What are the best Linux distributions for Mac?

Manjaro allows the user to access of the Arch User Repository, a very large user-maintained repository of packages for Arch Linux and derivatives. See More

Top Pro

Arch User Repository access

Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More

HumbleDaphne's Experience

Works well on my old imac 2008 See More

Top Pro

Installation is a breeze

Calamares installer and MHWD is the reason why this distribution is good for desktop user- friendliness! Audio codecs, latest packages,latest kernel and easy upgrade to the latest build makes it the best choice for new users. See More

Top Con

Slightly bloated

DashingKondole's Experience

If you do not use your computer very often, big change it breaks because you are behind on the frequently updates. It looks nice, it works nice, but you have to be there. See More

Top Pro

A rolling-release distribution

Manjaro uses a rolling release method for all updates, so once a system is installed, as long as the user regularly updates there is no need to re-install. See More

Top Con

Bad dependencies

Cant install some android and iPhone phishing tools became it depends on the desktop environment, so the only way is to remove it and reinstall the desktop environment which will also install some new crap. Reminded me of the crazy guy who sold me a MacBook stole it and then locked the one he gave me, stupid guy. See More

AwareHuehuecoyotl's Experience

Running The latest Manjaro Xfce ( 06-11-2021 ) on a 27 Ich Imac, Its Fast :):) And Stable. 2.7 GHZ, 500Gig-SSD, 1TB Hd, 24Gig Ram... See More

Top Pro

Stable and consistently up to date

Manjaro receives regular updates, but more importantly these updates are stable. The updates are rolled out, which means you can easily update the software without needing to re-install. See More

Top Con

Weekly manual updates

Since it is rolling release, it needs updates nearly every week, which (though are checked for automatically) must be manually downloaded, confirmed and installed. That may annoy or scare off many new users. See More

One Design LLC's Experience

Manjaro introduced me to Arch and I most give them kudos for actually taking the initiative and bringing a simple install process, however I feel they can do much more. Manjaro introduced me to timeshift, which is an incredible tool in today's Linux environment. Developers were rude to me when I raised an issue with the Network Manager broadcasting the IP. In fact, most of the distros I ran away from actually had that in common with an older (stable) kernel as they said, but the truth is it is older because there will be vulnerabilities. As opposed to just being assigned an IP like on your iPhone or Samsung. I found Android phone connecting tools, Token generators and all sorts of weird installations for just a minimal XFCE environment. Ran to Cinnamon and faced the same thing. KDE and Gnome key rings installed on Arch, the whole thing seemed like a backdoor tool. I even saw car tokens too I just wondered if they use the OS to crack wifi and leech internet. All sorts of protocals not even needed just Wifi and LAN is needed. Default browser sucks. See More

Top Pro

All major desktops and even less common ones like Budgie, Lumina, LXQT, Deepin, Enlightenment, etc. can be directly installed from official repositories

Also available as independent variants. See More

Top Con

Same cons that apply to Arch Linux

Since it is based on Arch Linux. See More

JoyousMagec's Experience

No wifi for my macbook air 13" See More

Top Pro

Different editions to select from + Manjaro community

You can choose between different Manjaro editions which have their own change in features, and there is also Manjaro community editions where the community can make their own changes. See More

Top Con

Installation is extremely buggy

There's no easy way to switch from local keyboard layout if non-Latin installer language is selected. See More

DelightfulNinhursag's Experience

love See More

Top Pro

Deepin desktop environment is a worthy attraction

Top Con

New packages and security updates are held for testing longer

Packages are usually about two weeks behind Arch's stable repository. While some urgent security updates are released as soon as they become available, other security updates are held for testing longer. See More

ProudThoosa's Experience

audio does not work at all on macbook pro 2017 See More

Top Pro

Very good looking desktops

All desktops look good by default. See More

Top Con

The Manjaro unstable repository is slow to sync with the Arch stable repository

The Manjaro unstable repository syncs with the Arch stable repository and if any package has moved, it gets moved to stable. Manjaro gets package updates a bit than Arch. See More

PerseveringTantalus's Experience

I do LoVe Manjaro but for the imac (2 of them) with AMD gpu, grub/boot menu is not shown. Very black scree on gnom and on Plasma. Mx shows the beginning of boot, Linux Mint can show full installation but blacks HDD boot for no graphics. See More

