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Like most people who get into Linux, I have done a lot of distro hopping since 2019. I have tried almost every mainstream distro, along with plenty of odd ones that I wouldn’t recommend anyone to install on their main PC.

Some of them were great, some were forgettable, and a few were absolute headaches. But over time, I found a handful that were genuinely reliable and easy to recommend without any hesitation. There are a few that genuinely stand out and are the ones I think everyone should try at least once.

Fedora Silverblue

It’s as stable as it gets

You’ve probably heard of Fedora before, but that’s not exactly what I am talking about here. Fedora Silverblue is instead a spin of vanilla Fedora, but the real twist is that it’s an immutable operating system.

That means the core system files are read-only, which makes it almost impossible to accidentally mess something up. Admit it or not, you will eventually mess something up, and you will end up breaking your install eventually if you tinker around enough. That’s the last thing you want on your main machine, and Silverblue practically eliminates that problem.

The immutability also gives you a huge security win. Since nothing can easily be written to the core system, it’s incredibly hard for anything malicious to gain persistence. In most cases, a reboot is enough to wipe away whatever nonsense tried to latch on.

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Another benefit of this architecture is updates. If something goes wrong during an update, your system won’t end up bricking itself. Silverblue simply rolls back to the previous working state automatically. The peace of mind that it gives is unreal.

I ended up replacing Ubuntu with Fedora Silverblue on my main PC(s), and it’s the most confident I’ve ever felt running Linux as my daily driver. It’s easily the most stable distro I have ever tried.

If you’re not into GNOME (which Silverblue ships with by default), Fedora’s other atomic desktops cover other environments too, so you can get the same reliability with any DE you like.

CachyOS

The best gaming-focused distro

I might use Fedora Silverblue as my go-to distro for almost any machine, but gaming is a different story. It’s not that Silverblue cannot run games. It absolutely can, but in my testing, it leaves a bit of performance on the table.

That’s where CachyOS comes in. If your primary use case is gaming, this is the distro I recommend. I initially switched to SteamOS, and it easily beats Windows in overall experience and performance. The problem is that SteamOS is not built for a wide range of hardware. It really only works well on an all-AMD system, and even then, small issues can show up unless you’re using something officially supported, such as the Steam Deck or the ROG Ally.

CachyOS avoids that limitation. It is the best option you can install on a gaming PC today. You can even download versions that ship with the SteamOS interface, and visually, it looks almost identical. You still get that clean, console-like setup, but without the strict hardware requirements.

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I made the switch to Steam OS on my ROG Ally X and haven’t looked back

Being reunited with SteamOS has never felt better, especially on the ROG Ally X

It’s also pretty lightweight, and its performance is amazing. It benchmarked higher than Fedora in most games that I tried, and even outperforms Windows in some cases. That alone makes it really easy to recommend for gaming.

Since CachyOS is based on Arch and follows a rolling release mode, there is a higher chance of something breaking. But if you use it mainly for gaming and not much else, you shouldn’t run into any major issues.

Linux Mint

It’s one of the simplest options out there

Fedora Silverblue is great, but it is not the most lightweight option out there. It is still miles ahead of Windows, and it runs fine on lower to mid-tier hardware. But you can still do better if you have something like a third or fourth-generation Intel processor with 4GB of RAM. Silverblue can feel a bit heavy on systems like that (primarily because GNOME can be a memory hog sometimes.)

GNOME can also feel unfamiliar if you’re coming from Windows. In that case, I recommend Linux Mint instead. It is easily one of the best distros for beginners, and is pretty much as stable as Silverblue in practice.

The default Cinnamon desktop also feels instantly familiar if you’re coming from Windows. It is also very light on resources, which makes it perfect for older hardware.

Mint comes with everything you need to get started, without overwhelming you with choices or extra setup. If you want something simple, fast, and beginner-friendly, Linux Mint is one of the easiest recommendations I can make.

Zorin OS

Ubuntu, but better

I have not talked about any Debian-based distros yet, and one definitely deserves a spot in this list. For me, that goes to Zorin OS.

It is based on Ubuntu, which I do not really feel like recommending these days, but Zorin manages to keep the best parts of Ubuntu while avoiding most of its downsides. Mint is fantastic, but it can feel a bit too barebones at times. If you want something that feels more feature-complete and visually modern, Zorin is a great option.

You also get a lot of choice in how the desktop looks. You can switch between layouts that resemble macOS or Windows, depending on what you prefer. Since it is built on Ubuntu LTS, the update experience is predictable and very reliable.

I also really like the GTK theme that Zorin has developed. It feels really consistent across apps and gives everything a much more modern look.

Zorin recently announced that they have crossed one million downloads, and I think the team deserves credit for that milestone. It is a strong sign that they are doing something right, and I fully support what they are trying to achieve in bringing Linux to more people.

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Don’t be afraid to experiment with different distros

There are plenty of other Linux distros that are great in their own way, and not making this list does not mean they are bad. The thing is that most distros shine only in specific situations, while the ones I mentioned here have stayed consistently reliable across multiple machines and use cases.

If you are new to Linux, or even if you have been hopping between distros for years, trying any of these will give you a solid, hassle-free experience. At the end of the day, the best distro is the one that stays out of your way and lets you actually use your computer, and these are the ones that have done that for me.