[40acres]

Off topic: I've been in the market for a new laptop that runs Linux, I've never had a PC that ran Linux (closest thing was a Macbook running MacOS, I'm also discounting my work laptop that allows me to VNC into SuSe). After doing some research it seemed like Arch Linux might be a good fit, it seems like a very minimal OS that allows for great customization. However I'm unsure how user friendly it would be for someone who has never installed a Linux distro.

Can anyone comment about their experiences with moving to Arch and the learning curve?

[arca_vorago]

"Can anyone comment about their experiences with moving to Arch and the learning curve?"

To me arch is designed to force you to learn the guts of your system, so it has a relatively high learning curve but it is one that pays dividends in the form of understanding what your system is doing and how it is setup. (this aside from the side-effect of keeping it debloated and therefor fast)

Honestly, what I would suggest is this:

Step 1:(if you have the time) go through a full arch install. Now format and do it again without following the guide. Now maybe do it one more time.

Step 2: (if pressed for time and/or lazy) Install Manjaro. I distro-hop frequently, and while I generally try to use debian on servers, for desktop/laptop use I have gone from Arch to Suse to Fedora, but I recently gave Majaro a shot, and I can honestly say next to Suse it has the easiest and most graceful linux installer I have ever seen (beating even Ubuntu). I generally don't like using Mint-like everything in a box distros, but the slimness of Arch along with the Just works of Ubuntu/Fedora/Suse I am finding it highly likely Manjaro is going to be my distro of choice for a long time to come. If in doubt, you can always just fire up different installs in a virtualbox first.

[sha666sum]

Personally I started out with Arch on an old 64bit Atom netbook. I got a nice hobby out of it, and liked it so much I put it on all my computers. If you have a knack for googling and enjoy reading high quality wiki pages that document far beyond the scope of the operating system, you'll probably enjoy it. It requires patience and some time investment, but it's no rocket science.

[the_commentary]

To be honest Arch as a distro is more for advanced users -- if you're trying to dip your toes into linux the quintessential starting point is probably Ubuntu or ElementaryOS (linux mint is also pretty good). Arch's philosophy is very much to give you the bare minimum and then you can get what you need to stack on top of it, which often involves a bit of config tweaking. This might get frustrating if you aren't fairly intimate with working with a linux command line environment.

[coldpie]

Arch was my first distro, ten years ago, and I'm still using it. There's a learning curve, but the documentation is second to none and at the end you'll have a system that you actually understand and can maintain and troubleshoot. When I try other distros, I find they always fall over in some baffling way[1] and I pine for the dead-simple package management of Arch.

[1] Installing a 32-bit package on Debian uninstalls all 64-bit packages????????????????? Why is this even allowed?

[v0v]

Try Manjaro Linux (https://manjaro.org/)

Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system. Available in both 32 and 64 bit versions, Manjaro is suitable for newcomers as well as experienced Linux users.

[pubby]

The installation is the most challenging part but it really just boils down to "Can you follow directions?"

Best simple/minimal install: use XFCE without a login manager. This gives you a very nice "default" environment without having to spend any time configuring.