SUSE -> Mageia -> Ubuntu -> Manjaro -> Mint -> Manjaro. Been on Manjaro for 4 years now.

I also have a tech-savy mom - and she’s using Linux Mint too. :)

Honestly, besides backupping my data from Windows and choosing a distro that fit my needs, I didn’t really do any preparation.

Cinnamon! Although I want to give KDE another chance to become my default DE.

I own a Tuxedo notebook as well as a Tuxedo desktop PC. I can confirm they are of great quality.

At approximately 11 or 12 years I started with SUSE Linux 10.0 on KDE. Got it from a DVD included in a computer magazine. Felt truly great, although I fully made the switch only 10 years later. Also in 2005, I fiddled around with Knoppix.

4% is still massive.

Snap is easily available on other distros as well. If anything, they want to lock you into their proprietary store.

On my Desktop, I switched to Manjaro (Arch-based) from Mint a few years ago. Works like a charm and I like the rolling release model. On servers, Ubuntu, Debian or SUSE might be a good choice.