I am dumb...lol got a mountain bike for road use.

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And it's a struggle like to get it to go even half as fast as I want it takes so much effort, but later I looked up apparently it is normal for mountain bikes to be harder to ride on pavement and I am not looking for an intense workout first thing if my reason for riding the bike is to get to work.

So I am probably just going to donate my current bike and get a more road friendly bike instead, cause yeah it sucks trying to ride that thing on the paved trails, can't get it up to a good speed without getting out of breath and sore muscles that make it hard to keep going. So yeah maybe I need the bike more fit for the sort of terrain I will be mostly riding on which is sidewalks and paved trails as in a lot of spots the bike lane in the road seems kind of unsafe.

I'm guessing, being a mountain bike, it has the knobbly trail tires, ya? Why not just replace them with some cruiser / street tires? That's what I usually do, since I prefer mountain bikes, but ride them on the street.

I'd do what uncommondenominator suggests, get suitable tires for the bike and keep it.

Yeah, you can always switch out the tires. It is probably cheaper to do that than get a whole new bike.

where I live the streets are so bad a mountain bike is almost required. I have a hybrid with slightly larger tires that does OK.

I suppose I could consider replacing the tires, but also looking it up...seems like the heavier weight of a mountain bike frame may also contribute to the harder riding.

Also, though I'd like something I could get up my apartment stairs easier, and since road bikes are lighter seems that would make it easier.

That being said I wouldn't be getting a new bike if I donate the current one, I'd be getting a refurbished one from the bike co-op around here so it's probably not as expensive as getting a new bike.

Is the current one new? I probably wouldn't trade a new one for a refurbished one unless the refurbished one is of higher quality.

Some mountain bikes are quite light. Downhill bikes tend to be heavy, but they're also specialized for that task. I know my brother's 'trail bike' is lighter than my other brother's BMX (for example).

I'm not sure where yours falls on the weight spectrum, but I'd probably want to compare the two bikes side by side before making any decisions. Narrower, less chunky tires at a higher PSI will greatly improve the rolling resistance issue. Odds are that the rolling resistance is a bigger contributor than the weight.

~25-30 lbs is a good ball park estimate for a typical (entry to mid level) mountain bike's weight, less if it's got no suspension.
~20-25 lbs is a good ball park for a a typical (entry to mid level) road bike's weight.

Unless your bike is exceptionally heavy (like, if you have a ~40lb downhill bike), or you're doing a lot of riding up hills, odds are that changing out the wheels will make the largest improvement. A lot of articles I've come across mention that a 5lb weigh difference is negligible to most riders, outside of competitive contexts. That said, 5lbs might matter more when you're climbing the stairs to your apartment.

Then again, narrower, less chunky tires will cut a bit of weight as well.

If you have the time and spoons I'd figure out what more suitable wheels might cost (and ideally, how much they weigh), then go compare your current bike with one you might replace it with to see if there's much of a difference.

I'd also maybe ask the people who refurbish bikes what they'd do in your situation. Their insight will probably be useful, if it's available. If they think changing the wheels is ideal, they might be able to do it for you. If they suggest just trading the bike in, then I'd assume other options are more hassle than they're worth.

Ugh, I didn't intend on that being an essay.

Standard mountain bikes have 26" wheels & tires. 29ers have 29" and you can swap some semi-slick hybrid tires onto them for super cheap and then pedal pretty efficiently. Otherwise just buy a hybrid, OR a road bike with 700c wheels (same 29" diameter, but for some reason road bikes call them 700c) which tend to be narrower and road specific.

Any option of any old used bike with the Larger diameter wheels and non-knobby tires will be much more efficient the pedal on the pavement - and reach much higher speeds. If you get a great deal on a hybrid, buy that. If there's an old road bike in a frame size that fits you, buy it. If there's a 29er mountain bike and you don't mind a bit of extra weight, get it and swap hybrid tires onto it for like $40-60 for tires and tubes. But you might get an entire old cheap bike for that price that's already operational.

But 26" knobby tires for commuting are pretty much the worst option.. without going down to any form of BMX that have even smaller wheels.

