At this point genuinely linux. For everyday shit like browsing, mailing, whatever, for sure.

Apple is just... Apple. I guess. Windows is an ad. 

Linux is the new "it just works".

Depends on what they need it for.

Gaming, rendering, anything that needs lots of power and driver support - Windows

Music production, video editing, graphic design - MacOS

Programming, or people who want full control over their system - Linux

Don't listen to Apple fanboys. You absolutely do not need to spend $1000 to take notes and browse the internet.

iOS.

Linux only if they can follow directions.

Average user needs their computer mainly as a device to run a web browser. Mac does that the most reliably. This seems objectively true to me.

If they're a nerd, then either Linux or Windows depending on what kind of nerd they are.

Windows for gaming.

If they are buying a new laptop and macbooks cost about the same what they'd pay for a PC laptop, the mac is a solid choice.

I want to say Linux. I use Linux (and macs occasionally). Linux is great. But macs are also great and work very well out of the box. So does Linux, if the hardware is fully supported and if you don't need any non-linux desktop software. Those are some ifs.

You say Mac or windows unless you have a death wish to be their eternal tech support

Ask them what they want to do.

Gaming? Windows. SteamOS is great but there are too many games that require Windows.

Creatives? MacOS. Yeah, you can do all that (and more!) on Windows machines, but the creative space is largely all Mac all the time.

Office Productivity? Anything. Libre Office is cross platform.

Want to complain about how you don't fit in and it would be a better place if the world would just accommodate you? Linux.

MacOS combines user friendliness, easy learning curve, seamless integration with other devices, and reliability.

It’s what I’d recommended to anyone who wants to use a computer without having to deal with the aggravation of dealing with a computer.

I use Linux Mint

Steam games work on Linux Mint without issues, or at least I was lucky enough not to have issues so far.

Linux alternatives to popular apps are very good (Libre Office, Inkscape, Gimp etc) and they don't try to shove AI down my throat or demand subscription.

I also would like to include that in terms of ease of use and interface familiarity Linux Mint looks quite a lot like Windows XP.

Linux Mint

The amount of people who spend thousands of dollars on MacBooks to just open up Safari makes me want to believe the average person could just have a ThinkPad with Mint or regular Ubuntu and be just fine. But the reality is if you run into a solvable issue on Windows or a MacBook, usually the degrees of separation from someone (friend or family member) who can solve that issue is much, much, much lower. I just seriously doubt most people can conduct the bare minimum of troubleshooting to be able to even search the internet for easy solutions. Can people learn? Absolutely! Are they going to go through the trouble? Probably not.

But who knows, as personal computing becomes more expensive and system requirements stop people from updating. Maybe more people look to Linux as an alternative and perhaps we'll reach a critical mass where my previous statement doesn't matter.

Are they looking to become savvy? Linux. Are they looking to game? Steamdeck, or if they can wait a while, Steam Machine. Are they just wanting a device to check emails and watch *ahem* 'internet videos?' Android phone.

Any other option will be more money for less value.

arch (i use arch btw)

Pop OS

i think they should start on the UI they have been exposed to the most.

they could do more productivity if they know how to navigate around the OS.

i just erased windows 11 and replaced it with Linux Mint Cinnamon- not easy for me as I haven't used anything but apple ecosystem since forever, but I'm extremely happy with it, and the upgrade in privacy is worth it to me even if it weren't an excellent OS, which it definitely is. you just have to be willing to learn new things

Whole lotta MacOS recommendations here, so I'm gonna say:

Bazzite.

... you can actually play games on it, and its an OS too!

More technically:

Its a Linux distro, an atomic version of Fedora, with many tweaks and pre built in utilities to make gaming work better and more easily.

If you have no idea what that means, it means that its fairly cutting edge but also very stable version of linux, where the core OS yells at you if you try to muck with it, and highly encourages you to use the various sandboxed containers it helps you use you run all sorts of applications.

The simple version of the above is: Just use the app store, Bazaar, and things will pretty much 'just work'.

You can do more intense / power user / expert type stuff if you like, and it does take a few extra steps compared to just like, straight Fedora or Debian, but, Bazzite is much, much more noob friendly and much harder to break.