Mint is the Toyota of Linux distros, it's vanilla and boring but reliable as anything. Because they wait until new technology is proven before adding it too soon just so people can say *ooh new shiny*. I respect and appreciate their approach.
I think you nailed it! Being on the wrong side of 70, I've lived through Microsoft operating systems from the days of Dual-floppy MS-DOS. Now our daily drivers all run Mint / Cinnamon. The lack of drama during updates and upgrades impresses us, as does the ease of use. Mint is truly a world-class operating system.
I'm with you. As a retired Computer Tech I spent a good deal of my Tech-life fighting with Windows and all the crap that the Internet dumped into it. Recently, I grew tired of all the crap that Microsoft dumps into it, and I'd had enough. Switching my PC's to Linux Mint has been a learning experience...but very nice one!!
Mint is not only my favorite Linux distro but my favorite OS, full stop. It has always been rock solid stable, even through numerous upgrade cycles. Every computer in my house runs Mint/Cinnamon and that includes everything from workstations to gaming rigs to a HTPC. I think the entire team, from Clem on down, should be commended for all their efforts in producing such a high quality OS. You did a great job on touching on all the finer points that make Mint such a fantastic distro, awesome job IG!
Really great rundown. Love the subject matter. I've wanted to be a Linux purist for so long. But I'm a gamer... The titles I like to play are never supported on Linux. Steam is the closest hope but even then devs don't target Linux. Bit of a chicken and egg scenario but realistically that's what keeps me on windows. Emulation is a no go cause let's be real, (bad fps), that's not really an option if you're even remotely serious about gaming. Windows desktop isn't my favorite by far, but it's very decent, so there's really no reason to run another desktop OS. This is why Microsoft has been so heavily invested in gaming for so long-- and they know this which is why they don't target linux when developing their flagship games. I'm not sure how much this affects others, but it's why I've never run Linux as a desktop, and I can't be alone.
@@allrightbruh That's what I said. Linux has made massive strides in gaming thanks largely to the efforts of Code Weavers and Valve. When I first started using Linux years ago gaming was nearly non-existent, now many titles run excellently. I do keep a Windows drive in my machine for the very few that don't but that number is dwindling constantly.
One of the things that I have always liked Linux Mint is the conservative way that they are with features. I like how they stay consistent with the overall experience in improving the quality of their product, and only add features that they feel are actually going to be useful to their user base and not add features just to add them.
Don't forget that they actually listen to their users! I've seen plenty of instances where a new feature got a lot of push back and by the next release it was gone. Unlike Windows, they actually care what their user base thinks.
Yeah, their decision to stick with a traditional desktop back in 2011-2013 made me a fan. This was the time when everyone kept trying to chase the mobile trend with their desktop OS, and Mint decided to sit out that stupidity. It's basically the equivalent to Windows 7, but made from Linux and kept up to date.
@guitarszen Rolling distros are awesome but tried and true, rock solid distros that are super hard to break and don't require regular updates to prevent breakage (I'm looking at you Arch) have a place too. I'm very grateful for flatpaks on distros like Debian and even Mint to some degree so you can still grab newer packages if you need them.
This aged well. Im now a mint user as of yesterday after microsoft decided that copilot and recall was their way forward. Mint is gorgeous. Im loving it so far
Linux Mint is the pickup truck of distros. It is rock solid, stable, dependable, easy to figure out, easily repaired if you do something dumb, (Love Timeshift) gets just about any job done, can be configured in a myriad of ways and can be driven by anyone who can read. I've been with Linux Mint now going on four years and can't even imagine why I would consider anything else.
I agree with you. Over the years, I've tried various distros but for some reason I always end up coming back to Linux Mint. I can't quite put my finger on why but there's something about Linux Mint that appeals to me as a regular user who wants simplicity, convenience and stability. I'm not a Linux power user and _I don't want to be a Linux power user._ A good operating system should keep out of the user's way and let them get on with their work.
revived a 14 year old iMac with Mint, using it everyday as my main OS, not only I haven't missed a single feature, but now I can't even imagine going back to Mac OS
I went from Mint MATE > Debian KDE > Kubuntu > Fedora KDE > Mint Cinnamon Mint just works and other than being a big fan of KDE and what they have I just really like the Mint OS tools and consistency. Excited to start testing Cinnamon on Wayland here soon too!
