What is the difference between Software Updater and Ubuntu Software Updates?

Solution 1:

1. "software updater" is the generic updater. It will scan for updates for all your repositories and PPA's you added. It will scan based on a period set in "settings":

   

   If you do not care about what gets updated this one is good enough. And you can set this to silently update.

   Ubuntu Software has its own version on this. Basically it uses the same method but another way of displaying the updates. It shows them per installed software with a fancy icon and description making it easier to check and to install single updates. I assume updating through this is always manual(?) and assume this might only install updates for the software it lists(?) (going to use the next few updates for testing these claims).

   

   When you use 1 of them the other will show less and less. Oh, and you can not use them at the same time (the update locks the process for itself until done).

   One thing I noticed: the software updater tells you there needs to be a reboot. The one from SC seems to not do that (just did an update through SCU and SU told me I needed to reboot).

2. You pick one of them and then other will not show new software anymore. The 1st one will pop up and notify you so might be easier to use.

3. Device drivers might be an optional extra update. Depending on usage though: if your current one works stick with it (don't try to fix things that work for you).