Top Pro

Full access to AUR

Top Con

Very slow development for 32-bit hardwares

ArchLinux-32 community maintain their forums every day. They upload new ISO's every month. But Manjaro-32 community upload new ISO's in every 6 month. And provide only a DE-mate. See More

PleasantMimas's Experience

I really like Manjaro on my MBP. Solid daily driver. The Calamares based install simplifies things but does add bloat if compared to a base Arch install. Overall, solid choice. See More

Top Pro

UFW not GUFW will help

Blocking the important ports helps remove those Sun RPC stalkers, like if you delete the folder to Avahi in bin etc., they can't come back. See More

Top Pro

A Nvidia ISO version with drivers pre-installed

Works perfectly. See More

Top Pro

Coulb improve with more time dedicated

The distro seems abandoned and may actually get better with time. Weird installs always create weird experiences. See More

Top Pro

Friendly community

If you ask questions of users in their forums or on other platforms, they are willing to help you. Also according to the developers, they are open to new ideas in order to make the distro better. See More

Top Pro

Uses low memory

By using Xfce or Plasma (or LXDE, Fluxbox, supported by community) as default desktop environments, Manjaro is able to have a low memory footprint. See More

Top Pro

Good documentation and forum

The Manjaro community is very helpful, and there are lots of tutorials. See More

Top Pro

Improved stability due to a longer testing period for new packages

Packages from Arch's repositories are tested (about two weeks) longer for stability and compatibility issues. Patches are applied, when necessary, before being made available in the stable repositories. See More

Top Pro

Support for multiple kernels

Manjaro has built-in support for multiple kernels as well as a way to easily install them. Using LTS kernel makes this distro stable and less buggy. See More

Top Pro

Excellent graphical package manager (Pamac)

Features include: providing notifications of available updates; mirror management; Snap support, Flatpak support and AUR support (with the option to suppress unnecessary confirmations during the install process); update settings (frequency, whether to check for updates from the AUR, packages to ignore updates for); and a history of packages installed, updated, or removed (from the official repositories - AUR packages are not currently tracked). See More

Top Pro

Manjaro provides its own distribution-specific tools such as the Manjaro Hardware Detection (mhwd) utility, and the Manjaro Settings Manager (msm)

Run automatically during the installation process, it allows for Manjaro to work fully on your system 'straight out of the box', without the need to manually identify and install the necessary drivers or to manually edit the appropriate configuration files. Also usable via the terminal after installation, the features of the mhwd command include: The choice of free (i.e. open-source) or non-free (i.e. proprietary) drivers Identification and listing (general or detailed) of your system's hardware Identification and listing (general or detailed) of installed drivers Listing of available drivers for installation (free and proprietary) Support of hybrid graphics cards (e.g. Nvidia Optimus) Easy removal and installation of drivers (selected automatically, or you can identify and choose your own) See More

Top Pro

Steam installed by default

The drivers that Debian chooses to use with DG models of Macbook Pro with the Radeon R9 M370X are dodgy at best. Screen redraws do not exist and manual refreshing doesn't work either. See More

score 33 · Answer 2

Debian GNU/Linux

Top Con

Video Issues with AMD devices

Top Pro

Very stable

Debian has a Stable branch, where packages are thoroughly tested before release. Furthermore Debian is know to be the definition of stable when it comes to production systems. See More

DashingKondole's Experience

Fell in love in the first i stance. Beautiful! See More

Specs

Based On:NONE

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Package Manager:dpkg with apt, aptitude or apt-build

Debian does not official support unfree software so if you have a wifi card or anything elese that requires an unfree driver you will need to download the unofficial/non-advertised non-free iso image which contains all unfree driver packages. See More

Top Con

No default support for unfree drivers

Top Pro

Install and forget

Once installed you can almost forget about it and start to use your desktop for your daily tasks. See More

ReasonableDanina's Experience

Flawless See More

Top Con

Hard to learn

Top Pro

Wide choice in desktop environments

Debian offers stable and testing CD images specifically built for GNOME (the default), KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce and LXDE. Less common window managers such as Enlightenment, Openbox, Fluxbox, GNUstep, IceWM, Window Maker and others can also be installed. See More

PracticalToltecatl's Experience

NOT good for MacBook Pro with AMD graphics as Debian doesn't use the proper drivers by default. Also the iBus drivers are NOT included, so you'll spend forever trying to obtain them. See More

Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

Every Debian Release can either use a Rolling or Release based model. See More

ReceptiveNgintaka's Experience

i always return to Debian for some reason. I am a Gnome guy. Debian is very snappy and very stable. For some reason i have printing issues on Fedora but never on Debian (Brother Lasterjet) See More

Top Pro

Well-working team

The developer works very well so the the code is one of the best written out there. See More

SharpCinteotl's Experience

started using it in 2008: never looked back (at MS windows) See More

Top Pro

Strict separation of non-free software

Debian is one of the few distros that let the user choose if he wants a free system or not. See More

Top Pro

Wise release model

Debian stable does not update a lot and instead provides stability and well tested softwares. You don't get distracted by every shiny new stuff that comes out, and focus on what matters: productivity and reliability of your system. See More

Top Pro

Debconf

Depending how it is configured debconf does the most of the hard work for you and only asks you with configuration /file conflicts. See More

Top Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

Debian runs standard Gnome, XFCE, KDE - it doesn't use its own special desktop environment or debian specific modifications or customisations, which means that users benefit from the work of the whole Linux community, Debian developers can focus on the distribution itself, and any support for your desktop environment on other distributions should work on Debian as well. See More

Top Pro

Wide choice of hardware platforms

Debian has the widest choice of hardware platforms, including: amd64, armel, armhf, i386, ia64, kfreebsd-i386, kfreebsd-amd64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, sparc, s390, s390x, source, multi-arch. See More

Top Pro

Comes with over 55.500 packages

Because of its popularity, Debian has a lot of applications available which range from productivity programs to business software, games and development tools. It comes with over 55.500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More

Top Pro

A lot of ways to install software

You can either use aptitude, apt or apt-build to install software from the Debian package archives. See More

Top Pro

Live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives

Debian releases live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives, for the i386 and amd64 architectures, and with a choice of desktop environments. These Debian Live images allow the user to boot from a removable media and run Debian without affecting the contents of their computer. See More

Top Pro

Strict seperation of non-free software

Debian is one of the few distros that let the user choose if he wants a free system or not. See More

Top Pro

Many ports

Debian supports almost any Kernel maintained CPU instructions set. It has also a few non Linux Ports. See More

Top Pro

Great choice for returning Linux users

If you haven't used Linux for a long time, say 5-10 years, it's a great distro in which you can quickly get in the boat again. You don't have to worry about falling back. Everything is in its place. See More

Top Pro

A real installer

Unlike other distributions that just extract their Live image, Debian offers a real traditional and modular installer to customize the installation. See More

Top Pro

TUI installer

The Debian installer can still be launched as text/curses-like installer which is more compatible and keyboard-friendly than the graphical version. See More

Top Pro

Supports SecureBoot

You don't have to disable SecureBoot if you use it, which is useful for LiveUSB or dualboot setups. See More

Top Pro

Highly secure system

Known for being consistent in maintaining a highly secure system. Several other popular distros use Debian as a base or core for their own Linux OS, the security being one of the main factors why it's so commonly used. See More

Top Pro

Big open-source project

The Debian project is one of the biggest open source projects with over 5000 active contributors. See More

Top Pro

Unique release cycle

The most Linux distros have one or two stages before a release, but Debian has five before a new stable version is released (experimental > unstable > testing > code-freeze/bug hunting > stable). See More

Top Pro

Apt-build

It is possible to rebuild the entire system and optimize it for your hardware (of course, it is not as detailed as Gentoo's USE flags). See More

Top Pro

The Debian social contract

Guaranteed commitment to adherence to values, principles, priorities, requirements and guidelines by the Debian project. See More

Many of the offered options are older versions. See More

score 52 · Answer 3

Linux Mint

Top Pro

Complete and stable

Top Con

Outdated software centers

BraveBirdu's Experience

Politically involved, absolutely no place for such nonsense! See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce

Mint gains a very strong package ecosystem and software manager of Debian, including more than 30,000 packages available from the Debian repositories. See More

Top Pro

Compatibility with Debian and Ubuntu software builds and repositories

Top Con

Nothing new

Just another fork of Ubuntu. Produces nothing that can't be found in another Debian-based distros See More

PersonableIlmatar's Experience

Very Stable in wifi performance, you don't have the issues that Ubuntu have on this. See More

Top Pro

Supports proprietary software

Linux Mint does maintain a free software environment, however, it does offer full support to proprietary software (Chrome, Skype, Teamviewer). See More

Top Con

System updates can lead the system to being unstable

While a new installed system is stable, after an update, there is a slight chance of something not working. See More

