Linux Mint 19.1 Vs Manjaro 18 | Which is the Best Linux Distro?

In this video, we will be comparing Linux Mint 19.1 and Manjaro 18 side by side and in depth. we will be having a look at the user interface, performance, stability, software availability, gaming and many more aspects of Linux Mint and Manjaro.

Manjaro and Mint have always been in the top 5 Linux distros since forever. And they rightly deserve to be. They both are highly polished, dependable and provide a great computing experience. They both have a fan following that is in millions.
But they both are very different from each other. One is a stability-focused distro with a life cycle of 5 years and the other is a bleeding edge distro which pushes updates, pretty much every day.

So, how do they compare against each other? Which among them is the best? Which among them is more suitable FOR You? Linux Mint or Manjaro. Let's find out.

Manjaro offers all the desktop environments but XFCE has always been its main desktop. At the very first look, you can see that the XFCE desktop is customized extensively to suit the Manjaro branding. The functionality in XFCE desktop is boosted by features taken from other desktops here. Manjaro desktop promotes a distraction-free, productivity-oriented environment by cutting down all the glittery stuff.
The desktop is minimal and very fast. By default, you'll find everything you need here with no unnecessary bloat.
A number of amazing wallpapers are included by default. I'm really loving what's in here.
All in all, it's XFCE, but it looks really good. Top points for Manjaro desktop.

Linux Mint, on the other hand, is famous for its homegrown Cinnamon desktop. Cinnamon is one of the most loved desktop environments. And looking at it, it's quite clear why.
Cinnamon desktop is highly intuitive, elegant and just so gorgeous to look at. The menu is organized and accessible. Unlike GNOME desktop, the menu does not cut the users workflow. Controlling your computer is really easy. Linux Mint's interface is quite amazing.

Cinnamon is also highly customizable with a wide range of themes and additional widgets called spices. The effects and animations are there, but not so much that they distract you from your work.
I really love working on the cinnamon desktop, it has this homely feel to it.

Now at a glance, Mint and Manjaro desktops might look rather similar. But there is a huge difference in the underlying technologies used to build Manjaro's Xfce and Mint's Cinnamon.
Xfce is a very lightweight desktop built with 2 main aims, to be extremely fast and low on system resources. Cinnamon, on the other hand, was derived from GNOME 3, which is not exactly known for being lightweight. Cinnamon looks much more polished to the eye. It's just so smooth. But XFCE is visibly faster at launching applications and window controls.
Side by side, you can notice a snappy performance on manjaro's part when compared against Linux Mint.

Although Manjaro is based on Arch Linux, it has it's own software repositories. And these repositories contain a huge number of packages. And these packages are relatively newer. You pretty much get the latest of all the Linux software. On top of this, you get the amazing Arch User repositories or the AUR. Now AUR is probably the biggest pool of Linux software. It is community maintained and has pretty much anything and everything you need. So Manjaro's software availability is top notch.

Moving to Linux Mint, mint is based on Ubuntu and being based on Ubuntu means access to the huge Ubuntu software repositories and the PPAs.

The Ubuntu software repositories are huge and contain a very large number of software. Pretty much anything you need can be installed directly through the Ubuntu Repositories. And the software that are not available in the official Ubuntu repositories are brought to you through the use of PPAs. PPAs are maintained by the software developers or the maintainer themselves, which you can generally trust and install from.

Almost all the developers support Ubuntu by providing either a PPA or .deb installers. Which can be installed on Linux Mint too.

As I installed a couple of games on Manjaro, I noticed a consistent screen tearing on my screen while gaming. While everything was butter smooth on Linux Mint.
Now, I do know that this is an NVIDIA card and XFCE issue and not a Manjaro specific issue. But I still was disappointed by that.
And Steam officially supports only Ubuntu, so either Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distros like Linux Mint should be preferred for gaming on Linux as steam games are tested and optimized for Ubuntu.

[t.hojrup]

Mint Cinnamon edition is the best dist i have tried so far, everything just works, and so easy to use.

[dozeyy]

Mint XFCE vs Manjaro XFCE had been more interesting.

