The Linux Tier List 

*Supreme* 00:11 Debian / Arch *Amazing for New Users* 15:00 Kubuntu 16:10 Linux Mint 23:45 Zorin 24:30 Nobara *Best for Business* 02:20 Alma Rocky Oracle 04:20 Alpine Linux 17:35 NixOS 21:30 SUSE and OpenSUSE *Creative and Unique* 07:30 Artix 08:05 Clear Linux 11:55 Gentoo 20:20 Slackware 20:55 Solus 22:20 Tails and Qubes 23:10 Void Linux *Devil* 02:31 RHEL Centos and Fedora 03:30 Ubuntu *Lightweight* 04:55 AntiX 16:45 Lubuntu 18:17 Peppermint 19:45 Puppy Linux 23:30 TinyCore *Pointless* 05:20 Arco Linux 06:25 Manjaro 09:15 Deepin 09:50 KDE Neon 10:15 Elementary OS 11:20 Endeavor and Garuda 11:37 Feren OS 12:55 Kali Linux 14:00 Parrot 17:10 MX Linux 17:50 PCLinuxOS 18:30 PopOS

amount of debian users after watching this video: 📈📈📈

As a full time pentester I have to really disagree with the idea that kali is pointless. While yes absolutely you could do everything that kali is set up to do by yourself, using whatever distro, the fact that you can spend 10 minutes on setting up a usb stick with all the necessary drivers for your specific hardware, combined with kali and be able to use that for a fresh non-interactive installation between each new client and have everything be up to date (including new tools that might not even have existed when you set it all up the first time). That is priceless, it’s a massive time saver. Saying it is pointless is just like saying that buying bread is pointless when you could just plant the wheat yourself.

I agree that you can just install everything on a Debian machine instead of going with Parrot, but when you work in so many different environments it's nice to be able to quickly set up a machine in a few minutes and already have half of the tools you need.

Isn't it amazing how the most supreme distros are both community based

you forgot about the third supreme tier option templeOS

One added nice thing about Zorin is that the Zorin team has tested all major applications and when you open the software store, for any application you select to install, it has automatically-selected the one that works best with the OS. It might be a deb, flatpak, or snap, but the default will be whatever was tested and works best. Meanwhile, if you want to select another, you easily can from a dropdown. It takes away the headache of the user having to try each and decide what is best. I am not a new user. I work full-time in Linux both on desktop and on servers, but I appreciate how Zorin just works. The last thing that I want to think about is how to get from point A to point B. I just want to install something and have it work. I hate wasting time customizing stuff and playing.

I think EndeavourOS actually has a point, I was an Arch user for a long time, and when it was time to upgrade my laptop I wanted/needed a new setup. Endeavour was the most convenient option, doesn't lack anything Arch has, and is just straight beautiful right out of the box. It's not for complete noobs, but as long as they know to be careful, it's actually a great way to learn for people who maybe don't have a lot of time to set everything up manually. It's for people who want a ready, good base Arch setup to build upon gradually.

What I love about this comment section is everyone is bringing their own experience to the table and contributing their opinions rather than flat-out disagreeing for no apparent reason. Thanks everyone for all the useful info!

I think placing Fedora in the devil tier just because a few community members (Red Hat employees are also community members, as they have no privileges over others) submitted a proposal, which was subsequently rejected by a significant majority of the Fedora community even before an official vote, seems like an overreaction. If I were to submit a similar proposal for the next Debian release, and it gets rejected, would Debian also be labeled as devil? I believe it would be the complete opposite, they would be "based", because they rejected it.

Would've definitely love to hear the raionale behind Debian and Arch being the only supreme tier picks. I feel like we got great insight on everything on the tier list except the two at the top.

I am a new cyber security student and my school recommended me Kali or parrot. First time ever I used Linux. After using it for a month or two, I learned all these different distros and how most of the stuff just come down from Debian or Arch. And I got a little adventurous and installed debian because I needed to use a unique distro that I can customize the way I want (not that it can't be done to Kali, I just needed to start fresh and learn Linux) and then I just installed debian and all the tools I normally use on Kali. I got ridiculed for doing this by some of my professors lol. They said i was doing "unwanted" work, but doing all this taught me so much that I don't regret the time and effort I spent at all.

