Why Manjaro Linux is the Best Distro 🐧 – Personal Experience

I tried Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS, and Pop!_OS before I finally moved to Manjaro Linux. Not that I hated every other Linux Distros, but I liked Manjaro more than that of the others.

Manjaro looks modern & intuitive, and its rolling release feature couldn’t let me go away. And, oh! how can I forget the AUR (Arch User Repository) — it’s amazing.

In this post, I will be explaining why I chose Manjaro over other Linux distros.

And, please note that I am writing this on the basis of my personal experience with Linux. Please don’t take this in any other way.

So, here we go…

When I First Moved to Linux

The very first Linux distro that I interacted with was Ubuntu on my friend’s laptop in 2014 and it felt nice and different. At that time, I was running Windows 8 on my laptop.

However, it took me almost a year to install Linux, and finally, I installed Linux Mint (probably Cinnamon) on my laptop in 2015. I used Mint for 3 years and later moved back to Windows for unknown reasons (maybe I needed a break).

After 2018, I’ve moved to Linux again this month (June 2020).

Best Linux Distro – My Story

This time when I decided to install Linux on my main laptop, I thought that it will be better to try a few distros before sticking to the one.

And, I took this thing literally. I didn’t just use these distros as a Live USB but installed each of them on my laptop (no VM).

I tried:

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Zorin OS Core 15.2
• Linux Mint Cinnamon 19.3 “Tricia”
• Pop!_OS 20.04
• Manjaro KDE Plasma 20.0.3 (using now)

At first, I installed Ubuntu. The new design and colors looked good but sometimes it started freezing on my system, and it wasn’t able to run an AppImage file that I had. And, guess what, Ubuntu wasn’t able to hold me for more than a day.

After watching some videos and searching on Reddit, I thought to give Zorin OS a try; installed it, used it for a day, and felt that it is consuming more RAM in the idle situation. I moved away, again.

Linux Mint was the next distro that I put my hands on; installed and used it for 3 days, everything worked fine except for the battery backup. Mint was draining my laptop’s battery almost twice than that of the Ubuntu and Zorin OS. I tried installing TLP but it didn’t improve much.

The next distro I tried was Pop!_OS. It didn’t feel good either, I didn’t like the desktop environment (now, I know that the desktop environment can be changed too ?).

I got tired of trying a new OS every 2-3 days and decided to ask the Linux community for some good recommendations. I took some time and posted a query on Reddit explaining my situation.

People on Reddit made me realize that till then I had only used Debian/Ubuntu-based distros. I randomly picked one of their suggestion and decided to give Manjaro Linux a try which is Arch based. I was earlier using Gnome, and Xfce doesn’t look good to me; so I installed Manjaro KDE Plasma 20.0.3 on my laptop.

Minutes after the installation, I realized that this is the one.

All my requirements were fulfilled — battery life was great, RAM consumption was optimum, design, UI everything seemed amazing.

Reasons to Use Manjaro Linux

Manjaro is Arch based and there are multiple jokes on Arch Linux due to its complex installation procedure.

But, Manjaro is nothing like that. The installation process is very simple and is almost like installing Ubuntu or Mint — even better in some ways.

Here are the main reasons why I liked Manjaro a lot:

1. Software Availability

I needed Skype, it was available through AUR; I needed Telegram, it was available on the default package manager itself.

AUR (Arch User Repository) is huge, and you will find almost any software that you’re looking for.

2. Rolling Release

Unlike Ubuntu, Manjaro supports bleeding-edge rolling release — new features and updates become available to your PC as soon as they are released.

Also, you won’t have to upgrade your system twice a year like Ubuntu and others; you will get the new Kernel, feature, and application updates as soon as they’re available.

3. Faster to Load

Whether it’s about booting up speed or about loading applications, in my case, Manjaro was faster than all the other distros that I tried.

HowToGeek found out that Manjaro had only 24 services and daemons running in the idle state whereas Ubuntu had 90. And, that really makes a difference.

You can check the running processes on your system by using the below command:

systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled --no-pager

Apart from these, there are many other reasons why I like:

• laptop’s battery lasts longer
• consumes lesser RAM
• UI looks modern & intuitive
• friendly & welcoming community
• easy & quick to install
• no more PPAs
• highly customizable

Final Words

To date, I haven’t experienced any kinds of problems with the distro but as soon as something happens, I will update here, immediately.

I explained that why and how much I like Manjaro Linux.

Now, it’s your turn.

Which Linux distro do you use? and, why?