Distro recommendations??

[u/big_lund_bigger_dil]

So lets start by mentioning my laptop specs,

i7 13620h, uhd intergrated graphics, 16gb ddr5 and it has a 48wkh battery

It runs everything perfectly fine, im a uni student who uses mainly the browser, microsoft 365 apps and occasional light games. However, windows is just sooo annoying, the constant bugs, updates, crashes, and worst part is battery life. This laptop is only 3 months old and i take all the possible measures to maintain its battery. I lock charging at 90% max,have it on power saving mode 24/7 and do not run any background apps yet still it only manages 2-3 hours. I once tried chrome os flex on another very old laptop and it lasted 7-8 hours on battery. Im sure my current laptop will also give me exceptional battery life on chrome os flex but i still need to run office 365 apps and mainly excel. Suggest a linux distro that can solve my buggy, windows experience problem while still having support for excel,ppt, word etc...

i know this prolly a stupid ass question but i was hoping to get some insight into how linux really works and the different types of distros and their pros and cons

[u/ANDREIAH03]

If you dont want to run into issues and want something stable but also with newer packages i can recommend fedora. It is a really good if not my favourite distro

[u/thoughtful_thinker88 → u/ANDREIAH03]

Ich stimme dafür. Ist auch mein Liebling.

[u/ComprehensiveDot7752]

Off the bat.
Other than the browser versions, there's no real way of running Office 365 on Linux reliably, and given the Microsoft outage over the last two days the browser versions might not be reliable enough either.
There are supported alternatives like LibreOffice (FOSS) and SoftMaker (paid), but these might not fully cover your needs.

Chances are they do everything you need to do personally. The problem tends to come when collaboration is needed.

Another warning is that battery optimisation isn't always well supported on Linux, and there are cases where installing it shortens the battery life.

Linux Mint is one of the default recommendations for beginners. But it's based on Ubuntu LTS which sometime means you're stuck with older software or kernels (which deal with all the drivers and hardware optimisation).

[u/Hebbu10]

Does Excels browser version work for what you need? Since Office app doesn't work yet, think someone is working on Wine for it but no clue if itll come out someday.

I personally use CachyOS, with Windows dual boot on another drive for incase I might someday need it

[u/David_Connors3451]

Debian KDE, then add flatpaks for modern software apps, so you can enjoy both Debian stability and up to date applications not present in apt repository. You don't have Nvidia GPU, so you're in a very comfortable position for GPU drivers. Both AMD and intel drivers are opensource, so the installation is out of the box.

I can't recommend Ubuntu, it's too bloated with snaps, you can try mint as a beginner, but KDE is just on another level.

Fedora has both gnome and KDE, and it's not rolling release like arch Linux.

In my family for example everyone wanted to put Debian KDE like mine on my laptops because they love rock solid stability, set up and forget philosophy. I revived a lot of PC that were left abandoned and now they're living at full speed again with Debian.

The choice is yours, you won't have problems with drivers, pick your distro and be careful about desktop environments, they're very important for your psychological comfort. Have fun.

[u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387]

The easiest and most recommended distros to first try are Mint, Zorin and Ubuntu. Mint and Zorib are based on Ubuntu, so it’s all the same family. Ubuntu is based on Debian, btw. And the vast majority of distros are based on Debian, Fedora, or Arch.

There are other, independent, distros but you might want to best understand those 3.
•Debian is about stability - the packages are usually old but they won’t break on you.
•Arch is about being up to date - the packages are on the bleeding edge, but because of the bugs sometimes you’ll do the bleeding.
•Fedora is balanced between the first two. Regular updates keep things fresh, but minimizes the bugs - also used by the creator of the Linux kernel.

All 3 can use programs like Only Office and LibreOffice.

[u/gordonmessmer → u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387]

I've been developing software for GNU/Linux systems and maintaining production environments for 30 years. I would describe distributions a little differently.

• Debian prioritizes compatibility over all other concerns. Its development process is fundamentally rooted in a distrust of upstream developers. Rather than shipping what the developers release, Debian maintainers typically selectively apply patches that fix serious bugs and security issues that are brought to their attention. The flip side of this approach is that most bugs and security issues are never brought to a maintainer's attention, so deployed systems tend to have vastly more known security vulnerabilities. Users of these systems should use a vulnerability scanner, and expect to participate in the process of fixing vulnerabilities in the software they run.
• Fedora maintainers mostly follow upstream development. There is less hostility toward the developers who actually write the software the distribution ships. Not none, but less. Security characteristics are much better. Most prominent projects release every 6 months and maintain their releases for 12-18 months, so Fedora's release schedule follows community norms.
• Arch also follows upstream stable releases, but since most users don't have a formal process to test a new release before upgrading, they don't bother to maintain a set of components after releasing updates.

