I’d say RAM is going to be the largest performance bottle neck for a desktop environment on an older machine. 4gb of RAM? don’t bother with cinnamon, you’ll likely have a much better experience with Mate or XFCE. 8gb is about where I’d even bother to test out cinnamon.

And yeah. It’s still extra steps for a worse experience. Just wait a few hours. You already waited 7 years.

If you don’t mind not having steam achievements.