Hello guys i am new linux user so i decided to switch from windows 7 to lubuntu last version but after installation i realize how slow lubuntu is cuz if i want to open something its take seconds 15 or 30 probably my cpu IS 2.16 GHZ with intel boost to 2.66 GHZ | dude my windows 7 was really fast even i can do whatever i want on 4 seconds 6 sec and its was taking me only 30 sec to boot and my disk IS HHD but on lubuntu everything change i have to wait for everytask for everything on this laptop well there no differents between lubuntu and windows 7 on ram usage BRO i am the only who have this problem whatever my pc build is :
RAM : 4 GB
CPU : intel pentium n3540 2.16 GHZ 4 cores
GPU : there no gpu ? Its APU / intel hd graphics HARD DISK : hhd
I can run Lubuntu pretty well on a n5050 and 4 GB memory. It can still even run kde-plasma, but, they’re pushing back on supporting this sort of system as the kernel versions go up. You might try Puppy perhaps?
But, comparing it to W7 isn’t much of a comparison, W7, W8.1 are dead. If you could run W10 then that might be a fair comparison. I’m pretty sure W10 isn’t supported on these systems however, and I know W11 certainly isn’t. So, it’s sort of a moot point…
I am running on a N4020 CPU, initially with 4GB memory. It is a very cheap 200 Euro laptop. My processor is weak to say the least for today standards. But I experience no problems at all with any Linux. Even installing KDE Plasma (which is said to be a performance killer on low end systems) is running very, very good. N4020 is not the same as N3540, but your CPU has 4 cores and mine only 2. On https://cpubenchmark.net/compare you can verify your benchmark speed against mine (1201 resp. 1548). I added 4GB of memory, and now I am able to run at least one other Linux in a virtual machine. If I only allocate 2GB memory for a VM, I am able to run two VMs and the host OS remains very responsive (no changes in fact).
Considering your CPU has more cores and more L1 cache memory, the experience of your laptop should not be as worse as you describe it. There must be something else be responsible for the low performance, not Lubuntu.
I guess you would benefit enormously if you swap the traditional style moving disk HDD to modern SDD. I think it is worth it, if the general state of the laptop is good enough (including a resolution of at least 1920x1080, battery still acceptable) you should consider buying a cheap SSD disk replacement. Most likely you will get more disk space too.
BTW you made an excellent choice by selecting Lubuntu! There is absolutely no need to change to some XFCE based OS if you think that would help you with the current laptop configuration.
really two physical cores and 2 logicals… but, ok, point conceded. But, you misread, I can run Lubuntu fine, it’s kde-plasma that is showing some stuttering when there are a reasonable amount of apps running. Still, this is clearly an indicator that the OSs are moving on. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the system or the OSs
My reaction was to the original poster, and I reflected not on your machine 
And yes, Plasma is heavy, even on my 16 core Ryzen5 desktop machine (from some 6 years ago) with sufficient memory. It has hickups, even on that machine (but why?).
My point is that in general one does not need top notch hardware to run any Linux desktop very well to almost very well. I enjoy Plasma on my 200 Euro laptop with no problems at all, but I prefer LXQT because it offers precisely what I need :-). No less, no more (needed).
Double your ram to 8Gb, put in a cheap SSD.
Choose ‘Minimal’ when installing from the iso, that way it won’t install snap.
My older box is much worse than yours, and it doesn’t have your problems.
Newer kernels take longer to boot on old hardware, 30-40 secs from kernel launch to desktop is what you should expect.
Configuration really matters.
I wrote about an issue on this site where I had a Lubuntu install on a box with 8GB of RAM, and I needed to borrow half of that RAM to test another box (for a couple of days). My expectation was I’d not notice the drop in RAM (8GB to 4GB) given the apps I use & how I use that box… Boy was I wrong !
Rather than my expected minimal to no difference in operational speed; my usage on the install suddenly became annoyingly slow. Whilst my [head] calculations were really too superficial prior to swiping the RAM, as I rounded everything down to whole numbers (4.6GB RAM used thus became 4GB the box still had; though technically the box actually only had 3.7GB available to the OS anyway; that I hadn’t rounded down to 3GB!), I was able to resolve that anyway by changing the default swap configuration, reboot & operation was back to pretty identical to when the box had 8GB of RAM.
Depending on your usage, you may need to tweak your install, which is why a number of us have attempted to document what we’ve discovered in our manual, and on this site.
I’ve not answered before, as there was nothing specific I could actually reply to. Myself I also have installs here of Debian (many releases), Ubuntu (likewise many releases), Fedora & more, and to me outside of the timing differences between them, I consider them all pretty equal in regards speed or performance. Sure for some hardware (and much of my hardware is actually somewhat old) I get better performance with specific kernel [stacks], but rather than being a distro detail; it’s related to the software stack included on a system… which is why I use different releases on some hardware.
Lubuntu is the lightest of the Ubuntu flavors out of the box I’m convinced, but it can still be made faster or leaner by configuring it for your specific hardware, as the same software on different hardware will perform differently (ie. I’ll configure an old 2005 box differently than I configure my current 2017 box as the hardware differs considerably; the capabilities differ even if GHz clock ratings [mostly used in marketing/sales] don’t differ that much).
Personally I don’t consider boot time though; I only care about performance when I’m actually using it. When I turn my machine, I’ve got a few things I do as it boots up, so a wait of 10 secs, or 30 secs once per day will just alter what I [can] do in that time… I really only worry about how the system operates after I’ve logged in and I’m actually doing my work.
Hi everyone! 
If it helps at all, I’ve found that how well or fast Lubuntu runs depends on the individual computer it’s running on. There can be considerable differences (as far as results are concerned) between two different systems that have identical or similar hardware specs. As an example, I have Lubuntu 22.04 installed an old HP Pavilion laptop (dual core Pentium Processor and 4 GB’s of memory, in part) that was manufactured in 2008 and the OS is pretty sluggish, unfortunately. But it still runs fast enough to keep me from wiping it and using a distribution that traditionally has a lower footprint, like Puppy or AntiX. On the reverse side of the coin, I own a desktop system (a whitebox system I put together using different parts) that also has a dual core Pentium Processor and 4 GB’s of memory and Lubuntu 24.04 comes fairly close to downright snapping on this thing! There are no real problems with sluggishness on this computer, praise and thanks to God. 
How do I explain the results? Not entirely sure in all respects but the desktop system is using a gaming motherboard that was manufactured in 2009, along with gaming memory. I’m also using a Nvidia graphics PCI-E add-on card, instead of the onboard video. The laptop uses an onboard Nvidia graphics chip but it uses its own memory, not the system’s. 
Regards…
I agree.
I run Lubuntu on several old Frankenstein builds and each runs different from the other although all run fast enough.
Increase from 4.0GB of memory to 8.0GB of memory makes a big difference.
If a user is willing to search memory can be found dirt cheap on ebay.