Used to run Mint KDE back in the day. Not sure how badly it'll get borked but might try adding it and removing cinnamon or whatnot :) This is the main reason I dislike distros like Ubuntu and Mint is that they hard tie the DE with the distro to where the user can't just swap out DEs without possibly tanking the install vs something like Fedora, Debian, or Arch
I migrated from Zorin to Linux Mint: MATE Edition. Best decision I ever made. I put it on a Lenovo Core2 Duo laptop and a Dell Optiplex 9020. Both run fabulously. I feel confident saying that both machines will be usable for the next ten years.
Give me a break, you may be able to run a Linux OS easy on an old machine but add a decent browser etc and those old machines will again run like snails.
Was it the real Zorin OS Core or Light? I only tried Core edition, but on better hardware a few years ago, and also think it shows its best on a touch device thanks to the larger title bar.
As a PopOS!, user I approve of this message. I started my Linux journey with Ubuntu LTS, switched to Mint after a couple of years, and now are currently enjoying Pop due to wanting something different. Mint is a great start for any new user. Especially someone coming from Windows or a Mac.
Yeah, Pop and Mint are my top recommendations for anyone dipping into Linux. Ubuntu sux hard man. Big headaches for every major release that breaks like everything.
I recently decided to give Cinnamon another look and added it to my Arch setup, I have to say its come a long way since I used it last. I forgot how easy it was to theme things with their menu system (as opposed to how convoluted Gnome and KDE have gotten). Good points made about Mint, I am not sure if I am ready to give up my Arch install just yet ;-) but will definitely keep this in mind. Great video as always, thank you for putting this together!
Mint is great but I can't bring myself to say goodbye to pacman. Always nice to have mint on a live usb though. Might give cinnamon another go over the weekend though to be honest
Ive been a user for many years and the things I love most are the updates & fact that I can change pretty much anything about the way it looks. Colours, taskbar to the top. Simple and fast. I don't want a computer to think & decide for me. And it's fassssst. Mint still supports my 13yo printer. Windows just abandoned it. Ugh, I hate my windows work laptop
In my 25+ years of using Linux, Mint has been my daily desktop for the last 13, or so, years. It has everything you need without unnecessary bells & whistles.
@@Barten0071 The problem here is that guitarszen is actually right. Only thing he forgot is that the package manager also sucks major balls out of the box. You need decent Debian knowledge to get it working like it should and then you are stuck with 3 different ways which do not always sync correctly as Mint is downstream and it can lead to serious dependency hell (dpkg, aptitude and synaptic respectively).
I have been using Mint for most of the last decade. I try other distros, then return - time and again - to Mint. Arch and Fedora roll faster and use newer files to be sure. But for hardware compatibility, I find Mint best. And now they have Wayland plans! I think I am going back to Mint (from Fedora) yet again.
I recommend and install to everyone interested Mint, especially if there is nVidia on device, Mint has best support - one click install and optimus included. Myself with all AMD desktop - Manjaro is my favorite, but my laptop runs Mint also - because nVidia.
Can you elaborate I am trying to figure you what distro I should use but I can't find why AMD doesn't work well with mint. Should I avoid mint with my and computer. I just want a simply gaming oriented os
Two types of Linux Users, those that view Linux as their hobby and those that use Linux as a tool. The Linux Mint team view it as a tool, something that the user should not need to fuss with.
Thanks for the video. I'm new to Linux, starting a few months ago when my Chromebook stopped working. I tried different versions but settled on Mint for my laptop.
Love seeing content about Linux Mint. They definitely deserve the recognition you're given them. For me, top spot is a toss up between Linux Mint (including LMDE) and openSUSE Tumbleweed. They are both accomplishing different things but at the top of their respective games.
