Btrfs snapshots are already used in openSUSE microOS which is branded as immutable. And AshOS generalizes it for any kind of distro: https://github.com/ashos/ashos . I think it is nice middle-ground for regular distros, which does them more reliable.

But for me, immutables are more about separation between the base system and the apps, where the base is not only immutable, but image-based: ostree, A/B partitions, systemd-sysupdate. And the apps are distro-independent: flatpak, containers, and so on. So apps are upgraded independently from the system, and one doesn’t need to upgrade the system just to have apps updated or vice versa. Btrfs snapshots doesn’t solve anything here by itself.

It is quite opinionated though.

Oh, I see also by their screenshots, that Bluefin also spoils the UX of GNOME with custom extensions. So I will consider it the Manjaro (or Mint) of immutable distros.

Silverblue is an official Fedora edition, almost exact Fedora Workstation, but immutable. I use it. universal blue is a third-party project and their images are bloated with additional “features”: packages, drivers, etc. Bluefin contains Homebrew for example. It’s how they describe it, but I haven’t tried it to say more precise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

When an Arch user tries NixOS.

PackageKit

Bad to whom?

At least it is not a cheap copy of Windows.

Tor Browser does, but differently. It attempts to behave in the same way an all platforms, ignores installed libs/fonts/etc, uses letterboxing against resolution fingerprinting.

https://support.torproject.org/tbb/maximized-torbrowser-window/

Oh, but so many people in the world identify themselves as religious. Why they do not want to see an artificial God?

I wish to live in a world where the media doesn’t consist of articles about how some rich or famous person says or thinks something.

It is comparatively to Debian/Ubuntu derivatives. Even Arch and NixOS probably have more users now. Lately I see some popularity of uBlue derivatives among new users, but I don’t know how many people use it, and where the popularity comes from.

Because Mint is popular among the crowd, and such challenges are also driven by the crowd. Better to see it as some social or meme dynamics, than to explain it with logical reasons. I also see more new users who use arch, because of the “I use arch BTW” meme.

As a Fedora Silverblue user I find it hard to recommend it to new users. It’s not an issue with Fedora, but with the state of Linux desktop in general. At least with Mint/Ubuntu people can rely on social media and the community if they have problems. And Fedora is a more niche thing, and doesn’t have a big crowd.

Moreover, I chose Fedora because of my experience, which allows me to have opinion what is better. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to explain the years of the Linux desktop drama to new users, when they are just doing the first steps or trying to feed their curiosity.

Give attention to Qubes OS also, It’s the easiest way for separating apps for different tasks, using them with different proxies (VPNs, Tor) or profiles at the same tame.

I’m not sure if your issues are related to the distro(s) used and not to the hardware. But if you wish immutable distros…

You can try to use Ubuntu, but installing all the apps as snaps (and/or flatpaks). That will give you immutable-like experience on a regular Ubuntu installation. Otherwise, I’d recommend to try Fedora Silverblue and openSUSE Aeon.

Tor Browser is the best way.

If there is a developed ecosystem, it’s better not to try to fix it.

Not true about Rawhide. It’s a testing environment for maintainers and developers. And it often has many outdated packages.

Oh, these long-awaited arm laptops are designed for high TDP and have active cooling. I don’t see why to choose them over Intel/AMD in that case.