I am new to Linux and never used it regularly before a couple months ago, but I’d recommend just going with Linux Mint to start off. I don’t know much about Arch, but from all the jokes I see on Lemmy, I get the impression it may be a more advanced distro for people who know what they’re doing? I wanted to try PopOS! because people said it was good for gaming, but the install wasn’t as streamlined for a dual boot Windows/Linux setup.

Linux Mint just kind of works and installed super fast. And my Windows partition is still intact and functional (but I’m wondering if I even need it tbh). My only holdup is Microsoft Office. I still haven’t tried to get that working inside of Linux, but if it’s possible, then I will certainly delete my Windows install.

But anyways, don’t over think it. Just do Linux Mint and then after a while, you’ll be able to understand why or if you should consider another distro I would guess!

I like Arch as well but there is a higher learning curve than with other distro and if you go for Arch go for EndeavorOS or another Arch derivative (except Manjaro).

However, if you’re looking for something to let you game. Nobara is a distro that comes with all the gaming comparability layers and drivers preinstalled. It’s based on Fedora so it’s relatively up to date but not rolling like Arch.

I do prefer Arch. I have it on multiple systems. I prefer it because once it’s settled and it’s working the way you want, it will stay that way for years. Even when you’re updating it regularly.

If you don’t choose arch, consider bookmarking the arch wiki because it’s the best Linux resource out there