@sjmulder i mean it definitely can be both for the record
poorly maintained hardware will perform worse than better maintained hardware, though a large issue with old hardware is the bloat of modern windows and applications

like you won't be able to play diablo 1 well on the systems it was meant to run on if you never changed the thermal paste and left the vents clogged

i agree with the sentiment about software being unoptimized, but laptops do get slow unmaintained, even if software stays the same

but yeah putting linux on an old machine can help it a lot in my experience, but these old guys need some physical and mental care, both need to be fixed for a machine to be happy