Mint Cinnamon is my current favorite GNU, but i wish it could upgrade everything in one click instead of forcing me to make and delete a Timeshift backup for each step. I tried Tumbleweed, but its ancient installer failed with "An error occured during installation." instead of pointing out that the 1024MB RAM VirtualBox recommended was insufficient.
@@CTimmerman - not sure why you would need to create a backup every time. I can upgrade Mint/Cinnamon with one click and still have my backups created automatically without interfering with updates or having to do them manually
@@MarcoAntonioButron Timeshift system backups are automatic and unwanted due to insufficient SSD space. Maybe it's faster to install the latest version from USB which would be useful anyway if the update failed.
@@ytsktproprietary drivers (firmware). closed source drivers from some vendors like Nvidia or some wifi cards. in the past Debian won't support those out of the box. now they do
I was worried that Linux Mint would become too outdated because they hadn't announced any progress on Wayland support for Cinnamon. Fortunately, within the last week, they finally announced preliminary Qayland support to be included in Linux Mint 21.3 and it will likely be ready by Linux Mint 23 in 2026. I think Linux Mint on Wayland will be so cool, especially once Cinnamon improves the touchpad gestures on Wayland once Wayland is fully supported!
they didn't say "likely ready", they more said "we think that people will start getting really antsy about it in 2026 so we're going to try to get it done earlier if possible
I've been on Linux Mint since 2018 and have really enjoyed playing games on it the whole time. I have no regrets about leaving Windows. When I left Windows, I felt like I was leaving an abusive psychopathic narcissistic relationship. I felt free!
Honestly I like other DEs (desktop AND apps) more than what Mint offers, but every time I'm asked for recommendations for new users, it'll always be Linux Mint. The XFCE version is the second distro I ever booted from USB and played around with, after Lubuntu back when it had LXDE (I had an absolute potato for hardware 😅). I definitely like Mint's update manager.
I tried RH years ago. Then recently PopOS and had an upgrade issue that I could not fix. Then tried Ubuntu which I did not like. Now Mint and I very happy with it. Strongest selling point for Mint is the absolute ease of transition for Windows users.
Thank you for the review! I've been using Linux Mint Cinnamon since about 2012. I switched when Ubuntu moved the DE to Unity, which I couldn't stand, and it was like no one asked what the users wanted. Fortunately, Clément Lefèbvre had a different philosophy. I've not switched since, and I don't plan to. I prefer stability to the latest shiny toy.
Yeah, 2011-2013 was a really dark time for OSes in general. Everyone was thinking "Mobile? That's the next big thing!" And then they decided to make their DESKTOP operating systems behave like a mobile one. It's how we got flops like Windows 8. I'm so glad Mint didn't hop onto that braindead trend.
Using LMDE 6 with KDE Plasma (installed manually) right now, and I am so glad I switched. Never going back to Windows. (However, I do have almost every Windows version in a VM, since I do like Windows still)
Great points. My only reason for not using Mint is that 4K resolution support on X is amateur, the fonts get all blurry, and when you compare with Mac or Windows, X is decades lagging behind. With Wayland things are significantly better, or should I say, lagging just a little behind Mac and Windows
I use Mint 21.2 on both my main desktop and laptop (edge). After installing on my laptop I booted Disgaea 7 and was very surprised by the performance and lack of issues via Steam Proton. It is one of the new Framework AMD 13" laptops. The OS has been such a positive experience that I actually donated to the project in the past. Looking forward to Linux, probably Mint, replacing my Windows OS for gaming at some point.
I have been using Linux Mint every day since August 2023. It is simply the best Linux Distro bar none. It consistently surprises you with it's ease of use and little features everywhere. I switched originally from Ubuntu to Arch, and was very satisfied. I started using Linux Mint when Arch failed me for the last time. I was completely sick of it. Even though I have only been using Linux Mint a short time, I love it's simplicity and stability. It simply Rocks.
