In 2021, I stumbled across Zorin and gave it a try. I figured I'd get rid of it in short order but... I never did. It's just comfy. Things work, it feels nice, hotkeys do what I expect. I feel more comfortable with it than I do with OSX, Windows, or any of the other Unix/Linux distros I use for work.
I never really hear it mentioned by anyone, which sort of makes me wonder how it keeps going. I bought the pro version to support the developers, but didn't end up using any of its features.
Anyone else have hot takes on it?
This left Linux -- I did a bit of research on beginner-friendly distros, with a particular emphasis on ease of use, especially for those coming from Mac/Windows. Zorin featured in my research and in the end I shelled out for the Pro version ($30-$40 IIRC) and chucked it on a Framework laptop.
I haven't looked back. Zero support overhead, everything just works: from printers, to trackpad gestures, to bluetooth, to dual monitors, to the fingerprint reader.
She has no complaints about it either. And she gets cool points at school cos she's rockin a slick-looking machine with a funky-looking OS while her mates are on buggy Surface Pros or shitty Chromebooks.
It's not the most bleeding edge or power user distro, but for bog-standard users it's perfect.
I think if you're happy with it, I can't see a reason why you wouldn't keep using it. There's no reason to hop around.
I personally use PopOS which feels like a nice comfy sofa. Whatever floats your boat. :)
On an XPS 13" I experienced subtle input lag, but I switched to xanmod kernel and everything smoothed right up.
I still donate to Mint because I think it's great.
One other thing: With Mint, I used to spend time on their discord reading stuff from other Mint users. I have no idea if Zorin has any kind of community forum or discord, and I haven't looked. It feels spooky, like this distro just fell out of the sky and works great. I wonder if their most common customers are companies / governments / public services?
I haven't figured out how to get an extension monitor working, mine doesn't by default like Ubuntu. Otherwise a pretty smooth transition.
I see no reason to switch back.
I've been running Linux for about twenty years so that definitely should bias my review.
My only real gripe is that it doesn't have a global menu, so the top bar is largely useless. I would pay to make that a built in option.