CaffeinatedPenthus's Experience

You have a new kernel every two weeks and you are "strongly recommended" to upgrade. If uptie is an issue for you, that's a killer right there See More

Top Pro

The OS is great for both beginners and advanced users

The OS has different update settings for different users and has easy manual within the OS. See More

Top Con

Real problems with Mac wifi

Top Pro

Already functional out-of-the-box

Mint comes bundled with software for browsing the web, editing pictures, browsing files, watching videos and even a full office suite (LibreOffice). An average user can use Mint right away after a fresh install, using all the software that comes with the distribution to complete most of their daily tasks. See More

Top Con

The Linux Mint website once provided malware

The website for Linux Mint was hacked in 2016 and its download links led to a modified ISO, which contained malware. See More

Top Pro

Easy installation and configuration

Linux Mint uses the same installer as Ubuntu. It is very easy to use for beginners, and also allows more advanced users to choose their own partitions. Linux Mint's Cinnamon desktop is highly customizable and can be made to look however preferred. See More

Top Con

Mint 19 forces unwanted updates

Since version 19 Mint adopted Windows 10's policy to force the user to install unwanted updates and even if the user deselects them and marks them not to be installed, they're still being installed. See More

Top Pro

Good community support

There are several different ways to get support for this distribution, including the forums, their IRC channel, or their github repositories if you think their software isn't behaving as it should. See More

Top Con

Looks ugly

The default theme and wallpaper looks outdated and bland. Luckily that is easy to change in the settings. See More

Top Pro

Provides LTS (long term support) versions

Long Term Support versions are versions of software that are continuously updated for an extended period of time, even after newer versions are launched. LTS versions will typically get feature additions and enhancements for an extended period of time, then security updates up until its End of Life. An LTS release should typically be considered good for at least 5 years. See More

Top Con

Upgrade process between version can be painful

The Linux Mint team offers a method to upgrade the OS between versions but they tend to recommend clean installs, which isn't always suitable for everyone. However, following the upgrade process currently is less than straightforward and is easily capable of leaving your system in a confused state. See More

Top Pro

There is a "system restore" tool to restore the OS if something breaks

This tool backs up the core OS files to an external drive with an option for full encryption. See More

Top Con

Does not handle multiple languages well

Top Pro

Cheap Windows substitute

Mint tries to be like Windows when it could be different and provide options. See More

Top Pro

Familiar user interface

Mint is highly recommended for both users coming from Windows, as well as users coming from Ubuntu, but unhappy with Ubuntu's recent, rather dramatic interface changes. Mint provides an updated interface with a look and feel similar to Gnome 2, with an application menu reminiscent of the Windows 7 Start Menu, with categorization and search. See More

Top Pro

Dedicated upgrade process

The Linux Mint team is very dedicated to upgrading and improving Mint, to the point where the releases are fairly predictable. They are also dedicated to their users, meaning that they are responsive to critiques, suggestions, etc. See More

Top Pro

Mint 20 will actively avoid the Snap landmine planted by Canonical in Ubuntu 20.04.

Top Pro

Not from a big company

Linux Mint is not Canonical, while based upon Ubuntu. See More

Top Pro

Low learning curve to go from installation to advanced configuration

Mint is extremely easy to install, and with community support, easy to move onto adjusting the OS to meet your specific needs. The vast majority of instructions for undertaking configuration work and are easy to understand. See More

Top Pro

Pretty desktop

Linux Mint has a quite pretty default desktop. Cinnamon is adopted by other distros also. See More

Top Pro

Has more desktop options

You can choose between Cinnamon, MATE and XFCE. See More

Top Pro

The easiest option ever

The distro is the easiest operating system to run ever. See More

It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops. See More

score 71 · Answer 4

Ubuntu MATE

Top Pro

Works great on old laptops

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Ubuntu MATE install. See More

IncredibleZelus's Experience

Still running latest (20.04.2) everyday on a 2006 Macbook Pro 17 inch. (typing this July 2021) See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:MATE

Package Manager:Debian Package Manger

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

SmartHouyi's Experience

Worked out of the box, option to have Mac-like interface. Fast, Mac runs cooler than with OSX. Very smooth transition. See More