Never thought I'd see the day where people shill wayland, and poop on X. I'd like to switch to wayland, but it's not ready for someone like me. There are no good tiling window managers (compositors) on wayland. If DWL ever gets good, that's what I'll move to.
I was told by someone that I blocked that because I have an I5 11500 and Nvidia 1660 super on Linux Mint 21.2 that my computer is too weak. I can do everything I want and I built it myself. I never hear any Linux people say anything, it's always those windows fans.
I approve of this video! There's lots of different distros for different niches and preferences, but Linux Mint is truly the best way for a Windows user to get their feet wet so to speak. I would even say any current Mint users should at least try LMDE. It's basically identical to Linux Mint (I mean technically it _is_ Linux Mint) but free of any entanglements with Ubuntu. And Linux Mint is already rock solid but being based on rock solid Debian just makes it even ...solider?
100% agree, a couple of years ago I was using zorin os "ultimate" because it looked good and was Ubuntu based, used it for few months at work as my main, but then it started getting annoying, especially for screen share and other minor but annoying bugs, so much so that it was affecting work, I switched to Mint and it just worked rock solid and never looked back, I didn't care about the looks, Mint had enough customization that it wasn't stock but just worked and didn't get in the way
Mint was my first Linux distro and it will hold a special place in my heart. it's simple to get on and, most of the time, it works. now using MX and couldn't be happier
I'll always give the same advice to newbies: stay aay from Debian-based distros, go with Arch or Fedora. Instead, focus on which desktop environment appeals to you and install it on top of those. Cinnamon is fantastic, especially for people coming from Windows. This video proves my point. It's not even about the Linux Mint distro. It's about Cinnamon. That being said, I've learned quite a bit abount the Mint team here. Sounds like their intention is making Linux more accessible to folk who aren't interested in the usual perks of Linux and just want a computer that works. I dig that.
Very well said. You nailed all the points. Mint really is the king of linux distros. As a newbie you tend to start out on Ubuntu. Then you read about Mint and try that. Then you hear about Fedora and try that. Then you try all the various desktops, theming, customisation across various distros. And then after a few tiring years of that you realise you just want a stable, predictable, reliable, community based distro, and you return to Linux Mint and realise it's perfect. And even more so given the recent Ubuntu shenanigans. I was running regular Mint for a few months and then Canonical continued crapping all over the community, so as soon as LMDE 6 was ready I fresh installed that. And it's fantastic. There's no difference I can see compered to regular Mint but it's 100% community through and through. Simply the best.
Personally, I've never had any issues with Wayland. I've been using it for roughly a year now. But I've definitely read of others having a hard time with it.
I switched from Mint to Xubuntu around 10 years ago, but always keep an updated Mint ISO around to see where they're at and if I want to switch back. I might be trying it out full-time again soon.
@@CTimmermanBecause Xfce on Mint is sort of like a step-child. Distros support alternate interfaces because they have to, but their heart is usually in one or two specific interfaces. Mint's main dev attention and polish goes to Cinnamon, with MATE a close second, and Xfce is definitely third. And it shows (not that Mint Xfce is bad, it's just not as good as their Cin/MATE). If you want a specific environment for a Ubuntu base, get a Ubuntu based distro that primarily focuses on that environment.
@@davidg5898 Good advice to avoid Chrome keyring issues with it not being registered with your new DE's greeter or whatnot, but as Mint is a more polished Ubuntu i wondered why Xubuntu over Mint Xfce. My favorite DE at the moment is still Cinnamon on Mint because it looks good by default and Nemo shows creation dates like Windows.
@@CTimmermanWhen I switched away from Mint, they were in a development lull. Since then, I just got used to Xubuntu. Now, it's Xubuntu that's in a bit of a dev lull.
Good vid 👍 - aesthetically I’m not a fan of Cinnamon, much prefer GNOME and that workflow, however to be fair Mint was the only distro that I could put on my Dad’s 2012 iMac and brought it back to life - he had virtually zero issues with it.
