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Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distro. The main focus of this operating system is on ease of use and an abundance of other useful features. Linux mint has a perfect balance of a lightweight base, immaculate UI, and stable performance which puts it towards the top of the Linux distros hierarchy. Read the official Guide to using LinuxMint.
Elementary OS, on the other hand, is an aesthetic alternative to other operating systems. One of its key advantages is total privacy and the no-tracking environment. It is a relatively new addition to the Linux distro family but is quickly becoming one of the favorites. The design is cleaned up to make it more streamlined, especially for folks migrating from other operating systems. Read more about Why you should Install Elementary OS.
In case, you want to understand the difference between Linux mint vs Ubuntu, click to read.
While both are based on Linux, they vary in everything from goals to visual styles, and intended use.
Linux Mint Vs. Elementary OS- differences
Linux Mint | Elementary OS |
It is mostly driven by the dedicated Linux community. | It was founded by a group of specialists with a heavy focus on ease of use and user experience. |
The base of Linux Mint is a mixture of Ubuntu and Debian. | It is mostly based on Ubuntu. |
It is a general-purpose distro but works flawlessly in workstations and under heavy workloads. | It is a general-purpose distro as well, but it is more suitable for media consumption and other lightweight activities. It can be used in a workstation, but that isn’t recommended. |
The third-party software support on it is excellent right out of the box. The repository also contains more than 30,000 useful packages. | Third-party software support is fairly decent but lacks a bit behind Mint, as it takes some time for the latest versions of software to become available. |
It contains all of the necessary drivers out of the box and has excellent support for older hardware. | Driver support is on par with Linux Mint, but it lacks in department of support for hardware that’s a bit dated. |
Resource usage is fairly minimal but still more than some extreme lightweight Linux distros. | Resource usage is a bit more than Linux Mint, but not by much. |
The community is fairly active, and you can get good community support very quickly. The documentation on the OS is also adequate, especially for beginner users. | It also has a community but a less active one due to the smaller user base. The documentation on the OS is extremely basic, even for a beginner. |
All necessary codecs and critical drivers are preinstalled on the system, and you get up and running fairly quickly. | Elementary OS isn’t as complete after installation, and some effort is required to get the best apps for basic functions. |
It is extremely stable as stability is one of the main focuses of this OS. | It has some issues with stability, especially since most of the apps are in their early days. |
It has a fixed release cycle. Users can expect to get updates once every month. | It doesn’t have pre-established release cycles, and updates can be sporadic. |
