{"id":244846,"date":"2026-05-12T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint-i-compared-my-once-favorite-distro-to-the-windows-alternative\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T01:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:40:08","slug":"elementary-os-vs-linux-mint-i-compared-my-once-favorite-distro-to-the-windows-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint-i-compared-my-once-favorite-distro-to-the-windows-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"Elementary OS vs. Linux Mint: I compared my once favorite distro to the Windows alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint\/\">Elementary OS vs. Linux Mint: I compared my once favorite distro to the Windows alternative<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint\/\">https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-05-12 21:12:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.zdnet.com\">www.zdnet.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">Linux Mint and Elementary<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Follow ZDNET:\u00a0<span class=\"c-commerceLink\"><span>Add us as a preferred source<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on Google.<\/p>\n<h3>ZDNET&#8217;s key takeaways<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Both elementary OS and Linux Mint are great for new users.<\/li>\n<li>Each distribution appeals to a different type of user.<\/li>\n<li>You can install and use both for free.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Linux has more different distributions than a puzzle has pieces. They number in the thousands, and range from the very easy to the incredibly complicated.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, if you&#8217;re new to Linux, you&#8217;re going to want to start with something that can painlessly introduce you to the open-source operating system. Every Linux user has an opinion on which distribution is best suited for new users, but I would argue that the choice depends on where you&#8217;re coming from.<\/p>\n<p>I want to address two different distributions that make sense for users coming from either MacOS or Windows. Those who are new to Linux probably don&#8217;t want to migrate to an operating system that looks nothing like what they are used to.<\/p>\n<p>Ergo: elementary OS and Linux Mint. Let&#8217;s see which one is right for you.<\/p>\n<h2>elementary OS<\/h2>\n<p>I have a soft spot in my heart for elementary OS. In fact, I once called it my favorite distribution of all time. I used this distribution for years and found it to be an absolute delight. The elementary OS distribution offers a clean desktop that will be instantly familiar to those who are accustomed to MacOS. You&#8217;ll find a bottom dock and a top panel, and a desktop that has a very tasteful theme. All of those elements come together to make a Linux distribution that is not only easy to use but pleasing to the eye.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: Elementary OS 8 continues the tradition of a beautiful, user-friendly desktop<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Based on the LTS release of Ubuntu, elementary OS benefits from the same reliability as found in its mothership, and it&#8217;s just as user-friendly (if not more so). You&#8217;ll find the default elementary OS theme to be classy and well thought out, making it very easy to interact with.<\/p>\n<p>When you log into the desktop, you&#8217;ll find a dock and a top bar. On the dock,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/elementary-os-vs-linux-mint\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elementary OS vs. Linux Mint: I compared my once favorite distro to the Windows alternative&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/063889abcbc144d0ab9626db9454f355d1189c86\/2026\/05\/11\/f358969b-033d-47e0-9f6d-2a82fbfabb4c\/mint-vs-elementary.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&height=675&width=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[169,71,110,79],"class_list":["post-244846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux","tag-elementary-os","tag-linux","tag-linux-mint","tag-ubuntu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244850,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244846\/revisions\/244850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}