Parrot, Kali, Tails and QubesOS should have their own category "Highly specific usage"

I totally agree, most distros are pointless, yet people seem obsessed with them

There is more to SUSE / openSUSE than a single Enterprise oriented distribution. We have also a rolling distribution, Immutable system with flatpak desktop etc. Otherwise nice and entertaining video. Thank you!

And people wonder why not more people switched to Linux.

The trouble if you steer too many people towards Debian is that they will get stuck and frustrated. Ubuntu, Mint, Pop, MX etc exist because they add the comfort blanket which makes certain things work

The think about kali is that its a disposable environment that just has all the tools you need, without the need to reinstall every time you use it on a new device, you just drop it in, use what you need and wipe it.

I am using MX Linux primarily for its remaster and snapshot functionality for live ISOs. Does anything comparable exist for vanilla debian?

Half the distros you put into pointless are just because you haven't found a use case for them. You admit that Arco linux is really good and you use parts of it, but the "flaw" that makes it pointless is that it's easier to install than Arch? So right out of the gate the bar is on the floor, and then kali linux - "If you don't create a bunch of extra steps for yourself to get the same tools on debian then you're just a script kiddie" Sounds like you just don't realize how to work efficiently lol Also put arch in supreme tier then says gentoo is for tryhards??

"Why don't more people use Linux?" This video...

ArcoLinux has a lot of resources to help newbies learn Arch and Linux in general. Eric has a ton of great videos you can follow their learning path and get a ton of info. Granted he could do it with Vanilla arch too but he makes learning Arch really approachable

I simply like that Kali has pre installed the tools I need, they also came out with Kali purple. With Kali I can quickly move to learning about new security tools without downloading them. It also sets me on a path of learning about applications I've never seen before

I just want to commend how well this tier list video is presented. Most videos tiering this many items would be over an hour long, but so many items are cleared swiftly in a single explanation. Bravo.

It's amazing how both supreme distros are so opposite of each other, Arch: The Bleeding Edge; Debian: The Rock Solid. I use Debian BTW

openSUSE tumbleweed is a great arch alternative. Gets updated faster than arch, more stable due to automated testing, easy rollback with snapper installed by default. If you're irritated by bloatware you'll have to fight the pattern system but once you set it up it's a very rock-solid experience. Also uses RPM packages so software made for Fedora/RHEL is usually compatible

The rationales generally made sense to me, but I really expected NixOS to go into the unique tier. I mean, yeah, it *is* good for business, you're not wrong, but if completely throwing out the FHS and turning system configuration and management into a programming exercise isn't unique, I don't know what is. It has a draw of its own entirely outside of the business space, because it keeps the maintenance cost of tweaks so much lower with the declarative config. I've actually made so many customizations, tweaks, and fixes, that I would never make in another distro, because I know that I won't get bogged down or lost regarding how my customizations work. I can go read the code that defines them.

I’m planning to switch to MX and was almost convinced by this video to try Debian instead. Thanks to the comments that added perspectives/reminded about the differences and advantages between Debian and MX ! I’ll stick with my MX choice (my motivations : laptop getting old, want to try a snap free systemd free distro, a light desktop, stable but up-to-date softwares availability. I’ve been using Ubuntu for 8 years as my main OS, work in IT, but still definitely wouldn’t consider myself an advanced user)

I’ve run Debian, Arch, and Gentoo, and love all 3 for different reasons. That being said I don’t think EndeavourOS should be pointless. It’s beautifully designed and has a good community, plus being so close to base Arch makes it far better than Manjaro. I still prefer building my system from scratch but for installing “Arch” via endeavourOS on other systems or just wanting a convenient method of install with relatively good maintenance, EndeavourOS is admirable.

It would be nice to see a "Daily Driver" tier. Ones that would really give Windows a run for their money.

