thank you all for replies
that's because MINT is just horribly outdated.
i was indeed just testing a different linux distribution for a change, but given IOhannes elaborate arguments, i think i will return to debian.
MINT was easy and nice to install and indeed worked out of the box without any tweaking, but the tradeoff of being about 3 years behind with everything is unattractive.
(32bits) on an old laptop
is there any special reason to install an i386 OS these days? how "old" is your laptop? i think i bought my first amd64 around 2004 or so. these days most mainstream systems that are compatible with i386 are also compatible with amd64. so why bother?
ok, i was under the misconception that a i386 system would work "better" with my 3GB of RAM and would be easier on the laptop's ressources. it's a lenovo R60, so i think it's more than 15 years old.
best
oliver