[stormbrew]

I was a big fan of Mint for a while, but baseline Ubuntu gives you so much flexibility to just choose a DE (or lack thereof), including Cinnamon if you want, that I don't see the point in using the altbuntus anymore. Just install the DE you want and switch it in the login screen.

You might be sacrificing running the bleeding edge of that particular environment, but instead you get kept more up to date on basically everything else (not that the others lag that much, but you're probably waiting a little longer for the next point release at the very least).

[carlivar]

Yes, I completely agree. Ubuntu is fantastic at auto-detecting your hardware and making everything Just Work (by Linux standards - your mileage may vary). So take advantage of that base but use whatever window manager you want. Easily selectable in the login screen.