Top Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch. See More

Top Pro

Based on Ubuntu

A rolling distro, every update is about ~1.5, experimental, if worked perfectly, then that update is applied to RedHat Linux. See More

score 21 · Answer 5

Fedora

Top Pro

Fast and stable updates

Top Con

Rolling distro

Specs

Based On:Independent

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Package Manager:RPM Package Manager, DNF package manager

Very good for selling PC‘s with Fedora. See More

Top Pro

Linus Torvalds' distro of choice

Top Pro

Huge array of binary packages ready to install

Top Pro

Create user after the installation

Top Pro

Focuses on innovation

By using bleeding edge software, Fedora allows for innovation to take place by testing out things which other distros are not willing to try due to fears of having instability issues. See More

Top Pro

Very good integration with Flatpak and Snap Packages

Top Pro

Backed by one of the biggest Linux kernel contributors

Fedora is backed by RedHat, the 2nd biggest Linux kernel contributor in the world. Using a distribution made by RedHat means that it will be fine-tuned to work as efficiently as possible since it's made by the same people who work extensively on the kernel and know its ins and outs. See More

Top Pro

Integration with GNOME

It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box). See More

This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous. See More

score 41 · Answer 6

Elementary OS

Top Pro

Extremely user-friendly

Top Con

Doesn't support 32-bit hardwares anymore

One can install pantheon DE from new ubuntu's repo but Elementry OS is not making new ISO's nor is it supporting them. It makes confuzzled to new users. See More

SmartHouyi's Experience

Like the idea of it, and it is very Mac like in its appearance at first glance, however unless you are a basic Mac user, you may find it to be frustrating. The default apps are pretty but are limited; have found it to be quite buggy and have had multiple crashes. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Pantheon

Official Supported Architectures:amd64

Built on Ubuntu LTS with all its qualities and support. See More

Top Pro

Built on Ubuntu

Top Con

Quite buggy

EnthusiasticHunor's Experience

superb See More

Top Pro

If you like MacOSX the UI/UX is similar

Top Con

UI doesn't let you change anything

Every installation of elementaryOS looks excactly like the same See More

Top Pro

With new tweak tools customisation is not a problem

Now the OS is amazingly customisable. See More

Top Con

Poor Linux community reputation

The devs of elementary OS feel anyone not paying for their Ubuntu respin are not worthy of using it. Which upset a good bit of people. Obviously the core dev team have issues with their community outreach and PR. See More

Top Pro

Consistent development practices

All Elementary apps are written in Vala and hosted on Launchpad, and there are standard APIs such as contractor for applications to interact with one another. This is different from most distros, in which apps are written in a variety of languages. This design decision makes it easy to get started developing for Elementary and to understand how the various pieces fit together. See More

Top Con

The desktop doesn't let you to put icons by default

Top Pro

A dedicated StackExchange site

elementary OS has a dedicated StackExchange site where users can easily find answers to common questions. See More

Top Con

Window control button placement may be unintuitive to some

elementary OS has window controls on the left side of the window. It may be less intuitive to users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity, limited configurability

Sane defaults with less confusion for new users. See More

Top Con

Upper panel requires extra spaces

The upper panel in Elementary OS requires more space. This can be a problem for computers with small monitors. See More

Top Pro

Active Google+ community

There is a place where elementary users can ask their questions and usually get answers pretty quickly. Not only by the other users, but the devs are pretty active themselves, often engaging in the discussions on the hows, whys and plans of the os. See More

Top Con

Not very configurable

Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks. See More

Top Con

Emacs doesn't work

Emacs crashes due to a partial gnome library update. See More

Top Pro

UI design consistency

Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations. See More

Top Con

Outdated or bad default applications

Top Pro

Easy to install, friendly, beautiful design

Top Con

Old base and applications

The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example. See More

Top Con

Very slow development cycle

elementary does not offer any release date for their stable releases going more with a "it's done when it's done" attitude. Making depending on newer apps a difficulty as well as a poor choice for those that need consistent release schedules for their OS. See More

Top Con

No proprietary driver installer

Elementary OS removed the driver installer of Ubuntu. See More

Every time there's a kernel update, the OS will boot into a black screen, after hours and hours and hours of research it turns out that after every kernel update, the Nvidia drivers are reset to some generic drivers. It is disappointing as Ubuntu based distros (Mint, Pop OS, XUbuntu, Zorin, etc.) all suffer the same consequence. See More

score 22 · Answer 7

Ubuntu

Top Con

Macbook Pro Nvidia driver issue

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable(core) Testing/Unstable(universe/multiverse)

