TLDR - Use Linux Mint.
My sister’s laptop was very slow and she stopped using it. I checked it out and realized it needs some hardware upgrades (4GB RAM is not enough), but most importantly it was running Windows 11. Anybody would hate using that laptop.
So I did some research to find linux distros which work well on low end systems, but is also relatively user friendly.
2 options I liked were:
Went ahead with Linux Mint due to larger community and support. So far, it’s been a great experience. The speed up is just amazing!
If note, recycle it. If you don’t need the laptop, install Linux Mint and give it to someone else who can use it.
Unrelated note: I also setup Anki for her which she’s been loving.
You can also use this laptop as a home server, that project is sitting in my “someday” list for now.