I was the long time user of Linux mint. But from I am now using MX Linux since last 2 years. And it working rock solid out of the box. I think xfce has too much potential as with the new xfce 4.18 it's very polished and you can customize xfce on MX Linux as per your taste.
I've been using Mint in preference to Windows for over four years now. My daily driver is now my 13 year old Dell Precision M6500 (1st gen 17) and does every software development job I need in times that are only a few percent slower than my 9th gen i7 HP laptop. It also powers my NAS RAID and my Jellyfin server (all on old hardware I repurposed).
Mint + MATE is great. In a recent blog post, Clem commented that we was essentially booted off the MATE team though so will be interesting to see what kind of future it has with Mint.
Good Video, Linux Mint is in my opinion the biggest competitor to Windows, as is the user's friendliest experiences. The customizability is on point not too much like KDE and not to little options. I personally prefer GNOME so I am using Ubuntu currently. Another thing is the Software. I would say there is a very little amount of Linux Programms that isn't made for debian based Distros.
went back to linux after MS Recall, I was a long time Xubuntu user back in the day but the whole Snaps thing is offputting. So I ended up with mint xfce and it has been NICE. It feels like a very well polished/modernized version of Xubuntu from 10 years ago. Im also glad to report that gaming is working great even with nvidia and mismatched monitors.
Linux Mint is the distro that allowed me dump windows completely. It's my daily operating system on my laptop. I have a couple of computers with Windows 11 but it's painful to use.
Ubuntu, to me, felt like a server OS role-playing as desktop OS most of the times I've attempted to use it. Mint feels like a dekstop OS with the stability and performance you'd expect from a server OS.
yea man, havent watched the video yet, but indeed, most of the time me and also i installed it on the my mothers computer, mint is indeed the best option there is. But there are still circumstances where sometimes some other distros are necessary. But for the most cases indeed mint is the best.
The lack of work on Wayland keeps me off Mint in recent years. Wayland is great atm. I hardly have any issues with Wayland anymore and I'm running into more issues when I run X. That being said, Mint is a GREAT, user-friendly, and welcoming community/distro. I cut my Linux teeth on it almost a decade ago.
I began learning Linux Mint in a virtual machine last week, and I'm already enjoying it. I plan to spend more time mastering the basics before fully transitioning.❤
I have been using Mint off and on for many, many years. I tend to try new things as they come out, but somehow always end up back on Mint. I chased the shinier, flashier things for many years but have more recently realized that I just want a stable system that gets out of my way, which is a great way to describe Linux Mint.
I used Linux Mint since build 11. I recently switched to Debian 12 with KDE-Plasma on Wayland. Wayland sold me for Debian. Debian also has a very large variety of software packages you can download (59,000). Debian releases are more spread out because Debian waits for the next stable Linux kernel to be released before they go to work on making their new distro. A LOT of Linux distros are now more user friendly than they used to be. Take Debian, for example. With release of Debian 5, you nearly had to be a Linux developer to use it, but by release 12, it functions much more like a windows or a Mac as far as GUI and overall action animation. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Linux Mint, and I would recommend it (or Ubuntu) to first time users, but I have found my new favorite distro of Debian and KDE Plasma on Wayland.
100% agree. Used Linux Mint since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 and wish I had moved over sooner, so thank you Microsoft for helping me shift to a far superior OS.
Fantastic video. I'm a strong believer in Linux. My reason is TRUST. The giant we all know about, has been slowly getting on my nerves. So, I made the switch to Linux. More importantly, I'm happy and I trust my operating system.
Im back to document my little 6 month journey. I went to new distros to try it & all in all im back on mint cause well it just works & i wanna use my computer lol
I slapped LMDE 6 on my backup XPS 13 9360 and it's a dream come true. I run Nobara on my gaming rig for a great and simple out-of-the-box gaming experience, but Mint is such an awesome distro. It was my OG daily driver back in the day before I moved to Arch and Fedora, and installing it on my laptop is like coming home.
mint is decent for a daily driver. but i found endeavour OS being on mainline arch kernel to be more applicable for power users. you get everything sooner, sometimes as much as 6 months, if your running new hardware, this is critical. an example is the wayland implementation, afaik mint still dosnt support proper vsync because its using xorg. again, mint is great, but if you become a power user, ubuntu based systems can still fall into dependency hell, especially if you start doing weird stuff and building your own package versions. in my experience its very hard to break systems just using the AUR. also, if your looking for a gaming OS, your going to wanto to run a optimized kernel, like the zen kernel, im not aware of a debian based equivalent.