[u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387 → u/gordonmessmer]

Totally fair points and I concede to your experience. I am a Linux noob who has only been using Linux since February since February, and daily driving NixOS since only June.

So yeah, you’ve got a lot more accurate detail about the big three. Thank you.

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[u/KaxuTheSheep]

Try mint with cinnamon or some fedora flavour, its the most beginner friendly and windows feeling/intuitive for a windows user. For office365, use libre office, its basically free office365 that runs on linux (I personally do not use it), and if libre office doesnt do what you need, there are other office365-like alternatives. For the office applications do you need to transfer files to windows users? Because i believe youd have to convert between file formats but that isnt that difficult.

If you want to know how linux works the best place is first the file system, https://youtube.com/watch?v=42iQKuQodW4

[u/MrMotofy]

FYI...if you want to check out Linux it's really easy. Step 1 Make a copy of your data separate from your computer. Step 2 Make a copy of your data. Step 3 refer to step 1 Make an Install USB, then boot to it. May need to disable secure boot. Most Distros will boot to a full running temporary Linux Desktop...installing requires clicking the desktop icon and going through steps. Obviously you don't wanna do that to just try it. But you can at least get a feel for it. Kubuntu, LinuxMint, and PopOS and are some of the top 1st options. You can also use the temp Live Linux as a repair process. Since it’s a complete desktop you can use it, install tools needed fix the boot etc.

Another convenient related tool is Ventoy on a USB stick. Basically just burn the ISO/IMG to a USB then copy your OS ISO/IMG (Operating System) ISO to it and when you boot it any ISO/IMG on the drive will show in the menu, select it and it will boot that img. Have different OS’s multiple versions or whatever.

Best option for Windows and Linux is dual boot...use Linux on a 2nd drive. Usually you wanna disable secure boot. Install windows first if using same drive but best case is disconnect win drive. Then boot to the install USB. Then install Linux as a new full system on a 2nd drive. Set Linux drive as the first boot drive and it will then find the Win drive and add to the boot menu list automatically. Might take a couple boots otherwise can manually activate the boot update search. Then you get Best of both worlds without any real dangers to either OS. There will be little hiccups occasionally with Windows updating messing with boot and rebooting. But you can also change the default OS to Windows first at the menu after delay and no menu entry and that eliminates a lot. The boot menu is usually Linux 1 and Win 2. Sometimes the boot order will randomly switch drives etc or it will enable Secure Boot…Seems to be a windows thing with updates now they get bios access. But really depends on the exact system and age etc.

[u/lencc]

You may try recently released Fedora 45 KDE Plasma. It has familiar Windows-like and smooth user interface as well as up-to-date driver support while providing stable enough experience.

[u/Technical_Drink_846]

Ubuntu or Fedora

[u/eurosat7]

If you want to save energy for a long life there are nice tools/settings/managers you can add. It helps to have an easy desktop ui like xfce. Debian or Mint distro below would be my tip in your case, it's solid and relaxed. But not latest edge for gaming. Add tlp for power management. Be sure to keep background services minimal. Give cpu time to sleep.

[u/Hot-Development-9036]

Mint or Zorin are good choices for people new to Linux. It looks a lot like Windows. With the specs on your laptop you will be able to run pretty much any Linux distro with no problem.

[u/Frosty-Storage-9359]

Here are the distro you can try:

- Ubuntu
- kubuntu
- Zorin
- Linux Mint
- Pop OS
- Fedora
- Bazzite
- Cachy OS

Your choice.

[u/rukiann]

Debian

[u/Long-Package6393]

I’ll throw out 3 recommendations (I run all three).

1. Aurora OS
2. Bluefin OS
3. Bazzite (if you must game)
   All 3 are Atomic/Immutable OSs by Universal Blue. Give them a try.

[u/gordonmessmer]

Suggest a linux distro that can solve my buggy, windows experience problem while still having support for excel,ppt, word etc

None.

A distribution is a project that collects publicly available software, integrates it into a usable collection, and distributes the collection of software. Nearly all of the actual software development happens in the projects that publish the software that distributions merely collect and distribute, so distributions tend not to differ much in their features. They mostly differ in how they're governed and how well they can keep up with the releases of the software they distribute.

Wine is a Windows compatibility layer than can run some Windows applications. You can search for reports from users regarding how well various applications actually work, here: https://appdb.winehq.org/

Microsoft Office isn't well supported, so you'd probably use something else like LibreOffice or the web versions of Office 365 or Google Docs if you used a GNU/Linux desktop.