Some days ago I just mentioned that Linux Mint is a great entrypoint for people and it was quick to get replies about how that's an outdated distro still on X11 instead of Wayland... like if the tech stack behind a product mattered at all to new people. And here we are, replying to someone who had to drop Wayland because it was simply not working for them. Oh, the irony!

Why? The only complaint I hear about and sort of agree with is that they use snaps, and that's not always a good idea for some packages. But otherwise, for regular users, I'd say Ubuntu has much less foot guns than even Mint. Everything just works, and it's easier to find support and help online whenever something doesn't. I

Pop_os is in a weird state right now too, with the upcoming migration to their new GUI framework

Mint is pretty much Ubuntu with a saner DE. But don't underestimate the benefits of the latter.

I wouldn't say "saner", I think it's just more familiar for Windows users.