> not having a default or preferred one, and you are instead required to pick one.
If you don't mind my asking: how well did NixOS work for you, as a desktop environment, out of the box? Did you have to do annoying IT work when you installed it (screen resolution, wifi, sound, maintenance mode...)? How often do you need to fix issues like that?
If you do encounter an issue it will be more work to deal with, because you both have to figure out the underlying issue and then figure out how to fit that into the Nix way of doing things.
The biggest factor is handling downloaded pre-built binaries that assume various libraries will be in typical locations. Those generally require patchelf and then they work fine. I would only recommend NixOS for now for people who are willing to tinker a bit and learn how it works.