Ask Slashdot: What's the Fastest Linux Distro for an Old Macbook 7,1?

Long-time Slashdot reader gr8gatzby writes: I have an old beautiful mint condition white Macbook 7,1 with a 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo and 5GB RAM. Apple cut off the upgrade path of this model at 10.6.8, while a modern-day version of any browser requires at least 10.9 these days, and as a result my browsing is limited to Chrome version 49.0.2623.112.

So this leaves me with Linux. What is the fastest, most efficient and powerful distro for a Mac of this vintage?
It's been nearly eight years since its release, so leave your best thoughts in the comments. What's the best Linux distro for an old Macbook 7,1?

Comments

Re:LUBUNTU

[hazardPPP]

Lubuntu it is. I find that this distro runs just fine od 10+ year old PCs (once-upon-a-time Windows laptops), no reason why it shouldn't run just fine on an old Macbook.

Your Macbook model can run El Capitan 10.11

[carlhaagen]

I'm not sure why you think it's "capped" to 10.6 - that's just the version that was current at the release of your Macbook model. It will happily install and run El Capitan (10.11), and that's bound to be a more compatible and pleasant desktop experience than putting anything Linux on it.

Windows 10 works

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting AC for obvious reasons :)

macOS High Sierra

[DontBeAMoran]

https://everymac.com/systems/a...

Apple officially supports a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, but third-parties have determined that it actually supports 8 GB of RAM running Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" and 16 GB of RAM running OS X 10.7.5 "Lion" or higher and the latest EFI update.

Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.6.3
Maximum MacOS: Current

So update EFI, upgrade RAM to 16GB, swap HDD for SSD and install the latest macOS.

Problem solved.