Creating a light, attractive desktop environment on a new low-end laptop using Openbox in Ubuntu is simple and offers you most of the features you need for everyday computing without much of the load that comes with GNOME or KDE.
Despite the myth that Linux runs on anything, Ubuntu often doesn't perform well on $500 laptop hardware out of the box. Opening the main menu can take several seconds. Running a system update can bog down the system, and the GNOME icons and menus clearly weren't designed for low resolutions and 15.4-inch screens. Enabling Compiz desktop effects may result in errors, grindingly slow performance, or even a blank screen until you pull the power and reboot.
Some Linux distributions will run well on just about any hardware. However, distros designed for older or low-performance hardware may skimp on font rendering and other eye candy. Too, they often don't provide the full range of features that a desktop environment like GNOME does, leaving you with a machine that works well for basic tasks but is too ugly to show off.
Openbox is a light, fast, and highly configurable window manager in the Blackbox family. It comes well configured from the Ubuntu repositories with several useful hotkeys already set up. Installing Openbox, along with a few other tools, provides most of the features you need for basic computing and leaves enough resources left over for eye candy. You can leave the default GNOME desktop installed so you can use GNOME's features if you want to, making configuration even easier.
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http://www.linux.com/feature/126177