Ask HN: What's the most stable linux desktop environment?

I've just bought a new computer and need to install some flavour of linux on it for development purposes. Its predecessor had linux mint installed; I liked the slick interface and intuitive and well thought out UI. I often ran into problems with crashes and bugs though.

Yesterday I installed mint on my new box, and in 24 hours I've had 3 different problems (random crash, menu disappearing for no reason, wifi not working) I thought that maybe my previous problems with mint originated in some hardware fault, but since the problems persist on a new box I have to assume that it's just not a very stable distro.

So the question is: Which distro is the most stable these days? It needs to have a somewhat nice UI, windows manager, etc. and needs to work (as far as can be expected) out of the box. I have no interest in spending my limited time tweaking and repairing. It's a tool, not a hobby.