Best Linux distro for laptops?

[Aquavit]

Does anyone in the group have a favorite Linux distro for their laptop? I've heard Ubuntu/MATE works well on most laptops, and I've got this brand new Lenovo laptop that is just crying out for some open source goodness.

[L0oniX]

1. Check this list below...

Ubuntu Unity standard version

UbuntuGNOME (Ubuntu with GNOME, instead of Unity)

Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE Plasma desktop, instead of Unity)

Xubuntu (Ubuntu with Xfce desktop, instead of Unity)

Lubuntu (Ubuntu with LXDE instead of Unity)

Edubuntu (specially designed for educational purposes)

UbuntuStudio (specially designed for multimedia production)

Ubuntu Kylin (optimized for Chinese users)

Mythbuntu (Xubuntu-based desktop with MythTV installed by default)

[Aquavit]

2. Not using this laptop for media

This will mostly be used for web development, and the Linux distribution will share space on the hard drive with Windows 8.1.

[Recursion]

3. The main difference is the default desktop

Basically, you'll either have Unity (ubuntu), Gnome (Fedora/Debian), or Cinnamon/MATE (Mint).

Among the less-popular distributions, I'm a huge fan of Slackware (that's what I run), but if you aren't familiar with it you might start with Salix, which is kind of a "gentle" version.

The other question is "how often do I want stuff to break"? Fedora will break often, Ubuntu and Mint less so, Debian essentially never (assuming you use the "stable" version), and Slackware absolutely never, but the price of less frequent breakage is more obsolete software, so weigh those options for your own use case.

[Aquavit]

5. Any fans of Elementary OS?

I've used Ubuntu (and loved it) on a desktop before, and Lubuntu on a very old MacBook as well, but for this new machine I'm really intrigued by Mint and Elementary OS.

The thing that I'm most sensitive to is heat and battery life. Seems like Lubuntu felt it should run my old MacBook at about 400F at idle, and that really took it's toll on the battery.

[Recursion]

6. Is Elementary the one that uses Enlightenment DR17?

Or is that Saboyon?

[Aquavit]

7. Elementary uses Gala if I'm not mistaken?

Not 100% sure I've got that right?

[Aquavit]

8. I enjoy it when things break, sort of.

Because then it's time to figure out a way (or two, or three) to fix it! But then again that's probably why I'm seriously thinking about going back to school for computer science.

[PowerToThePeople]

9. Linux does not break much any more

5-10 years ago, you may have had to tweak stuff a bit. But rarely does anything break any more.

On that note, I Just updated a couple of my systems from Wheezy to Jessie and one of them is now having fits mounting NFS shares from my server. Hmm, time to dig in.

[d_r]

4. on this one

i have mint with xfce and I like it. I would probably do xubuntu the next time though.