I'd suggest Mint. It's Ubuntu minus Ubuntu-specific annoyances, so it's right in your zone of familiarity. Friendly enough so my tech-illiterate mum uses it, unobtrusive enough so I've been using it without issues.

Arch would give you more control, and you've been getting into it, it's also a good option.

As much as I hate doing it, I'd recommend using the proprietary NVidia drivers. I also have a NVidia GPU; the difference in performance between the proprietary drivers vs. Nouveau is noticeable for me. Worst hypothesis though it's fine to test and see which works better for your machine.

Arch, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, atomic Fedora based like Bazzite, (maybe Nix, Void, Clear Linux)

should all work fine. I wouldn't recommend any distros with an update period of over 6 months like Debian or Ubuntu LTS though. Easiest way yo get going would probably be either Fedora KDE Spin or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

Personally I suggest Fedora with KDE.

It has a great update cadence time frame, and good hardware support (indirectly backed by IBM). And games really well in Steam/Proton.

That'll get you the most Windows like experience on Linux, for an average user who doesn't like to tinker much and just wants it to work out of the box.

Just make sure to accept third party libraries / apps when you first install. It's a single checkbox that you click.

~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0)~

I'd suggest Fedora or Arch. Debian and Ubuntu are definitely solid options, but if you have experience with them and want something new, those first two distros are both fantastic and both stay up to date with fast release cycles. They might be a little less stable because of that, but that's kind of Debian and it's downstream options wheelhouse. So I'd use your preference on that to help guide your eventual preferred distro.

I switched from ububtu to fedora kde about a year ago. really solid for gaming and the differences are not that big.

for work I also use debian and it is really cool to be able to understaand deb and "enterprise linux"(fedora/suse) differences

If you like the interface of the steam deck in desktop mode and you are most familiar with Ubuntu, you could try Kubuntu.. which is just Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment like what the deck has. Theres also the KDE Fedora spin. If you do want to go the Arch route you could install EndeavourOS, which is practically arch with a little bit of hand holding to get you on your feet quickly - and to help you learn the ropes.

I need some advice on what to throw on this laptop - and some suggestions on how to squeeze the best performance out of this (Optimus vs. Proprietary NVIDIA vs. Open source drivers).

Optimus isn’t a driver, but a way for the laptop to use both the integrated graphics and the discreet card. It doesn’t work well with Linux so you’ll want to disable it in EFI. This will increase heat and energy use.

If you do end up wanting to use Optimus, the Arch wiki has a lot of good information. You should use the proprietary driver in nearly all cases.

As far as distros, take a look at Bazzite, it’s a gaming-focused distro and similar to the steam deck’s OS.

I’ve not used it myself but I’ve only heard good things about bazzite

My first distro was Ubuntu and I've been very happy with it. Many hate it for being bloated or because of the snap package manager, but in my uninformed opinion I think it's a solid choice for beginners, since everything is already set up and ready to go. On my laptop I'm trying out NixOS, but I'm having more trouble setting that up and it's better for advanced users, I believe. Many also recommended Linux Mint, which is also good for beginners, but doesn't have the snap package manager like ubuntu does.

For Nvidia GPU, if u want squeeze the most out of it during gaming. I think there is 2 best options Bazzite(it is immutable so it will be really hard to break) or Nobara. Both of them is fedora base, so unfortunately your familiar with Debian based will not do much.

My experience with nobara has been great. It is fedora based rather than arch though.

(Reposted)

I highly recommend Linux Mint, foe the most important reasons:

• The Driver manager allows you to install any non-libre drivers you're missing from the internet

• Comes with Flatpak already set up

• It counts with LiveCD(Like Ubuntu) to test the distro before installing it, you want to spend some time here before you fully commit

Also, watch this video before switching to Linux, it's the most honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkc5WzciHw

I daily drive Arch for about 7 years, therefore I'm clearly biased. But I love Arch for the AUR and the ease of getting packages. For me, it is the best OS on desktop to get things done. For other use cases, I would probably choose a different OS, but desktop is Arch all the way.

But you'r mileage may vary.

NobaraOS. Comes with laptop specific fixes OOTB. Gaming fixes OOTB. Nvidia OOTB. Zero problems.

arch, btw, i use arch, btw