CPUs are usually fine. It’s the GPUs that need updates faster, especially Nvidia. However I generally love to have new features as soon as possible too. On the other hand, I like the slowest updates as possible on my home server.

Inside or outside?

No problem!

Someone already asked me to upload to other than Imgur, so did I, but forgot to edit the main post. Should be fine now.

No problem!

I know I need to get used to at least ImageBB but I forget all the time. In case the other reply also doesn’t work, I uploaded to ImageBB as well. >>

I was gonna reply but you were faster, thanks. :)

Imagine it with Vista:

That’s nice. Then I see no reason not to use auto-update.

You can still go auto-update way but setup something like Timeshift, so if something breaks you can just roll the backup and boot regularly.

Terry is doing his best

Even if it won’t be that high, it’s definitely gonna cost more than Steam Deck.

I have a similar machine from 2011, though it’s x64 >> Samsung N150P. I used it as a typewriter for a couple years and I can suggest the same for you if you have such interests. However later I turned it into a homeserver and currently it serves as Pi-hole, Jellyfin, syncthing etc. Without x64, server might be tough but typewriter wouldn’t mind. For general daily stuff, it’s not really useful.

No problem!

Yeah, it took me kinda long to find about it as well. By the way, if you decide to install it, don’t forget to also install a GUI for it, something like iwgtk for example. Good luck!

It is indeed a pain to use on Linux. We have a similar (maybe the same) Macbook Air and recently I had to deal with the same thing to make it usable. I have tried many different distros, and most of the time I had to install the broadcom-wl driver via phone-tethering. Installing or even using dkms version is not the only problem too, the driver is also awful. The distro I settled was LMDE, surprisingly it was the only distro that came with Broadcom drivers, which was a plus at first. However it deteriorated so fast as you described, I had to find a permanent solution. My solution was completely ditching broadcom-wl drivers in favour of Intel’s iwd driver.

iwd also has performance issues time to time, but at least disabling/re-enabling it solves the issue, unlike had to restart the Macbook with broadcom-wl.

I also tried to replace the Broadcom Wi-Fi module by opening the back cover of Macbook since I had a Wi-Fi card laying around, but sadly the one on Macbook was not a nowadays’ standard M2 unit, so couldn’t done it.

Technically all distros support Nvidia since it’s a kernel thing, however some of them have better out of the box experience, so it would be wiser to go with one of those distros. For gaming, it’s usually better to have more recent drivers, if you play different varieties of games and some of them are newer titles. Though depending on the games, even Debian could be a suitable option.

If you don’t want to learn under-the-hood features, Bazzite could be a nice option for you. If you want familiarity with Windows, you might want to go with KDE as your desktop environment. However don’t be afraid of trying new angles if you like the general idea of a distro. So Pop!_OS might look different than Windows, it’s also a solid distro.

If you’ll need Microsoft programs or some Windows-only programs, choose something you can install Winboat on it, which isn’t currently usable for Bazzite, until the devs bring Podman support for it. Know that, Winboat is not the only interface you can install Windows programs, it just makes things much easier. So depending on the programs, Bazzite still could be a good option for you.

People here seem to recommend Arch-based distros but I wouldn’t start with them, at least until you get some familiarity with Linux in general. There is no problem using them, but a beginner couldn’t handle if something goes wrong after an update (usually happens with Nvidia). It does not happen a lot, but even once is enough for people who can’t handle it.

There is nothing wrong with Linux Mint. You might find it quite straightforward. It does not have the latest Nvidia drivers most of the time but this might not be a problem for you. If you play newer titles though, then it’s probably not the distro you would want.

I wouldn’t say never against a FOSS project. Some people do like GNOME. It’s the best to see for OP’s own eyes. They might like it or hate it. However one shouldn’t be prejudiced. Hate all you want after you tried and found weak points for your usage cases. Some popular distros use GNOME for a reason. Personally I find it too restrictive, but I don’t hate it. You would have rights to hate if it was the only DE around but you have tons of alternative options out there.

Water is deprecated, use ammonia.

Interestingly it was more or less the same on Reddit as well.

If you knew/remember the first days of KDE 5, it was the buggiest DE ever invented at that time. However nowadays I barely even see any bug in KDE, at least for my use cases. And I’m a WM guy who use KDE out of laziness.