What version/flavor to upgrade for my old laptop?

[salijackt]

Disclaimer: I'm a graphic designer, not an IT person, I know the basics of computers/operating systems, just enough to get me in trouble, but I'm overall fairly clueless. #-o I can follow directions if they are step-by-step, I can open a terminal and run stuff if you give me the code, but that is about it.

I have an old laptop, currently running Ubuntu 14.04 and have been thinking I need to upgrade, especially since I just got a Wacom tablet and am having a horrible time getting it to work and I keep getting suggestions that I just need to upgrade. The problem is, I have an old laptop and I know when I first got it (2016) it was recommended to install 14 instead of 16. I was looking at the flavors and thought about installing MATE or Lubuntu as the descriptions seem like those are geared toward older machines, however I want to be sure I can still run my major programs.

Computer:
HP Elitebook 8470P
Intel Core i53320M Processor
8GB Memory
750GB Hard Drive

Requirements:
Must run Wine (for Windows animal records program and Photoshop)
Must be able to run Steam/games (Civilization V and Minecraft are the main ones)
Must be able to run GIMP and Inkscape
Needs to be able to work with some kind of tablet, whether this Wacom Intuos or if I return this one and get a different one

Can anyone help me out? Please and thank you!

[ajgreeny]

I think that spec machine should be able to run all of the Ubuntu family of OSs without too much of a problem though if you have no separate graphics card you may find steam games are a bit of a problem but I am not a gamer so may be out of date with that comment.

However, I believe that it is better to use an OS that uses the resources available for the work (or games) you need rather than just to look good with lots of computer display-bling and as a result I use Xubuntu and have done for many years now, more or less since unity appeared.
With not too many startup applications enabled my system uses under 400MB ram at boot.

XFCE, the DE used by Xubuntu can be made to look like almost anything you wish it to with very little effort, and it is easier to configure than the even lower resource user, Lubuntu.

I am sure you will get other users saying their DE choice is the one to use, so you will be best served by trying as many different DE versions as you can in live systems and the choose the one you feel works best for you.

[Impavidus]

Old? The specs look quite decent, better than my laptop in any case. I run Xubuntu 18.04, although I think my laptop should be able to handle Ubuntu 18.04 too. I think your laptop should be able to handle any flavour. For new installs, I recommend the latest release, which is 18.04, which is an LTS (long term support) release.

Lighter flavours leave more memory available for applications, but other than that it shouldn't really matter. All flavours use the same repositories and have the same software available for install in a single click and all flavours use the same kernel for the same hardware support,

[Autodave]

+3 for Xubuntu.

[kurt18947]

Another benefit to Xubuntu (IMO) is that they don't make jarring changes in their UI. I have SWMBO on Xubuntu even though I'm using mainline Ubuntu because it's hard telling what the Gnome devs will change or remove next and she HATES change. Ubuntu does seem to blunt some of the more questionable Gnome decisions i.e. no icons on the desktop but Xubuntu doesn't seem to make avant-garde decisions to start with. On the downside, 'flavors' like Xubuntu or Lubuntu used to have 3 years support instead of 5 years like mainline Ubuntu. I'm not certain if that's still the case or not.

[mörgæs]

Yes, they have three years of support.

I don't consider it a downside, though. There is so much development going on in, say Libreoffice that I prefer a fresh install every second / third year in order to get to more advanced software.