Ubuntu on low powered laptop

Posted by zkent on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by zkent
Published on 2012-12-12T00:58:59Z Indexed on 2012/12/14 17:19 UTC
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graphics

First off, I am new to Ubuntu. I come from a Windows background (DOS before that) and am loving it so far. I installed it on an older Dell laptop that I wanted to get another year out of. I set this machine up primarily as a LAMP development machine for a project I am working on.

The machine is a Vostro 1500 and it has 4GB RAM (maxed) and an upgraded hard drive. I can't watch YouTube videos for long before it starts to overheat and start acting sporadic. I can live without YouTube but every so often the application switching (alt-tab) gets slower and begins not showing all applications and the Dash home quits displaying properly. I am sure I am asking a lot of this old machine. What I really want to know is: are there any settings in Ubuntu that allow me to lower the graphic effects (fade-ins, transparencies, fancy transitions, etc) that would be less taxing on the video card?

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