You massively under estimate the value of the Nvidia compatibility for gamers. As a new user, Linux mint made me flee Linux for months and pop os made me uninstall windows

How many Linux distros are there? How many have there been that are no longer with us? Why so many? As a general computer user, rather than a geek, I just want a maximum choice of two or three, with perhaps specialist distros for business, etc. This proliferation of distros is why I still believe after so many years that Linux is never going to become a replacement for Windows. Consumers simply don't want that much bother, having to wade through huge lists of distros, the vast majority of which are of no use to them. Thank you, Chris, for highlighting the small number of distros that should be recommended to newbies -- it takes some of the pain out of trying to navigate the maze that is Linux.

I think MX should be amazing for new users simply because it's better handling of proprietary drivers out of the box and it has KDE version which is comparable to Kubuntu. It also comes packed with utilities, tools to help new users.

Arch/Debain > ALL

How viable is debian for multimedia creation? I've been interested in switching from Ubuntu as long as Davinci Resolve, Krita, and Reaper work. I keep seeing that the argument "against" debian stable is "old package versions" but as long as I can do stuff I should be fine

Wow this is perfect timing seeing this. I watched your video a while back and have been a popos user ever since!!! I’ve been wanting to switch distros lately and you really intrigue me with Debian

As a Debian user, I agree that it is supreme. I also agree that many people fire up Kali to feel like Mr Robot (hell, that's me a bit) but it really is very lightweight and quiet on the network. A standard installation of Debian (maybe not Arch) is actually quite a bit more "chatty" on the network. I like how Kali feels stripped back and doesn't put extraneous stuff out that you need to filter out to analyse network traffic. This also makes it surprisingly good on old under-powered hardware. I have it on a 2008 Dell laptop and it's pretty slick.

I agree with you on most of your selection. I however find it hard to accept the tier you've chosen for Kali. It's extremely useful to have all those utilities come preinstalled on a distribution and an iso, and run it from a USB stick. It's way too much work to just install these if there aren't scripts for it. Additionally, sometimes and for certain reasons it would not be practical to have them actually installed; running them live makes more sense. They also have specific patches applied to the kernel. Also, MX would be better in the "Creative" or "Amazing for new users" category. It's a systemd-free version of Debian, and the new users, even power users would love all the utilities. I would also bump Gentoo to supreme. Being able to optimize your whole system to your CPU architecture, adjust the compiler and its flags with just a few environment variables, change a dependency according to your needs, harden some parts or the entire OS, etc etc etc makes you the creator of your system, and that's just amazing.

I cannot express correctly how much I disagre with the whole "is just debian/arch", all distros could theoretically be reduced to just scripts to install... probably but still it's not the same. Also the complication of trying to install something like debian/arch and make it work it for home use its beyond 90% of all computer users of the world(if not more). I am willing to bet that 80% of computer user of the world can't even use the automatic problem fixer from windows, let alone install a OS, let alone use a CL and even less install everything required to make debian/arch work out of the box like Mint/Neon/Kubuntu/etc. I even suspect that the majority of devs wouldn't be able to do the last one. I highly suspect that 50% of computer of user of the world don't even know that file formats(.zip/.exe/.png) are even a thing! Edit: Maybe the last one is a bit of an exaggeration... maybe... all smartphones pretty much hide the file formats so I am not sure....

Debian was the first distro I tried to work with, but I kept having issues with video drivers that I just couldn't resolve. Bounced around distros for a while and ended up moving on. I'm here at your video trying to figure out where to start and just a little apprehensive about giving debian another go. For context I guess I should add that I'm extremely comfortable with the linux command line, having a bs in comp sci and especially working in cloud computing devops, but I've never quite been able to get linux to work for my own PC setup at home.

KDE team never say that neon is a disstribution

If Manjaro didn't mess up and brick updates so often, I'd say they deserve to be in Amazing For New Users for all the same reasons that he cites for Kubuntu and Mint. And I have a hard time saying Red Hat is the Devil in spite of recent events. They have contributed so much to the Linux ecosystem that it would be completely unusable without them. The DE distributions aren't completely pointless, maybe people shouldn't really use them, but the DE developers need a platform to demonstrate their work before they get upstreamed. Lastly, Gentoo should be in God tier.