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager, Snap Store

On Macbook air 13". See More

Top Con

No WiFi

Finished Product with almost every tool a experienced user will use. See More

score 12 · Answer 8

ArcoLinux

Top Pro

XFCE, Openbox and I3

Top Con

Small development team

PleasantMimas's Experience

Been running Arco release 20.x recently and it's a solid, robust daily driver. Small install issue with luks mappings. Fast, easy to configure, with useful utilities. Overall, in my top Arch based distros. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux (Rolling)

Default Desktop Environment:Openbox + Xfce + i3

Package Manager:pacman

Price:FREE

Unbelievably fast for ArcoLinux with XFCE, Openbox, I3. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

Top Con

A bit bloated

It is a bit bloated to many web browsers, text editors out the box. A simple customize menu's for all 3 desktops would have been nice. See More

Top Pro

Easy to isntall desktop environments

Thanks to the manuals provided by the developers it is really easy to install more than 10 different desktop environments that'll work at the same time! See More

Top Con

Multiple types makes new user confused

Due to multiple types, new user might get confused and leave this all along. See More

Top Pro

Blazingly fast!

Startup time, shutdown time, everything in between. See More

If you're a fan of flat desktop interfaces reminiscent of Material design on Android, you'll like the theme that comes as a default in Pop! OS. The desktop and title bars all use a bright turquoise theme that makes the interface feel happy and borderline retro-chic. I found it to be like something you'd find printed on a ringer t-shirt. See More

score 7 · Answer 9

Pop!_OS

Top Pro

Pop! makes GNOME look really good

Top Con

64-bit only

Some older PCs still have 32 Bit processors. This limitation will be a major con for those who use an older PC since they will not be able to install, run it in a VM or live media See More

Top Pro

User-friendly installer

The visually appealing and easy to use installer makes dual booting as easy as it can be. See More

Top Pro

A separate NVIDIA version

Most Linux distros seem to hate Nvidia's graphics cards e.g. Fedora and OpenSUSE. System76 have decided to be kind. They have decided to form a good relationship with Nvidia fans and Nvidia itself. By creating a separate installation media that is dedicated for providing support to Nvidia's graphics cards. Even going as far as putting Nvidia's driver updates on Pop!_Shop for users to easily access and install. See More

Top Pro

Ready to play games, out of the box

If you still miss how easy it was to just click-install and play games in Windows, Pop! will give you that similar expectation. See More

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme dy default

Has nice gnome theme looks really good. See More

Top Pro

Optimized for modern hardware

Whereas normally, to use a brand new computer with a Linux OS, you would typically try to use unstable and sometimes buggy drivers - or struggle without hardware support until a stable release comes along. See More

Top Pro

Made by a hardware seller

System76 is a hardware company. It configures machines to ship with Linux pre-installed. This means its entire business model centers around delivering a quality desktop Linux experience. As a result, the company pours more attention onto the desktop. It can fix visual issues and may be able to provide a smoother overall experience than you would have installing a different version of Linux on your machine yourself. Providing Pop!_OS also empowers System76 to make certain fixes for users directly rather than having to coordinate with Canonical or the broader Ubuntu community. See More

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme by default

Has nice gnome theme, it looks really good. See More

Unlike some abandoned, unfinished distros, Kubuntu is up to date and offers a fully functional desktop environment that targets workstation users. See More

score 9 · Answer 10

Kubuntu

Top Pro

Full featured desktop environment that is actively developed

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Super stable, never crashes. See More

Top Pro

Light

Top Pro

Stable as hell

Top Pro

Customizable

You can easily adjust the workspace to your needs. See More

There's no built-in way to snap windows to the sides, re-size them by double clicking the bar, or dragging to the edges. See More

score 7 · Answer 11

Lubuntu

Top Con

Lacks some window management features

Top Pro

Lightweight

By utilizing minimal software Lubuntu is able to use less resources and power. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:LXQt

Lubuntu has not always had LTS support. Luckily they do offer a 3 year LTS now but it is shorter than other Ubuntu spins that receive a full 5 years of support. See More

Top Con

Long term support not as long as other Ubuntu spins

Top Pro

Part of the Ubuntu family

Being based on Ubuntu (which itself is based on Debian), there's a good amount of information and support to be found when searching for it, both on Lubuntu specifically and Ubuntu that also applies to Lubuntu. It also means that there are certain security and usability standards enforced and you can use Ubuntu .deb packages. See More

