When comparing Ubuntu MATE vs Manjaro mate community edition, the Slant community recommends Manjaro mate community edition for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for the latest Mate version?” Manjaro mate community edition is ranked 8th while Ubuntu MATE is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Manjaro mate community edition is:
Gets all the advantages of Arch, like package availability, latest software, etc.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Works great on old laptops
It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops.
Pro Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu
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.
Pro Perfect for people who like Gnome 2
The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project.
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.
Pro Behaves like Ubuntu with Unity - after Ubuntu-Gnome transformation
No better place to continue Unity experience with Ubuntu (Left-side panel, HUD) and not as awkward as Gnome.
Pro Based on Ubuntu
Pro Arch based distribution
Gets all the advantages of Arch, like package availability, latest software, etc.
Pro Preconfigured
Mate desktop is preinstalled and ready to use.
Pro Rolling release
Latest software available.
Cons
Con No very good Software Center by default
The Software Boutique is not good. You can install Gnome Software from it.
Con Too much bloat included by default
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.
Con Not bleeding edge
Users who want the latest and greatest software would be happier using Arch Linux, Antergos or another rolling release distro. However, because Ubuntu MATE is based on Ubuntu, users still have access to a large repository of recent software.
Con Will not boot in multi-distro grub.
Con Support is not as maintained as "Official Releases of Manjaro"
Not as actively maintained as "KDE" or "XFCE" or "Gnome" editions since they are official releases and "Mate" is just a community spin-off of Manjaro that may be discontinued altogether.
Con Rolling release
Latest software may break the system.
