I'm considering switching from Windows to Ubuntu or some other linux distro for my personal computer. I really only use the computer for web browsing and primarily want something lightweight for browsing and maybe occasional development projects.
Has anyone made this switch?
Does anyone have any other recommendations other than Ubuntu?
Now I'm considering an alternative to Linux Mint since the Debian ecosystem sees a significant refresh only once every two years, but I would suggest Linux Mint as a great starting point. You might also look at Zorin, which is designed to appeal to Windows and Apple refugees. MX Linux has high ratings on DistroWatch. Fedora updates twice a year, which is appealing, though I had problems back in the 1990s with Red Hat 2 and Red Hat 4 and dependency hell, and have an irrational emotional reluctance to try Fedora, though I need to.
These days Ubuntu has seen some friction, particularly with its use of Snaps for installing/updating software out of the control of the user. Back in the early 2000s Ubuntu was light, clean, and honest. And a little plain, compared to Linux Mint. These days I myself would not use Ubuntu. But it's your life, so you need to do your own research and make your own decisions. Don't forget about trial runs of Linux from a thumb drive. Genius.
My advice would be to take it for a spin. You can run Ubuntu without wiping your disk (via a USB I believe). As a Linux newb Ubuntu has been pretty painless as a Windows replacement.
Ubuntu also has some of their preinstalled applications installed using a package format called snap, which can result in slower startup times for some applications. I think Kubuntu does not.
If you don't care as much about having the latest and greatest version of software, also go with the LTS version, which has mostly security updates for 5 years from date of release.
If you want to try it out before installing it, you can get an image from osboxes.org and run it in a virtual machine like VirtualBox.
Bog standard recommendation: - backup your data - dual boot instead of replacing Windows.
In my case I first created a full install on portable hard drive to try it out. But that's hardly necessary.
Pro tip if you run into any driver issues, install the latest lts kernel. Easy to do in the system update gui.
The only thing that I find better on windows is the office products. Libre office / open office are not very good compared to MS office.
I'd suggest both Manjaro and Rosa are worth a look.