Top Con

Clock in panel is broken currently in LXDE

The clock panel applet does not work as expected in the newest versions of LXDE. If the clock is set to not show seconds in the display when waking from suspend the clock will not update until the time actually changes in the applet which means it can take up to a minute for the clock to update when seconds are not shown. The work around to this is to display seconds on the clock which allows it to update after suspend within one second. Sadly the clock does not display seconds correctly as it skips them by one to three at least once a minute, often more. This is also not the first time there have been problems with the panel clock which clearly illustrates this to be an ongoing problem for the developers. See More

Top Pro

Stable

Top Con

No composite manager

Being a modern desktop many users expect compositing, even on lightweight systems. Without compositing there will be screen tearing, a lot of it. Though there is built in support for users to add their own compositors such as Compton. See More

Top Pro

LXDE desktop

Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment performs fast and conserves resources. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Lubuntu install. See More

Top Pro

Offers a long term support release

Lubuntu offers a long term support release with their 14.04 Trusty Tahr based version. See More

Top Pro

Uses Openbox as the default window manager

Lubuntu (LXDE) uses the lightweight Openbox window manager to manage its windows. By using Openbox by default LXDE is able to remain lightweight as there is no built in composite manager in Openbox to take up resources. See More

Xubuntu is very fast and makes good use of resources. See More

score 17 · Answer 12

Xubuntu

Top Pro

Great performance

Top Con

XFCE development is slow

The desktop environment used in Xubuntu has not been updated in over two years and is developed at a snail's pace. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Boots at about double the speed of most distributions. See More

Top Pro

Quick boot time

Top Con

UI is pretty generic without customization

The default XFCE UI is pretty generic and sometimes ugly unless customized to suit the user's needs and liking. Customization in XFCE is easier than on Unity, but still hard for beginners. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

Official distro of XFCE, one of the most customizable desktop environments. In XFCE you can create as many tasks bars as you need and configure every one of their elements and behaviours. You can also change any icon, font, color... etc. Literally there's nothing you can't change in GUI. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Xubuntu install. See More

Top Pro

Conservative, yet modern

It comes with all Ubuntu goodness but without bloat, a perfect mix between new ideas and usability. See More

Top Pro

Comes with lightweight applications

Xubuntu is designed as a lightweight operating system and Linux distro. It uses XFCE by default and comes packed with XFCE applications which are generally pretty lightweight. See More

I've tried Ubuntu, Fedora, FreeBSD, and most of them are fine (minus FreeBSD, it lacks hardware support) but I don't care for the deb or rpm based distros. I know and love Slackware, and it installs without a hitch on my aging macbookpro9,2 only they don't ship GNOME, so I've joined a project porting GNOME to Slackware, and we've now got a full desktop up and running with GNOME 42 and I couldn't be happier! See More

score 5 · Answer 13

Slackware

Top Pro

No systemd

StudiousWurrunna's Experience

Specs

Based On:Softlanding Linux System

Default Desktop Environment:KDE, Xfce, NONE

Init-System:SysVinit

Package Manager:pkgtool

Follows the original Linux roots. It still sees Linux as a free clone of UNIX so the distribution tries to be UNIX-like. See More

Top Pro

Super fast

Top Pro

Ideal to learn more of Linux

Top Pro

Stable

Uses stable, plain-vanilla packages from upstream. See More

Top Pro

Strong adherence to UNIX Principals

Trackpad not working. The battery runs out quickly. The keyboard mapping not perfect. The latest kernel has issues with Wifi and Bluetooth on the 2013 Macbook Air. Snap store is too slow. See More

score 17 · Answer 14

Deepin OS

Top Con

Buggy

Top Pro

Includes both Windows and macOS style interface

SuccinctKuraokami's Experience

The issue is software center repositories are located in China, this is counter open source if the sources are all from China. I couldn't install another software center either , ended up completely uninstalling the distro :-( See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Official Supported Architectures:amd64

Main Usage:Desktop, Showcase for the Deepin Desktop

Because the developers have locked down desktop customization is A HUGE detractor against the idea of setting things up how you want. See More

Top Con

Cannot customize desktop environment

Top Pro

Very stable

Even though it is based on Debian unstable, it is still pretty stable and you will hardly ever get a dependency issue. See More

Top Con

Deepin store apps not up to date

Top Pro

Network managment

Deepin has the facilities to create VLAN and other configurations, like Wifi hotspot on their GUI. See More

