Hey everyone! I'm diving into the world of Linux on my new laptop, which is pretty recent but not very powerful. I've tried quite a few distros in the past, but I'm a bit lost on what to pick this time. I mainly need it for student work, light gaming, and some programming. I'd love any advice on which distro might be the best fit for these activities. Thanks a bunch!
6 Answers
If you want something that works well out of the box, I'd suggest going for an Ubuntu-based distro. They're super beginner-friendly, especially for students since most software is available as .deb packages. I’d also recommend checking out Debian if you want something rock-solid and stable. It recently released version 13, which is great! For a cooler workflow, you could try i3wm with it, although that does require some setup on your part.
For ease of use, I'd definitely suggest Ubuntu or Fedora. Other distributions like Mint are fine, but they can sometimes have quirks that you might not want to deal with. If you're using Nvidia graphics, Ubuntu handles that pretty well too! Just remember that trying out different distros is the best way to see what fits your needs the most.
I think both Ubuntu and Fedora are great options! Personally, I use Fedora because it feels less bloated than Ubuntu and still has a good amount of community support if you run into any issues. Definitely a solid choice!
I agree! Fedora seems to have a great balance of features and performance.
If you’re looking for ease, you could try an Arch-based distro like Garuda or Endeavour with a desktop environment. They pack a lot of power but are still user-friendly.
I actually voted for CachyOS since I find it works really well for me! That said, if you choose an Arch-based distro, make sure to set up a snapshot system like BTRFS and GRUB in case an update goes awry. Fedora is also excellent, and if you’re not a fan of GNOME, you might prefer using the KDE version instead.
That’s good advice! I’ve heard mixed reviews about GNOME myself.
Honestly, I’d stick with something Ubuntu-based. It just tends to work flawlessly out of the box!
Thanks for the tip! Debian does sound promising.