[exmuslim]

I agree that Mint is very much polished but I actually started recommending Elementary over it just because of well it looks, it's quite subjective.

Adobe suite and VS are also the sole reason I have a Windows dual boot set up. Hopefully in the future but I honestly doubt it.

[hsitz]

Looks are pretty silly and irrelevant for most power users. I run Ubuntu with the i3 tiling window manager, which doesn't even have a desktop. Having a desktop is another thing that's pretty much irrelevant, given the way i3 works. I would never sacrifice the functionality I really like just to get something that's supposedly "prettier".

[minitech]

Looks are extremely important for everyone. i3, however, is an example of something that looks good. For bad, see https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1013849/, https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1013788/, https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1013780/.

[kijin]

There are different kinds of users. No need to call something silly and irrelevant just because it doesn't fit your preferences and priorities.

For example, one of the first things I check when trying out a new Linux distro is whether I can tweak the font rendering exactly the way I like. If this takes more than a few minutes, or if Firefox and LibreOffice don't pick up my tweaks consistently, that distro is out. I don't care what other awesome features it has. If I'm going to be looking at it for 10 hours a day, it had better not hurt my eyes. I would never sacrifice visual comfort just to get something that's supposedly "more functional". But that's just me. Other people will have other priorities.

[iamcreasy]

How do you tweak the font of the entire environment?

[kijin]

In most desktop environments, you can change the system font, font size, subpixel rendering options, etc. in the "Settings" (or equivalent) menu.

[jamesgeck0]

Usability is important. Basically every X.org distro ever supports your i3 power user setup. A much smaller number of distros are aimed exclusively at making Linux easier for average users.