Top Con

If truly open source, then the organization should allow servers be located outside China as well, just like Ubuntu

Top Pro

Has its own toolkit

It has its own toolkit called "Deepin Tool Kit". And the maintainers themselves use it. See More

Top Con

Based in China

Top Pro

Blur and transparent design

Deepin has a blur and transparent design throughout the OS, which makes it one of the most beautiful Linux distros. See More

Top Con

Mac trackpad doesn't work with installer

Top Pro

Easy to install

Installing Deepin OS is very easy. Even easier than installing Ubuntu! See More

Top Pro

Automatically cleans package cache

Deepin automatically cleans package cache. Cleaning package cache is a good thing as it will make the OS much faster and lighter. See More

Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows easily

By default, Deepin looks kinda like macOS but it can be made to look like Windows by right-clicking on the dock and changing the mode from "Fashion Mode" to "Efficient Mode". See More

Top Pro

VLC media player works without any issue

In some cases, VLC media player has some problems with Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based Linux distros. That isn't the case with Deepin. See More

Top Pro

Launches programs faster

Programs load and launch faster in Deepin than other Linux distributions. It takes only about 3 seconds to launch Chrome. See More

Top Pro

Gives warning messages when upgrading packages using apt

Deepin uses there own modified version of apt. When there is a distribution upgrade available and if we try to upgrade by running "sudo apt upgrade", then this modified version of apt gives this warning message, "DDE programs will work abnormally if run this command. Run sudo apt dist-upgrade or sudo apt full-upgrade instead." See More

Top Pro

Exciting applications

It has some exciting applications, such as Deepin Graphics Driver Manager which can easily change between free and proprietary drivers without any issue. See More

Top Pro

Great support for graphics cards

Deepin OS includes a program called "Deepin Graphics Driver Manager" which can easily install a good driver for the graphics card. See More

Top Pro

Best for daily use

Top Pro

Quite lightweight

Deepin 15.7 is lighter than Windows 10 and Ubuntu. See More

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

Deepin OS supports Flatpak. It also has some Flatpak programs installed by default. See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

It is based on Debian which is the best Linux distribution for desktops. See More

Top Pro

Rolling release

It is a rolling release Linux distribution which is quite popular these days. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

It's very easy to use. You can easily uninstall a program by going to the menu then right-clicking on the preferred app and selecting "Uninstall" option. See More

Top Pro

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. See More

Top Pro

Well-designed in every detail, developers have a professional aproach to the system

Deepin has a sane default set of apps including custom apps of their own design that gives the distro a very consistent look and feel. By working with the community on these tools as well as custom translations there is a great sense of polish when using it that is not often seen when using such a new desktop environment. See More

Top Pro

Excellent apps

Having Deepin installed also means you have thousands of quality apps to choose from. The apps which come with installation will suit your needs to browse the Internet, listen to music, watch videos, talk with friends, editing documents or simply any task you want to do at home or in your office. See More

Top Pro

Includes a lot of packages in the official repository

The official repository of deepin OS includes over 73,000 packages. See More

Top Pro

Enjoy the simplicity of Deepin's desktop

The desktop interface and apps feature an intuitive and elegant design. Moving around, sharing and searching, etc. has become simply a joyful experience. See More

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

Some people don't like Ubuntu nor its derivatives. See More

Top Pro

Company behind it

The Wuhan Deepin Technology is behind this Linux distribution. See More

very often to jump in for mac and ms users See More

score 9 · Answer 15

pardus

Top Pro

User-friendly

TranquilEhecatl's Experience

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

Country:Turkey

Top Pro

Very stable

Default Desktop Environment:BackSlash Shell

score 8 · Answer 16

BackSlash Linux

Release Schedule:Almost Annual

This should be removed from the list of Distros installable on Macbooks, You can never boot Kali on a Macbook unless running on a virtual machine. See More

score 4 · Answer 17

Kali Linux

Top Pro

Standard pentest tool set

Top Con

Never boots on Macbook Pro

score 1 · Answer 18

Manjaro Plasma KDE

score 17 · Answer 19

Ubuntu GNOME

Top Pro

Ubuntu Gnome is very old

Aged software, well tested, well trusted. See More

Top Con

Ubuntu is already using GNOME

As of 16.04. See More

Specs

Based On:Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Gnome

Release Schedule:2 Year LTS / 6 Month Releases