Running linux mint on 4th generation i5 with 4GB RAM worked ok but 8GB was really more comfortable (as in never worry about RAM no more) and you can easily get

Running linux mint on 4th generation i5 with 4GB RAM worked ok but 8GB was really more comfortable (as in never worry about RAM no more) and you can easily get some for cheap so it's definitely a quick easy win. But the dramatic speed difference ? HDD to SSD. That one upgrade allowed to be a dev on that old machine for three more years, until the motherboard died last year, RIP. I got almost 10 years out of that hardware with two cheap and easy upgrades. Nice. On the other hand I don't recommend hardware older that 2013 as you get in performances that are really not comfortable or capped upgrade : That one Late 2007 Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook was usable but Linux was a pain to install on, RAM was capped at 4GB and it was not comfortable performance wise. Cheaper hardware for the same era is barely usable for casual tasks. Another thing I didn't mention with the 4th generation i5 laptop is that the plastics are always the first thing that break and it's a bit of a pain to have to replace it although it's cheap. Went with Framework 12th generation now and I am definitely intending to keep 10 years too. It feels much more sturdy, it's very nice. You just need a nice physical shell with upgradeable parts imho.