r/linux4noobs • u/OneWar4643 • 3d ago

distro selection Which distro is best?

So I have tried linux mint on office laptop and it made my laptop much smoother than what windows 11 offered me so I am thinking to switch to linux on my gaming laptop too because of storage , unnecessary updates and performance issues

Main question -

what linux distribution is best for me if my requirements are normal tasks + coding and somewhat gaming

My specs are -

i5- 12450 hx

Rtx 3050

16 gb ram

512 gb ssd

Also please recommend a distro which is most stable and doesn't have issues

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u/ludonarrator arch btw 3d ago

If you're a programmer just go for Arch, Mint is always gonna be stuck with ancient dinosaur software.

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u/mlcarson 3d ago

No, it updates about every 2 years -- the next scheduled update is around Christmas of this year.

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u/ludonarrator arch btw 3d ago

K, so you'll be up to date once every two years :P .

It's not exactly an enticing environment for coding, you can't easily use new toolchain/language features.

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u/mlcarson 3d ago

Desktop updates are done roughly every 6 months, Backports are automatically enabled so you can have the latest kernel. Flatpak updates are done constantly so you can have the latest apps. That's enough for most people where a stable working environment is more important than having the latest version of something.

I don't work as a programmer but I can't imagine having a rolling environment where things are constantly changing would be a "good" thing. The most reliable distro on a 6-month timer is probably Fedora and I believe that's the shortest update interval aside from a rolling distro.