Really interesting episode. I've been very much enjoying Garuda this last 6 months, because it really is lovely to use for someone who doesn't want to change a whole lot but does want up-to-date packages.

Love the video and from personal experence I can agree with the "New User", I started with Kubuntu, had a look at Ubuntu but ended up on Mint. I have been looking at trying other distros out and your list here is really helpful. Thanks.

I've used Linux Mint for years now and I've learned quite a bit about Linux from using it. I've really never had a need or a want to distro hop or try different distros. Just satisfied alone with Mint, they do a great job of support as well as making things fresh again with new version releases and features.

I still put Pop_OS! in the amazing for beginner category. I also put Tuxedo OS in there too. Between Pop_OS! and Tuxedo OS, you have two distributions made to run on hardware from their respective companies and have their own tools to handle it, but they can also stand on their own as terrific beginner friendly distributions that go in different directions. Then there's Mint that sits between the two while being more vendor agnostic.

Thanks for an excellent tier-list! Since Arch refuses to install on my laptop with full-disk encryption, I decided to go "native" and installed Debian instead two months ago. Haven't regretted it one second.

i know nothing about linux but am wanting to use one as my chromebook cant recieve any more updates and cant download really anything, which linux would you recommend for an old chromebook to not only download extensions and other things but also increase the speed at which my chromebook runs? Appreciate any help!

MX Linux does not use Systemd. It does have its niche and not useless. I would have also added Devuan to the tier list.

I like endeavour, even if it's pointless, I don't need to decide everything from a default arch, and it is close enough that it still gets me into that same ecosystem. I tried garuda and had some weird issues, and the theming is easy enough to get if you want it. I used Manjaro before Endeavour, and Nobara after Endeavour and came back to it because I really prefer the base of Arch to the Fedora base of Nobara. I used gentoo for a number of years but that's when I had more time to toy with compiling and building stage4s and all that, it is a tedious distro, which is fine when you are up for it.

Am I still running Devil Tier, if I build my own system based on fedora server ?

*Moved to the Pointless category* Good video, your bias was high at times. Some systems it felt like you gave a concise description of and some were ignored. I guess you can't make the video too long. I appreciate the effort that was put into the Video.

It's amazing how Debian became so much better the last years. Not that it was bad, it was great, but it indeed killed the need for many distros. Mostly agree with the list. I still think fedora is pretty good overall and kali fulfils a very specific niche and demand, even though I don't use either :)

I get why EndevourOS is in the pointless tier, but it is still my favorite distro. I know how to install vanilla arch my self, yet I like the most defaults for a base Endeavour install. It is also not bloated like something like Manjaro (nor does it use its own repos down stream from arch, which is the main reason people should avoid Manjaro.)

Wow all of those arch derivatives opinions are supremely unhelpful, thanks for giving nothing except "just use arch"

Im currently trying debian 12 and i am tormented by the slowness of apt installs, iv tried some mirrors but its really unusable . any tips?

I remember finding a screen in a museum area at a Mont-Blanc observetory in France that had the Debian 11 logo displayed instead of the museum content. I thought that was cool.

as a Slackware user, I am happy where Slackware is. I am also a special case as I started using Slackware fully in '05 even when ubuntu was probably it is peak or getting there. I am glad I stuck with Slackware, no regrets.

Supreme -> Debian, Arch Amazing for New Users -> Kubuntu, Mint, Zorin, Nobara Best for Business -> Alma/Rocky, Alpine, NixOS, SUSE Creative and Unique -> Artix, Clear, Gentoo, Slackware, Solus, Tails, Void Devil -> Red Hat, CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu Lightweight -> AntiX, Lubuntu, Peppermint, Puppy, TinyCore Pointless -> Arco, Manjaro, Deepin, KDE neon, Elementary OS, Feren OS, Endeavor, Garuda, Kali, Paroot, MX, PClinuxOS, PopOS

