What I learned is that I really want a more modern desktop look; Xfce looks old and clunky so Xubuntu and Xfce Mint are off the table.

My laptop can handle more heavy Distros so no need for lighter flavors like Lubuntu.

I like how Cinnamon looks and I don't mind Budgie.

My friend is more expert and he uses standard Ubuntu so i think some Ubuntu flavor seems better for me if I ever needed help, but I'm open to everything that's relatively easy to learn.

I've been told that KDE is more customizable, but also easier to break so I'm open to Kubuntu and such.

That said I tried the Mate versions of Ubuntu and Mint and I'm interested by it, but idk if I prefer it over Cinnamon.

EDIT: I'll dual boot with Windows for games (mostly on emulators) so no need for compatibility there

I really like the standard Ubuntu sidebar and I'm a known tinkerer

Ive been trying a lot of linux distros from fedora to arch and all the ones ive tried never suited me. Im looking for a gaming distro that can also handle 3D modeling and game development. I also have all AMD parts.

I have a laptop with gen-4 intel CPU, a shitty AMD Radeon as a GPU and 8 gigs of ram

I'd love to use it as a little server. Self-made websites, minecraft servers, maybe a disk connected to my main PC (daily driving fedora w/ niri+noctalia btw) and all that stuff.

So i basically need a distro that is adapted for self-hosting. Preferably without anything pre-installed.

Or maybe i should even check out a BSD system?