linux mint

Pop_OS or Linux Mint. Both just work. The Atomic idea is nice, but still too soon for complete beginners or the lazy (not a pejorative).

Mint, it just works.

If you need secure boot on current (like intel gen 10+), Fedora Workstation. If you don't need secure boot, Linux Mint.

Fedora has the easiest way to make secure boot just work, it will even dual boot fine on the same disk although you should still backup the m$ partition if you actually need it. Fedora can do secure boot even with Nvidia.

Ubuntu can do some of the secure boot stuff like Fedora does, and there is the advantage of the stable kernel if you have Nvidia.

Note that "stable" as a label has nothing to do with its intuitive meaning like alpha/beta/testing/crashing etc. It is a term for servers and people that want to run very specific setups that will not require human intervention on embedded devices and servers. If you want to game or use the latest sw "stable" might be a pain. However, if what you are running is not kept up to date with the latest packages and libraries, a stable release may be the only way to run your stuff.

Overall these are the biggest factors on current hardware; secure boot yes/no, and up-to-date software needs yes/no.

My vote is Linux Mint. I had installed it on a family members laptop and have been going strong for years without fault.

Fedora

Linux Mint Cinnamon

Everytime I want a distro that just works I just roll with Linux Mint.

Being one of the most popular distro if something goes wrong is really easy to find how to fix it .

I think your best bet for this is one of the spinoffs of enterprise Linux: fedora or openSUSE. both are very solid ootb, and have starting configurations that are generally good.

The microos or silverblue variants respectively are really promising as well, but still have some caveats.

Mint, it's not the shiniest toy but it really does just work

If you have Nvidia, pop os has all that built in. My go-to is usually popos, or mint

Fedora atomic GNOME or KDE.

You don't mess with the system at all. If you look for something specific, you may find something here https://universal-blue.org/images/ .

For me it is Fedora

Do live images not exist anymore? Pick a distro, burn an iso to a USB drive and boot it. See if you like it.

You're just going to get a bunch of personal preferences with such an open ended question.

Ubuntu or Linux Mint

I use fedora for the nice OOTB experience, but if there's issues with parts of the hardware - I try Ubuntu. And if it works, I just install it.

Life's too short to deal with hardware blobs.

Linux Mint. Always.

Pop os or Mint

Pop!_OS or Fedora

What are you trying to build? A work laptop that you're going to take on trips, a gaming computer, a server? Something else?

For you, what is too much hassle? Are you a new Linux user or an experienced user with no spare time? What are you accustomed to doing when you install an operating system and what do you expect to be preinstalled?

What is your favorite colour?

Linux Mint definitely

It depends of your definition of "hassle".

I have 2 screens, I like to have the same panel on each screen, so when I use one in fullscreen, I can use the other one. So far, the only Desktop Environment that can give me that without too much difficulties, is KDE (even if I had to do it manually).

If you have the same use, maybe Kubuntu is a great choice. Tuxedo OS would be the same as Kubuntu, but you don't have to change the priority of the package manager, because the snaps are already disabled. ( they got another load of malicious softwares in the snapstore recently, and some snap might not be as good as .deb or flatpak).

If not, Linux Mint is an out of the box distribution. If your hardware is the most recent one, they have a "edge iso".

If you want an elaborated answer you will have to share the hardware you want to install it on.

openSUSE Tumbleweed is pretty comfy. Btrfs snapshots enabled by default so it's really hard to break it. I've been using it for about 8 months now and haven't had any big issues.

I've put kubuntu on a couple of machines now and I'm pretty happy with it.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu and its derivatives are quite solid. My favorite ispopOsS which has grown to have a nice identity for itself.

Don't know which one to recommend but I would never recommend Ubuntu. It is full of bugs to me. I used it for years without issues but now it is impossible for me. Installed it on my girlfriend's laptop recently and she has the same bugs I had years ago when I dropped it : network disconnects randomly and she has to reboot, bluetooth won't reconnect sometimes... I can help but it is definitely not working out of the box for users who are not into tech.

Pop os

just installed bazzite and after switching to x11 (one button thing) its the first district to have no screen tearing, no stutter

though this is a very gaming focused district, so maybe not for you

its derived from universal blue so maybe check that out

It's Linux Mint Cinnamon. Unless you are trying to run your OS in a potato, then it's Linux Mint MATE.

I'd correct the spelling, remove the lazy initialism, fix the comma splice and the which/that error.

You want to give people a reason to stop and help you. Be better, okay?

Ubuntu if you're used to Mac, Zorin (based on Ubuntu) or Mint if you're more used to Windows.

Never used Pop OS but I hear that's another that works well out of the box.

I've got PopOs on my personal (framework) and work (System76) laptop. It's been super stable. Specially if you don't mess around with different PPAs.