100% Spot on, I have used a good few of these as daily drivers, Just switched from Arch to Debian (Before watching this video), choose you package manager and systemd or not, everything else can be switched swapped and changed at will, ok I’m not a new user lol, keep the videos coming 😊

Not as harsh as I expected. I use endeavour but I still agree with your point of just learn arch; you should already know arch if you use EOS, but I sometimes need to click install and not think too hard

As a total noob to the Linux world, I cannot tell you how insanely valuable this video is with regards to finding a path through the distro jungle. Thank you so much for creating this. Last weekend I got myself a used Thinkpad, installed Debian with GNOME thanks to your recommendation and am blown by how awesome, beautiful and functional the entire system is - and that everything just works. I cannot believe that all of this is provided free of charge and love the fact that I feel like my device is really mine for the first time in my life. Thank you!

Hello Beautiful People. Does anyone know if there is an equivalent of Ubuntu studio (nicely configured distro for Wizards) in another version, e.g. Arch, Manjaro, Debian, Gentoo? Is it possible to create on another Linux equivalent of Ubuntu studio, to install individual elements (in a sense, duplicating ubuntu studio) programs on another already used distro so manually? Will I get the same? Thank you.

fascinating video. I used Linux about 20 years ago, the Mandrake Distribution. I came to really love it and the KDE setting of it. For some things I just changed over from Microsoft to Linux to do. I really wonder how Linux is TODAY. I am really fascinated about how far Linux has come and I have to admire all the Linux enthusiasts for achieving all of this and contributing so much for this world to be honest. Thank you all, my deepest respect!

One thing to consider is the communities of those distributions. EndeavorOS for example is just arch with a calamaras installer. But their community is helpful especially for newer users.

My 2 gripes are the kali placement and the fedora one I looked into the proposed telemetry from fedora and its down right ethical, i would prefer it to be opt in instead of opt out but its currently just a proposal and can change. As for Kali, it is kinda pointless to actually install and run as a full distro, but oh man it is good as a live ISO to boot into on demand. Run your work distro of choice and have kali on your key ring for when you need that toolkit.

Thanks so much for bringing me up to speed. I think your rationale is brutal, understandable, and just what I was looking for. So happy Debian has been moving forward also.

Loved the video! I'm kind of still what you call a Linux Noob, using PopOS at home for something over a Year and using SUSE at work. And I really like you rational in putting the Distros where they are. And while I might not completely agree with the placement of Pop - I still think it is amazing for beginners - I totally understand why you put it there. And I really love how basically every Linux user is rubbing their hands and licking their lips upon the new DE from System76 because it looks like it could be so great. 😂

Running Mint on my desktop and LMDE on my laptop for many years now. The stability and reliability is such, that it is POINTLESS for me to explore other distributions. Great analysis by Chris...

I have just recently moved over from Windows to Mint, and it might be one of the best decision I've ever made. Everything just works and lightweight while also being very familiar. I do have to say that for some reason, my Kubuntu install has some of the apps straight-up crashes and never work despite coming OOTB (case in point for mine is Elisa and the Discovery apps), but then I just decided to go with Mint and never went back.

Wow I actually learned a few things from this. Your reasoning for people to avoid spins of arch and debian makes a lot of sense.

so Manjaro is "pointless" because it breaks on update because it's Arch-based, but Arch itself is "supreme"? can't quite follow that logic…

I like how your list isn't just like "good, mid, bad, trash" but points out where it is useful

I actually like Endeavor just because it’s surprisingly close to vanilla Arch, it just does most of the set up for you

For someone that acknowledges the issues with Windows, but also doesn't want to deal with the unnecessary fuss that most distros have to offer, Fedora is perfect. I understand some people don't like having massive corporations backing their software, but for me personally this is actually a positive thing. For me it means you will have a stable and consistent experience which won't be impacted by low-quality community-driven software which is usually very fragmented, and you won't have to deal with software that takes a "I did everything I was supposed to, I don't care if your system crashes" approach.