Different bikes for different uses and also different qualities of bike intended for the same use...

About 25% energy loss would be bad tyre choice. Another 25% due to poor bike choice and around 25% would be cheap quality inefficient materials and the remainding 25% due to correct size and having the seat and stem in the right place... Seat at correct height. Too low = inefficient cycling and saddle soreness.Stem and bars too high also means saddle soreness! The five points of contact need to be equally distributed in weight. So if saddle is too low or bars too high the weight goes to ones rear! If bars are too low wrists act up and one also gets numb fingers as too much weight goes to ones wristsand hands (Some mountain bike designs for off road racing purposfully put rhe bars lower to add more weight to the front of the bike for better offroad handling, and decent hillclimbing as most people lean back too far when climbing hills. (Though one does need weight on the back wheel or it will slip). So for general cycling modern mountain bike designs are not that great. Very old level top tube mountain bike designs from the mid 1980's make excellent heavy duty touring bikes as was before they started altering frame angles to improve off road performance. They were still not too bad off road as well but would have rigid forks and frames... So would not likely win any races! BUT great all round bikes! Hard to find today as nearly all mountain bikes were made since then when frame angles were changed...
Touring bikes make great all round bikes. Used to end up on cyclo cross events in the days when cyclo cross offroad event bikes were way beyond cyclists budgets. Touring bikes by nature had stronger frames and forks compared to racing bikes. (Visually one may not notice). Touring bikes also ended up racing on very long distance audax events where long distance comfort was more important than speed due to the distance, which lead to the tweeking of the touring design to make a light weight version specifically for audax events known as the audax bikes.
Touring bike frames are longer and more stable than racing bikes though they look the same. Tourers are designed to be stable when carrying weight such as heavy panniers, so also double up as good bikes to take the weekly shopping, as well as excellent "Faster" communting bikes! (Commuting bikes come in a wide variety of forms but two sensible approaches. Touring which are designed to carry weight and are yet fairly fast to ride so one can put ones change of clothes in ones panniers and anything else one needs to bring!... Or another approach which has a lot going for it is the old traditional sit-up-and-beg type bikes which were tourers of their day! Designed to be the ultimate in comfort while trundling along in style! So don't expect to get there fast but they are soo comfortable one will get to work refreshed and ready! (Some city areas commuters have chosen fixed wheel (Far less moving parts to go wrong and also due to this don't wear so fast. Less likely to get stolen as fewer people ride fixed wheels... Or that't the theory! Ideal office workers bikes where one does not need to carry anything much to work and when most of ones commute is on the flat where one will be weaving in and out of slow moving traffic. Fixed wheel bikes one has more balance control by the nature of the fixed wheel... But not so suitable for the average commuter like a tourer or a traditional bike would be).

But yes! Different bikes for different uses. Both touring bikes and traditional bikes make good every day bikes... Tourers come in either wide frop handlebar or straight handlebar forms... Then comes a combination of tourer and mountainbike which is known as a hybrid or street bike.. Also origionally designed as a do anything bike. Light offroading. On road.. Commuting... Though todays hybrids have developed in different ways. Some have become closer to flat bar racing bikes in design where one may as well get a racing bike and fit it with flat bars, and others are designed to beso close to mountain bikes, the only difference is they have a 700c wheel size! So look at individual bike cesigns when it comes to hybrids... But the "Common inbetween" hybrid designs do make very good all round bikes and are fairly close in some ways to a flat bar tourer... But not quite!

There was once a bike called a sports tourer. It was half way between a racing bike and a touring bike. A design commonly used in the days where enthusiastic cyclists would need to commute back and fore to work and use the same bike for week end time trials or road racing events, and also the same bike for the summef camping trips. Most mass produced "Racing bikes" sold to the public had sports touring geometry so were not actually racing bikes at all! No way could one find room to fit mudguards with a proper racing bike! Their frames were too short! But sports tourers there was room... As were designed to be "Racey" but slightly more practical. But would not take very heavy loads with the stability that a good touring bike has, but still could take a pair of panniers if needed. Just be a bit more "Twitchy" to ride.