Linux

Generally I agree with everyone else, Linux Mint is great.

However, if you really want to not worry at all, you could just buy a laptop from e.g. Tuxedo or System76. They come with Linux preinstalled (I think in the case of Tuxedo at least, you even have a choice of which Linux Distro?), and are guaranteed to have no hardware "difficulties" with Linux, i.e. even if you put another distro on it, you won't encounter driver issues.

(Those have become very rare anyways, but do put a damper on the "Firsttime Linux Experience" if you do encounter them...)

Mint is the best distro for the average user who doesnt want to tinker with their OS or doesnt want to waste time fixing issues.

IF Mint doesnt go well with your laptop, I would try out Fedora, which is more up to date with stuff and also very user friendly choose Fedora Workstation if you're feeling adventurous. choose Fedora KDE if you want a Windows like experience.

Linux Mint. I'm a pretty hardcore Linux person, used a dozen different distros, Mint is by far the closest I've experienced to #JustWorks.

It's reliable and simple enough that earlier this year I switched my tech-illiterate parents from Windows to Mint. Works great for them so far.

Thanks for the input ya nerds. Much love from the geek side of lemmy. I'll be taking the advice of poking around with multiple distros before committing to one, because it sounds a whole lot less painful than I was imagining.

Quick question though, what the hell is a gnome? Or a KDE for that matter?

It's hilarious how uncool it is to suggest Ubuntu but it often just works, including very recent hardware if it's from Canonical partners like Lenovo or Dell. And the kerfuffle about things like snaps are way overblown.

Personally I would recommend Fedora, most distros people have recommended here works.

I had less issues installing Fedora on a new laptop than I did with the win11 and win10 attempts, I'm never switching back to windows

memes dunking on mint are irrelevant. use what works for you & ignore the noise.

personally, mint lmde, based on debian, might be worth a once over. sounds like the stability aspect might be up your alley.

HolyOS, Hannah Montana linux, AmongOS

The process for installation is more or less the same for all of them.

Linux Mint and PopOS are the "go to" suggestions. I really don't like the way either of them look. I'm partial to GNOME for aesthetics and ease of use.

Bazzite comes with most of the stuff you will want pre-loaded, and also the cool Steam Deck Gamescope interface. It's the only one I've used with seamless background updates like you might be accustomed to on Android or iOS. That's my recommendation.

Linux mint, Debian, Fedora

PopOS if you are into gaming

Mint or Zorin

mint

• generally a solid choice

• you have a friend who uses it! big advantage

people who make memes about linux distros are in a lot deeper than you want to be. they have different goals.

Pop!_OS is neat. I've been running it on my desktop and laptop for over a year now. I like that it doesn't look like Windows and has enough difference to it to not be a macOS clone either. Plus I think System76 is doing some great things with hardware design.

Ubuntu. There are mixes of it but out of the box Ubuntu is about as straightforward a dist to install as possible and it is well supported.

That said "new laptop" and Linux are not always a match made in heaven. You might try it from a boot stick and confirm that things like the GPU, touch screen, touchpad, fingerprint reader, USB C / Lightning all work properly.

I'm very impressed by the work by the Elementary OS team. Linux is a beast to figure out, and while I've used Linux for 30 years, I remember how frustrating getting started was. I use Pop!_OS on my desktop machines today and Debian or Ubuntu for other machines and I've used dozens of desktops, but Elementary really does just work (and also also happens to be Debian / Ubuntu based).

It has the easiest install process, trouble free device support, and it starts you with guardrails that keep from breaking things, but can be turned off as you figure it out. Very Mac inspired experience, so not completely intuitive from Windows, but the reality of Linux is that you are going to change distros over time, or even use multiple as each do a better job at dealing with niche requirements. Certaintly not the one size that fits no one that is the current Windows 11 debacle.

https://elementary.io/

Edit: Wine math last night, it was summer of 1994 so 30 years, not 35 😅. It was on my new AMD 486DX4/100 with VLB and getting X to work was no picnic. A friend gave me the CD ROMs so at least I wasn't using dialup to download it.

I'll drop this: https://www.techradar.com/best/best-linux-distros It's written by an actual journo and not a bunch of nerds in nerdville!

Getting into Linux is a bit like Windows back in the day - interesting and a lot of fun ... and rather nerdy. My first Windows version was 1.0 and my last was 7. Mind you I do run a MS Silver Partner and worry about a lot of Windows servers and desktops but my daily driver is Linux.

Mint is a great choice, even though it isn't mentioned in the article I linked because you get a great community, which is pretty important. Its basically Ubuntu and therefore Debian too, so a lot of howtos will work.

I personally rock Kubuntu but I have a requirement for enterprisey stuff - ESET and Veeam and AD integration and all that. I also get Secure Boot out of the box and not all Linux distros work with that.

Your smart new laptop will have Secure Boot enabled so you will have to deal with that if you deploy a distro that doesn't. So with say Arch, you will need to turn it off or learn how to sign your kernels etc and that is not a beginner topic! I suggest you turn off Secure Boot if your chosen distro doesn't support it, rather than insisting on it. Its a nice to have but not the most important security feature ever.

You might want to show a bit of ankle and try out a few to start with. Most distros have a live CD that you can boot and try out first. I suggest trying out Mint, Ubuntu and Kubuntu. That gets you three modern interfaces to play with.

If you are into gaming then it kooks like Pop!OS would be a good place to start instead.

There is no real best option - it's what suits you and you have choice.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say fedora silverblue or bazzite

Basic user? Use flat packs and enjoy easy graphics support, as well as all of the windows compatibility for gaming

Advanced user? Learn to do things in pods/containers or distrobox, it's easy even if the quick start docs aren't great (I can find my cheat sheets if anyone is going down that road)

Pro: most stuff just works, and it's harder to config yourself into a corner you have to research your way out of

Cons: normal Linux install guides need to be modified a bit, it's not hard but you do have to learn how to do it

Pop OS has been pretty pain free for me

I really like Fedora. Swapped to it a few months ago, my first time using Linux, and I've since only been using the Linux machine. With the KDE Plasma spin, it really is a near 1:1 UI to Windows.

I think Mint is good enough. People will dunk on anything popular.

What spec of laptop are you thinking of getting?

I’ve been using Mint and Pop!_OS on two different machines for a few years.

Neither has really required much from me as the user, although I have needed to use the terminal once on each of them.

Personally, I really like the way Pop does window tiling and workspaces.