In general, I agree with the list provided. My first experience with Linux was using Slackware in the 90s, but I eventually gave up because I couldn't get X11 to work. Later on, I became a big fan of Fedora, Mandriva, and Ubuntu. However, as time passed, I didn't like the direction they were taking their distributions. So, I moved on to Gentoo and SUSE, and ultimately settled on Debian. Debian was great until I ran into issues trying to get it to work on my Lenovo Ideapad 3. For some reason, it wouldn't detect my Ryzen video card, whereas Mint installed it without any problems. That's why, for the last four years, I've been using Mint with the Cinnamon desktop environment. I'm quite happy with it and don't see myself switching to any other distribution anytime soon.

I’m now living in a world where Oracle is seen as a good player. I have to sit down and have a stiff whisky.

Though I disagree with some of the choices, it was fantastic to hear about your opinions and reasons for ranking certain distros. The video was great food for thought and gave some ideas about the next VM install / distro hop!

Really appreciated this! Wouldn't consider myself a OS Hopper, but I have been playing around with VMs of various distros to learn more and find ones for specific uses. My key takeaways (specific to what I've been playing around with and want to do) are: Linux Mint is still a great starting OS and I chose very well for my 'Base'/Host OS. (Yes I use the host to run VMs and Docker, but I needed something simple to learn on when setting it up at first so it worked for me). To Try: Tails - Good Lightweight for live USB or CD and is essentially 'disposable' Qubes - Privacy and 'compartmentalisation' focussed OS? Nobara - Great Linux gaming OS based on Fedora (good OS to learn Fedora?) Reference: Kubuntu - Good for learning on a KDE Environment Peppermint - Lightweight with a better package selection than Lubuntu Puppy Linux - Lightweight and a bit quirky but nothing amazing Ultimately! I need to just use Debian: Kali - 'pointless', just use Debian and install what you need Parrot - Similar to Kali, lighter but just use Debian MX - used to be a good debian fork, now, just use Debian

You are life savior for making this Linus video, I still new to Linux, this let me get my final decision. I wonder that which Linux Distro can use run Android and Windows software? What do you think of Ubunto Kylin and Blend OS?

I completely agree with this tier list! Especially now, when I finally decided to migrate from Fedora to Arch. I could choose Debian, but I'm not happy with the delay of Neovim 0.9+, even in the unstable version Neovim still remains in versions 0.7+. Also, I really like the challenge to my Linux knowledge, it will be my first attempt at working on a window manager. Void, Alpine, Artix and Rocky Linux are also interesting options. Thanks for mentioning them - even you mentioned AlmaLinux along with Rocky, I think it's ok.

Linux Mint has a KDE version that I loved, I preferred it over Kubuntu, but they dropped it. Great tier, I agree on almost everything. I put Pop OS! On business tier because is the System 76 distro and comes with their equipments.

Whats your opinion on Lubuntu? For me it feels a little bit like a lightweight Kubuntu for older hardware. Works Ok with my Q9300, HD 7770, 8GB DDR2 RAM and 120 GB SSD. A bit sluggish from time to time but usable.

If I have an old laptop with Centrino Duo and I want to use it for HomeAssistant? Which distro for Docker? Yeah, n00b question so pls don't kill me.

Three of my hosts are on debian 12. two are on Arch. I agree with your God tier

I saw a video talking about Garuda , so i was like "oh that's cool" , so i checked other videos (this one) to see if it was actually okay as i'm on Windows , and i ended this video , and i don't know i might use Nobara , but i'm not sure about going to nobara i'm a bit scared of switching my OS... and i primarly wanna change my OS because windows so slow , the more im on windows , the more my pc is slow...... edit : and why couldn't i pick like one of the Supreme ones ?

I'm looking for a new daily driver that looks and acts like a lighter-weight Ubuntu. I'd prefer for it to "just work" most of the time. Thoughts or suggestions?

As much as I agree with Fedora possibly becoming the devil, I think it's not there yet - the proposal for telemetry is yet to be voted on, and it's an option you would be able to disable in the welcome screen, if the proposal is actually accepted. As long as they ask the user and they use an open-source telemetry tool, it should be fine. I also finally found the sweet spot between stable, but old packages (Debian, Mint) and the volatile bleeding-edge Arch. It's new, but not new enough to break things. As long as Red Hat doesn't escalate their evil influence on Fedora, users should be fine.

