I’m a software developer with plenty of linux experience but I just want a distro that just works without me having to troubleshoot everything all the time. I am lazy and I just want something easy and reliable. I don’t want an update to break it. But I want the ability to customise it if I want to and the ability to install pretty much everything available easily.
Basically I want MacOS, but as Linux. I’m very hopeful that there’s something I have overlooked!
Use Pop. It’s based on the Ubuntu LTS, but doesn’t have the analytics crap turned on by default, plus they have pre-installed Nvidia drivers, and a pretty great shop, full of flatpaks.
I would also shout loudly for Pop! Also tried mint, Ubuntu, and Debian and I had very much the same “wish” as OP. For me, Pop was the clear winner.
I would hold off until they release their DE and see if it’s good or not
What? They already have a custom DE, but you can use any other DE that you want.