In summary: Choose what you want, what you have the easiest time working with.
A bit more into my own opinion-
Personally, I use Ubuntu as my gaming and productivity distro. It’s super easy to install and does everything for you (you can customize aspects of installation if you want). I’ve had issues installing Arch-Based distros on my rig, even with UEFI off. Arch-Based distros need more technical knowledge; I’ve found myself unable to dig too deep in the guts of certain aspects. The installer is truly hands-on, and due to the UEFI issue, my manual partitioning failed. It was specifically the EndeavourOS installer, which had this particular issue. Completely deleted my ability to boot Ubuntu, leading to a frantic night of reinstalling Ubuntu. I’d only suggest anything Arch related if you’re comfortable with learn by doing or have advanced experience with the inner workings of software.
For me, Ubuntu is a good middle ground that gives the user room to play, but also a stable base to build on top of. Valve’s Proton Compatibility makes gaming on most distros fairly easy because a lot of the work is done for a user. I’ve run so many games on Ubuntu just fine using Proton. There are exceptions for older games, which have different methods to get them running on Linux.
You can also enable Flatpak on Ubuntu (using commands to install the proper dependencies to make Flatpaks work on your system). There are so many options aside from using Debs and Snaps on Ubuntu. Snaps have gotten much better over time, I find myself not having any noticeable issues now since Canonical has worked heavily on the installer.
The distro I end up recommending more, second to Ubuntu, is Linux Mint because of their onboarding new users experience. It’s just as easy as Ubuntu to use, a bit aesthetically challenged though as Mint really embraces that default older Windows look. However, that familiarity helps ease new users into a Linux Distro.
In summary: Choose what you want, what you have the easiest time working with.
A bit more into my own opinion-
Personally, I use Ubuntu as my gaming and productivity distro. It’s super easy to install and does everything for you (you can customize aspects of installation if you want). I’ve had issues installing Arch-Based distros on my rig, even with UEFI off. Arch-Based distros need more technical knowledge; I’ve found myself unable to dig too deep in the guts of certain aspects. The installer is truly hands-on, and due to the UEFI issue, my manual partitioning failed. It was specifically the EndeavourOS installer, which had this particular issue. Completely deleted my ability to boot Ubuntu, leading to a frantic night of reinstalling Ubuntu. I’d only suggest anything Arch related if you’re comfortable with learn by doing or have advanced experience with the inner workings of software.
For me, Ubuntu is a good middle ground that gives the user room to play, but also a stable base to build on top of. Valve’s Proton Compatibility makes gaming on most distros fairly easy because a lot of the work is done for a user. I’ve run so many games on Ubuntu just fine using Proton. There are exceptions for older games, which have different methods to get them running on Linux.
You can also enable Flatpak on Ubuntu (using commands to install the proper dependencies to make Flatpaks work on your system). There are so many options aside from using Debs and Snaps on Ubuntu. Snaps have gotten much better over time, I find myself not having any noticeable issues now since Canonical has worked heavily on the installer.
The distro I end up recommending more, second to Ubuntu, is Linux Mint because of their onboarding new users experience. It’s just as easy as Ubuntu to use, a bit aesthetically challenged though as Mint really embraces that default older Windows look. However, that familiarity helps ease new users into a Linux Distro.