@_elena MX XFCE (the XFCE part refers to Desktop enviornment TLDR the graphical interface aspect you work with, XFCE is lighter than KDE better choice for RAM limited machines like old Macbook Air) works really well on Intel Macs based on both my research and testing, have it on 2017 Macbook Air. https://mxlinux.org/

@_elena Fedora (Redhaaaaaat!) and CashyOS (I use arch btw) are my picks.

I also have an MB Air 2013 in my shelf. Maybe I should do the same. But tbh: I have no use for it. I have so many better Notebooks lying around…

@_elena

There is no good answer. My anecdotal experience is that Ubuntu just works in MacBook laptops. I also happen to like the simplicity of the gnome desktop, and the fact that online accounts just work (for Nextcloud, google drive, calendars, even outlook/exchange), seamlessly integrated into the file browser and the time/calendar/notifications.

Be mindful of a possible 30-second delay upon booting into Linux. This can be solved, depends on the MacBook model.

@_elena
I put Mint on all my devices. But those were all Windows. An HP laptop. An old Dell desktop and a Dell 17 inch laptop.
I'm quite happy with Mint.

@_elena endeavourOS

@_elena
NetBSD? One of the few who are against GenAI in their code.

@_elena
Arch isn't quite suitable for beginner though it's an excellent distro.
Mint and Fedora are both great, while their ecosystem is a tad different (Mint may feel like 'more Windows-like').
CachyOS is worth trying as well if you already have some experience with Linux. It's Arch-based and performance-optimised.

@_elena
Mint sarebbe più 'userfriendly'. Magari vale la pena di osservare CachyOS.

@_elena I'm enjoying Manjaro quite a bit, it's based on Arch, so pretty much all Arch documentation and packages also apply for Manjaro, but it's supposed to be more user friendly. I can't say why that is, as I've never tried Arch myself. I guess Manjaro is to Arch what Mint is to Ubuntu, but I'm not sure.

To be honest I'm finding Manjaro far better and more stable than Ubuntu. Though to be fair, I last tried Ubuntu almost 10 years ago, so I can't compare how much that has changed.

@_elena omargy is probably the distro you want. https://omarchy.org/

@_elena I installed mint on my macbook air 2013, works very well

@_elena Strongly recommend Fedora, it’s been very stable for me for years. Not on a Mac though so if that plays into it I wouldn’t know.

@_elena

Intimidated by Archlinux? Do you remember how intimidated you were by selfhosting?

@_elena doing ubuntu under kde plasma for more than a years, works fine. beware of gpu drivers and some kde issues

@_elena I've installed #Mint on three of our Mac Airs at home successfully and they now work like a dream. There is a known issue with the WiFi driver so when installing Mint have a ethernet cable connected or a WiFi dongle. Once installed you can install the driver for the WiFi card easy enough. I'm not a CLI champion but I've been able to get Mint installed with little fuss.

Enjoy!