NixOS isnt just for reproducible servers, it has a lot of features that are also attractive to everyday users: reproducibility allows you to replicate your config across, for example, your desktop and your laptop, it also has a very large range of packages, and I have almost never searched for a package and not found it, even lesser known ones.

Would someone mind elaborating more on Ubuntu? I've been playing around and getting comfortable with ubuntu servers for the last couple months and thought I would finally start migrating my windows10 comp to ubuntu. Like what is Chris alluding to by saying `apt install firefox`?

please explain in depth about debian and arch im using ubuntu till today, and im wondering whether i should consider jumping or not just for development purpose as engineer

Edit: Please read the comments below. Outdated comment: The proposal was for opt-in telemetry. So, if the Fedora community agrees to it, the user needs to activate the telemetry.

So Ubuntu is evil, Kubuntu is great for new users and PopOS is pointless? And Fedora is evil but Nobara is great? Makes 0 sense...

Which distros are immutable and are not in the Devil Category? I like the idea of the Atomic update Fedora has, the OS can't be broken during update nor can it be infected. Thoughts on immutable OS's?

Nice video:) I'm here because I have a couple old desktops I was going to get rid of but then I thought, why not try making one into a linux PC. I would fall into the newbie category for linux but I know Windows pretty well. When taking the best parts of each PC it will be an AMD FX8150 with 16GB of ram and a GTX 1080. I don't really know where to start but I'm thinking Linux mint??? Should I go Debian? Any thoughts from the people in the comment section is most appreciated.

Just now rejoining the Linux community again after a while, and I had no idea Debian had made a comeback in terms of being user friendly until this video. I'll check it out for my next stop. My last distro was Manjaro in about 2019, and I loved it for it being cutting edge enough to support my hardware and to get all the new bells and whistles, but whenever I got busy with real life and put off updating and maintaining my OS, I'd update everything, and something would break, and it'd be a pain in the neck to fix. Now, I'm looking for something more stable, and if I want cutting edge, it's probably going to application specific, so I can just use a flatpack for that if I need to. I'll try Debian next.

I think Chris thinks there are only two types of desktop Linux users: a noob and Chris Titus. A lot of these 'pointless' distros provide so much utility for intermediate users or just users that don't want to waste time running pacstrap manually, or picking and choosing a sets of packages, which just feels like it could be done by the installer. Also many of the quality-of-life things provided by these 'pointless' distros just wouldn't be there if there wasn't a separate project for that. Oh, they could just contribute their packages and tweaks to upstream distro? Well, good luck with that. And if someone wants a badge of honor for installing Arch 'the Arch-way', then they probably are just re-typing commands from Archwiki anyway. Some people might prefer installing just vanilla, some people just prefer to have a ready-to-go system installed quickly that only requires some minor tweaks. And as already mentioned in other comments, these might be a great entry-point for people to become actually an advanced user. That more or less also applies to Debian and Debian-based distros. Vanilla Debian is much easier to get into for a noob for sure, but still distros like Kali or ParrotOS, provide a great utility, not acknowledging that seems outright dumb or just a bait. Also MX Linux and PCLinuxOS seem to have all the prerequisites to be put into your 'creative' tier, but probably you would need to realize that MX doesn't use systemd just like AntiX and PCLinuxOS is actually an independent rolling-release distro that uses apt-rpm and also doesn't use systemd. You cannot recreate these setups on Debian. Maybe MX, but good luck switching the init system.

what distro would you recommend to install in an old laptop with poor cpu and ram? I'm planning to use it for web and application development and learning pourposes.

Titus why u set on pointelss Fehren os? i feel it kind of new users friendly.

i would say pop_os should probably get the bump to new user, for laptop installs. out of the box the DE keybindings and window tiling feature without having to go full tiling window manager is really good for keyboard track-pad env. System76 has also done some work with power management to get it running well on their laptops, which does transfer over to non S76 laptops.