# Linux Mint 277 Hacker News commenters recommended Linux Mint and 78 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 4 years (52 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A beginner-friendly Linux distro that feels familiar to Windows users, works out of the box with no ads or nagware, though major version upgrades and display quirks can be troublesome. ## Why people recommend it - Easy for beginners and Windows switchers (13 comments): "My (completely non computer savvy) parents and in-laws are on ubuntu/mint since 2009 and it was the best decision ever to switch them over." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46724303)) "Mint may not be perfect, but I think it's broadly inoffensive and mild, a good distro to leave a good first impression on a new user" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619847)) "Having run Linux Mint across a 50+ coworker setting from a sysadmin perspective this is entirely doable, most will not even notice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461027)) - Works out of the box, stable (8 comments): "I haven't had to "go under the hood" on my daily driver machines that run either of these distros for over 7 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46798371)) "Mint 22 is amazing with cinnamon. Switched from win11 about 2 months ago and have not once booted back to windows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45961184)) "Linux Mint does everything 'gaming' - on top of installation, bluetooth and printing(!) better than Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912605)) - No ads, spyware or nagware (5 comments): "It took me about 15min to not miss anything on Windows and was shocked how I had forgotten how clean a system can be." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49240142)) "the peace of mind I get from not being tied to the spyware infected microsoft ecosystem has been well worth it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47161919)) "Linux Mint is easy to use, runs fine even on modest hardware, and doesn't push a bunch of shitty ads at you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546669)) - Ships without snaps (2 comments): "I implore anyone to just go with Mint or anything else that takes care of ripping out snaps for you if you don't want snaps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47896877)) "I'd go with a downstream distro that removes them: pop os, mint, or even upstream (Debian)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699943)) ## What people warn about - Dist-upgrades can fail or hassle (3 comments): "My biggest problem with Mint was that upgrading the OS became a hassle if I put it off for too long" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45920107)) "unlike regular distros like Mint where you have to cross your fingers and hope that your system still works after a dist-upgrade" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093232)) "My mum was on an Ubuntu base as well (Mint first, later Xubuntu) but after both eventually experienced failed dist-upgrades" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49446772)) - Display scaling and tearing issues (5 comments): "I don't have the same problems I had with Xubuntu, but I have different ones, like tearing on one of my two monitors." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46842822)) "After becoming exhausted trying to tweak Linux Mint to get tolerable sizing across all the screens" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46568781)) - Still needs terminal and tinkering (5 comments): "sometimes it physically hurt to find something that sends me down a rabbit hole yet again on Linux" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461582)) "this is the reality of setting up a simple Linux system with (what is reputed to be) one of the most user-friendly distros there is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587316)) "Even the "Easiest distro in the world" (Mint) according to most Linux nerds is problematic to say the least" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47947109)) - Nvidia and hardware driver fiddling (2 comments): "it didn't just work (TM), and I had to go into recovery mode to install Nvidia drivers, it worked well enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792940)) "On Mint Cinnamon, I only had to install the latest supported kernel to get my RTX and WiFi6 card recognised." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47406117)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Ubuntu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu.md): 560 recommend - [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian.md): 552 recommend - [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora.md): 437 recommend - [Arch Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arch-linux.md): 362 recommend - [Asahi Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asahi-linux.md): 260 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Linux Mint", https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux-mint/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).