I went to Linux Mint after a KDE update broke PowerDevil. However, I fixed it and returned back to EndeavorOS with KDE as I just feel it is more powerful and less restrictive, relatively speaking. Linux Mint has broken for me on 2 occasions. Arch Linux/EndeavorOS has never broken for me. Of course, that infamous Grub update, did break Arch Linux distros. Another thing about Arch is its simplicity. You don't have to worry about versions, and you can downgrade any package that doesn't work well quite easily. I actually want to switch back to Linux Mint, however, I will not be able to use the Arch Wiki like I can right now with Endeavor. I still love Mint!
I got my start in Linux with Mint, but moved on to Ubuntu and then PopOS several years ago. I came back to it this year just to see what it was like and was so impressed that it is now my primary OS once again. Fast, works out of the box on every system I've tried it on, and very easy to use.
Mint is a great distro but for one problem. X11 windows manager. If they could just move to Wayland it would be awesome. I had screen tearing on videos that I was watching. Then moved to Fedora for Wayland. Fedora and GNOME 40 we're great but for Virtual Box problems. My final solution was Mint 20, with Gnome 3.xx. it gave me Wayland and all the compatibility of Mint. 😉
I'm surprised that not even once when he mentions other distros, he didn't mention MX Linux which i believe is the ultimate competition to Mint. I started with mint but now been an mx user for a while. I like both but MX does it for me. With the 10 reasons mentioned, i think MX has those and much much more. But that's just me.
Thanx for the video. I agree 100 % with you. I use it on a dual boot machine with Win 11. I've tested quite a few out on a VM and keep going back to Mint.
I believe the Debian Edition of Mint is the closest thing to perfection I've seen in the last twenty years since the first time I installed Ubuntu back in 2006.
I have used and experimented with a few different Distributions. Linux Mint Debian Edition has been my Linux Distribution of choice and is what I am currently using now.
Maybe it would be a good idea to have basic courses people could attend on actually using Linux. We just need experienced users that could give lectures all over the country. This way it would migrate a shed load of people to Linux and they could charge a reasonable amount to attend these courses, so the developers could get more money that way too. I am sure it would be an industry in itself. I will pay to go to a course if I can find one as I have a Linux system I have just installed but having a job navigating around it so could do with one on one teacher student assistance in a classroom and the others would be glad to help each other out.
I'm new to Linux, and I've only tried 3 distros so far, but Mint seems to be the most "new user friendly" for someone like me with a Windows background. Since what I don't know at this point could fill volumes however, I might find something I like better as I gain more experience and try other versions.
Happy Mint user here... I switched from Windows 7 to Linux Mint about 5 years ago and never looked back. Mint truly is a great desktop experience- smooth, stable, and everything just works. It's absolutely the best distro/desktop to recommend for anyone interested in switching away from Windows.
I made the switch from windows to Mint about 9 months ago. I'm so glad I did. I decided on Mint after reading as many different opinions as I could find and I have no regrets. I didnt imagine that it would be possible to break away from MS after using it for so many years, but here I am. I'll never go back.
windows 11 make me switch to linux, Im using nobara linux because Im a gamer, linux take care of the drivers for me , with windows I have to search and install drivers
I tested a lot of distros and always went back to Mint for a Desktop GUI solution. Mint is like Ubuntu, but with user experience and not pure profit in mind👍
I've been trying Mint since 19. Dual booting from bios. Also a fan of LibreOffice. Speaking of, if this video prompts anyone to try Mint don't forget to install MS Core fonts. My goal is to be on Linux for a daily driver on or about W/10 eol.