[pavlospilakoutas]

Must have used 5 or 6 distros before ending up with Mint. I checked out different distros from time to time but Mint is the final choice for me.

[akshaymeshram]

I tried many beautiful distros, but each time Linux Mint pulls me back towards it. Its just feels like coming back to home when I use Linux Mint.

[davidg]

I can't believe I havnt found this channel a whole ago. Good quality

[tpasiUG]

Mint is the best Linux distro. Hussle free distro

[dhineshs]

Mint is my favorite. It brings windows clone with more speed.

[mmoJ]

I wanted to try linux mint a couple of times but failed because i couldn't solve the screen flickering issue which bothered me A LOT. I don't know the technical explanation of the issue, the screen was not running as butter smooth as windows does. Probably refresh rate? I'm kind of sensitive to screen refreesh rate, if it's not smooth i get dizzy. Anyways, i crashed the OS while trying to fix it (i did some stuff from web forums) and then got tired and switched back to Windows. My GPU is AMD R9 380x, is there a way to set screen refresh rate in Mint or Manjaro? I still want to switch but i need to solve this first

[wollwo]

I am running on MInt 19 and I noticed that some of packages in Ubuntu/mint are so old that no longer works, are broken or just old :/

[tonyv]

I appreciate these reviews very much. IMHO it would be most helpful if the reviews compared different distros using the same desktop.

[dillon]

Personally I duel boot Linux Mint 19.1 Cinnamon and Manjaro 18 KDE. And I have to say that Linux Mint is more user friendly, and I use it when I want to do simple tasks like use basic programs, watch youtube, listen to music and just have an overall hassle free expeirience. However Manjaro is good for programming, tinkering, developing and other more advanced stuff.



If you are a beginner, or just want to use a computer, use Linux Mint.



If you want to develop and do advanced Linux stuff, use Manjaro as it is based on Arch and is a rolling release.

[Pedrok]

Downloaded manjaro to a usb stick to try and will not run says grub rescue error or something think I will keep using mint

[EternalFunction]

Been distro hopping around mint, elementary, manjaro..and stick with manjaro for quite sometime now.. due to
1. huge aur repo
2. it just work.
3. found that performance is much better in manjaro, and esp if you're on amd system.

also, this channel deserve more subs!

[vitorazevedo]

Like always yours videos are fun and educational, I always learn something aboyt the linux world! Keep on the great work!

[varunmissile]

Sir, Is advisable to go for Rolling update model as in case of Manjaro arch model or better to stick with Ubuntu

[Chess]

please clarify which give me smooth overall performance and also fantastic gaming experience I want to move from Windows 10 pro to Linux

[rishabhbansal]

Because of windows 10 irritating updates which made it very slow O am moving to Linux but will it be same in manjaro??

[jameslewis]

Having recently tried Manjaro I have found that the biggest downside is the fact that it uses the same file types as Arch. The issue with this is that most sofwares you can download outside the repositories built in come in .deb and .rpm formats that generally are not supported in Manjaro or other Arch based distributions. Otherwise I also have had issues with screen tearing. I am using an AMD RX480 so I am discounting Nvidia drivers as a possible cause (I managed to get past it by reinstalling the OS but I still don't know what caused it) The other issue I had with it (that was not because I did something to it) is that it would lock up sometimes when the system went into power saving or had been left on for a while.


Things I really loved were the accessability in terms of how easy I could get to the settings without knowing my way around the command line (which I could not do when I tried Ubuntu) and the fact that the hardware detection routines built into the distro were so spot on. Literally the only thing it could not install automatically was an old printer. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I did find it to be quite buggy in comparison with my Windows 10 installation (sorry Linux supremacists, but it is the truth). Another issue the fact that a lot of my Steam library would not work despite being Linux certified by Valve.

[ivdodig]

I use Linux Mint xfce on Macbook Pro 13 /Mid2010/ and I have amazing user experience.

[bond]

Great comparison, I love them both. Debian based vs Arch based. But for an Arch based Distro my choices are Antergos and ArcoLinux..