
                serial: edcffc51-e736-474e-b338-18182e372f87
                size: 16GiB
                capacity: 16GiB
                capabilities: nofs swap initialized
                configuration: filesystem=swap pagesize=4096

[bobblex]

Bobblex, your problem is not memory but a weak graphics card not suitable for Ubuntu. Lubuntu 13.10 is a good choice.

Yep...That's what I did after trying Unity. Lubuntu 13.10 with some tweaks is what I run now.

[philinux]

If swap is a problem turn down swappiness to say 10%. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

Forgot. Unity slick on my acer 1410. Not at home so no lshw.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

On my laptop, after a boot the applications are slow to load the first time. After the first start the applications load fine.

    
description: Computer
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: vsyscall32
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       physical id: 0
     *-memory
          description: System memory
          physical id: 0
          size: 5864MiB
     *-cpu
          product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 1
          bus info: cpu@0
          size: 800MHz
          capacity: 800MHz
          width: 64 bits
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx lahf_lm ida arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid cpufreq
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 09
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel
          resources: irq:0
        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 09
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:48 memory:d0000000-d03fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:3000(size=64)
        *-communication
             description: Communication controller
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 16
             bus info: pci@0000:00:16.0
             version: 04
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=mei latency=0
             resources: irq:49 memory:d0705000-d070500f
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
             version: 05
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:d070a000-d070a3ff
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 05
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
             resources: irq:50 memory:d0700000-d0703fff
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
             version: b5
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:16 memory:d0600000-d06fffff
           *-network
                description: Wireless interface
                product: Centrino Wireless-N 1030 [Rainbow Peak]
                vendor: Intel Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 34
                serial: 4c:eb:42:6e:0c:3f
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.2.0-55-generic firmware=18.168.6.1 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
                resources: irq:47 memory:d0600000-d0601fff
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.2
             version: b5
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:18 memory:d0500000-d05fffff
           *-usb
                description: USB controller
                product: uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller
                vendor: NEC Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
                version: 04
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: xhci bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=xhci_hcd latency=0
                resources: irq:18 memory:d0500000-d0501fff
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.4
             version: b5
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:16 ioport:2000(size=4096) ioport:d0400000(size=1048576)
           *-network
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 05
                serial: 84:8f:69:d0:ea:45
                size: 100Mbit/s
                capacity: 100Mbit/s
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw ip=192.168.1.12 latency=0 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
                resources: irq:46 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d0404000-d0404fff memory:d0400000-d0403fff
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 05
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:23 memory:d0709000-d07093ff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 05
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-storage
             description: SATA controller
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
             version: 05
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: storage ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
             resources: irq:40 ioport:3088(size=8) ioport:3094(size=4) ioport:3080(size=8) ioport:3090(size=4) ioport:3060(size=32) memory:d0708000-d07087ff
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 05
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:d0704000-d07040ff ioport:efa0(size=32)

[monkeybrain20122]

Unity is a big resource hog as Gnome3 is using much less memory as Compiz/Unity and I have checked launchpad reports and it's a known problem but even with the latest Unity the problem remains (e.g. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...z/+bug/1127959) nor in this regard I can see that anything got fixed.

Not in my experience. Compiz uses ~ 0.2% cpu in my system when idle. The only DE which is obviously hogging resources is KDE on my machines.