Say a friend is looking for a new system, and said person is not particularly savvy with technology, what system would you point them toward?
this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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MacOS if they can afford it. Otherwise Linux Mint.
What the other replies shitting on macOS seem to be overlooking is the support Apple provides.
Got stuck on something? call the support line or web chat.
Want to go to a training session? go to a local store.
All this stuff is super important for a novice who wants to learn without feeling dependent on their tech friend.
This is what keeps Apple in business - they are very easy to use. Someone with zero technical skill can point at pictograms and open and close things. You could change the language to something you can't read and use most features without an issue.
it reminds me of memes like this.
And hey, failing that, Linux Mint. It works at least.
They even have classes to easily make emojis. Like it’s absurd the customer service they have. Windows tells you to fuck off. Does Linux have one? (I ran Ubuntu in college but honestly the ease of Mac switched me, and then dealing with windows at work killed any desire to be near a windows product).
Emojis - I think you mean stickers? Emojis as a set of characters are standardized by Unicode. A friend of mine has sent me stickers she's taken from photos. Samsung devices also do this within their own ecosystem, but there's not a frakin' class about how to do it.
Linux customer service is "uh...there's a forum somewhere...have you looked there?" People on lemmy hate when I say it, but paid (not free) Claude is actually very adept at troubleshooting Linux issues.
Ironically, tons of programmers also use Mac, because it has a rock-solid GUI on top of a Unix. The ‘pictograms’ don't matter as much as the fact that Apple designers actually know design basics unlike MS, and spent ages polishing the UI.
The other thing that keeps Apple in business is tech companies not wanting to fuck around with windows or Linux laptops. Linux systems run the world and MacOS is just plain better when it comes to interacting with those systems while also serving as a good user-facing operating system.
And before anyone says WSL, I was forced to use WSL for an engagement and anyone who tells you it’s viable is a lying or a Stockholm syndrome sufferer.
There's a rule you should learn. Never ever recommend Apple shit to people.
Maybe the rule to be learned is read the post.
So you're saying that it's a good idea to give an overpriced, non-repairable, underperforming, shit looking, shit behaving, toxic corporate assfuck trash system to a person who's not tech savvy.
Are you part of some big brain trust?
Mate I'm no fan of Apple but half the stuff you said is completely subjective or based off 2012 era memes. How do you define "overpriced" or "underperforming"? In terms of price, the hardware in their machines is usually pretty good, build quality has always been great. You'll have to elaborate on "underperforming" as I'm not really sure what you're saying with this.
Hey, I'll give you $500 for every time I typed "good" in this thread prior to this comment. Take your time and look.
Then, when you're done, I would encourage you to re-read the original post. Here, I'll help you:
I would never point a friend towards Windows. So that's easy.
Let's read it again, OK?
Meaning that this is someone who might be lucky to know how to spell their name or tie their shoes. Someone that failed a driving test 4 times. Why make life more complicated for this friend? Especially when, if I'm a friend as well, when they one day follow ChatGPT advice on how to do something inane and delete their boot partition or something stupid, I have to help unfuck their stuff. This is someone that doesn't deserve the responsibility that Linux distros give users. This is someone that doesn't practice 3-2-1 backups. This is someone that forgets their phone in a bar the day after they got a new phone because they left the last one at the beach, but HAS TO HAVE their photos on there or they'll die. They will never get anything repaired. They will never push performance limits (lol), as noted, they gladly spend money for someone to coddle them on using their device because they will never in their life learn how to do more than turn it on, take pictures, scroll IG or whatever, and a few other things.
This is not someone smart enough to responsibly use a Linix distro in my mind. And there are a LOT of people like this out there. A lot. And sometimes we're friends with them and want them to at least not bother us all the time with problems if they're willing and able to do that with the people that made the device.
Why is that? I love my Linux PCs but you should not underestimate the mental barrier of considering Linux as a new user. Starting with Mac OS is like a soft start into it. And the apple silicone machines are powerful af. I use one as ML server and it performs well. Oh and the privacy by design is still pretty good in Mac OS.
I tried getting my mom on Linux mint. Kinda made me realize it's not as user friendly as I thought. I would go with windows or macOs if they just everything to "work"
What exactly was the problem because everyone who I've seen use Linux Mint has had no problems, including my grandma who was bugging me every week about some dumb new shit Microsoft was doing before I switched her.
The problem i see with Linux is that we all seem to have to rely on interpreting documentation on some level, whereas on Windows or Mac people search a problem, some article vaguely describes the issues they have, said article recommends [Insert Software Installer Here] to resolve aforementioned issue, people are pleased their issue is resolved without actually knowing what really changed on their system.
Because it's expensive as shit, especially for a new user.
If you introduce any system to a person not familiar with computers, they're a blank canvas and won't need to change paradigms for their mental model. Great chance for Linux to shine. Just install an easy desktop environment, and a simple distribution. They'll probably be a bit of hand holding at first but that's what you're there for as the friend having recommended their OS in the first place.
One easily gets blind of the fact that it takes quite a lot of knowledge of computers to run Linux. You often see stuff that scares the shit out of a regular user.
The problem is the experience is not customized for a person who doesn't care HOW it works. They just want to do their stuff without hassle.
I've tried this a couple of times and mostly I end up being a 24/7 computer fixer hotline and end up installing macOs or windows in the end to make everyone happy
I'm running Arch Linux and I don't know HOW it works, I just follow instructions. 🤷♂️
Everyone has to start out somewhere. There really are minimal effort/knowledge distros out there.
Well if you installed and set it up by yourself you already are way more advanced than a normal user. But again one easily is blind to that fact.
But what can we expect of this user were recommending a system for? Are they supposed to install it themselves or nah?
I didn't know anything about how to install Arch when I decided to give it a shot. I just read instructions and typed what it told me to type. I knew nothing about what I was typing.
Same as when I installed Ubuntu like 20 years ago as a teenager. I filled in my name and clicked the Next button a few times, and entered what I think the partitions should look like. Then waited to watch the progress bar fill up.
These are steps you have to take to install Windows as well... Unless of course you're not installing it yourself, but that can be the case for Linux, too.
You're answering your own question :)
Overpriced, idiotic design, idiotic UX, whit UI, anti-repair system.