 Visitor Reviews |
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Reader supplied reviews for Pop!_OS
Average rating
7.9 from 319 review(s)
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-03-12
Country: United States
Votes: 0
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Wow, just three months after the initial Epoch 1 release, virtually all my issues (but two) have been resolved. The progress being made in this desktop environment is really impressive. Pop! is certainly ready for use as a daily driver ... as they refine the interface, add features, and fix bugs.
What isn't working for me? (1) Large file transfers -- say, 80 GB of miscellaneous files and images from a memory stick to the hard drive -- are noticeably slower than the Gnome alternative. In addition, the transfer may or may not finish, topping out at 99 percent and seemingly dying. There are some tweaks to be made there still. And (2) I'd love to move the window controls the the left, a la macOS. That's on the roadmap, so I know it'll get there eventually, but the sooner the better.
Anyway, good job System76. I look forward to years of improvements.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-03-05
Country: Spain
Votes: 5
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We had a good working relationship for about two years, but there are some fundamental weaknesses in POP!_OS that are unacceptable for more experienced Linux users.
+ Nvidia (RTX 4060 laptop) worked flawlessly from day one (NVidia ISO)
+ Gnome/X11 never caused any problems
+ Game Ready with Steam (flatpak)
+ Good system stability
- Nvidia driver updates within a Gnome/X11 session have been (at least for me) guaranteed computer crashes. Fix: log out from Gnome-session, switch to a different TTY (virtual console) by using Strg + Alt + F1 (to F6), login there, update, logout, back to the Gnome login greeter, login and you're fine
- System76 delivers updates that render the system irreparably unusable (welcome to 'dummy output' hell for Intel PCM sound, unfixable on my Tangfong barebone laptop). Thanks system76 for delivering that garbage to my system.
- Outdated software
- The Pop!_Shop is unstable and contains too much non-functional software
- Somewhat active community forums are only found on 'walled garden' social media like Reddit and Discord
For various reasons, I will dump 22.04 as soon as possible and won't switch to 24.04, but will look for a different distribution that better suits my personal needs. Maybe I will go back to Arch Linux (+10 years with mixed experiences) or will give NixOS a try.
Anyhow.
My experiences don't have to be your experiences.
Have fun on your personal journey if you want to try POP!_OS.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-02-27
Country: United States
Votes: 5
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This is in my personal opinion one of the top three distros for former W10 users who are new to Linux and not interested in learning Linux's CLI right away and for anyone who is having trouble deciding which distro fulfills their needs. Installation is extremely user-friendly and the whole distro as whole is very straight forward and is a great starting point even if you do decide to hop to something else in the future.
The COSMIC desktop environment is the main feature that defines Pop (the current description above as of me writing this is misleading; since Q1 of this year Pop is no longer based on GNOME, but on System76's own, Rust-based/Iced-based DE). It is VERY fast and responsive to inputs. It feels like it can actually keep up with me. The settings menu is beautifully simplistic in design: options are arranged horizontally across the window within a vertical list you can scroll through. No vague categories, endless hierarchies you have to click through every time to find a feature you need to change, and pop-ups full of boxes for check marks to enable obscure settings you have no idea about. It even has a search box to send you to your setting faster. However, its simplicity is partially due to the fact that as of February COSMIC is unfortunately very under-cooked in terms of advanced settings, which other DE's have. HDR support for example is not yet available (though it is on their roadmap).
The COSMIC store is equally as easy to use. Just look through the categories or search manually for what application you want, and choose the package format you want for that application. On the bottom you can find the Updates section, which allows you to update your Flatpaks and Pop itself. In early January, I suffered issues with COSMIC Store freezing, but this bug eventually stopped happening altogether. Do not be misled by the Debian tag, Pop gets very frequent system updates from its developers, it is much more comparable to Ubuntu's update frequency (and in fact still draws from Ubuntu's repos), but even more proactively.
The niche Pop! serves as a whole is to be an all-rounder that can be turned into whatever you want it to be on the fly. If you want your desktop layout and form factor to look and work a certain way that suits you specifically, or to resemble a different DE really, there is almost always a setting for that. I'd say it shines primarily as a workstation distro for ADHD maniacs like me, but can also be used for gaming with no problems whatsoever.
And on a related note I need to talk about how amazing the workspaces are. Because Pop has been the ideal compact, multitasking, keyboard-centric OS for me. So if you are into that, then Pop is for you, but if not then it is probably still okay anyway. Need to stack programs on the same window together? Just press a macro. Want them to tile into appropriate corners instantly? Just press the macro. Want to resize and relocate applications and toss them into different workspaces so you can subdivide your workflow on top of your already obsessively organized and subdivided workflow? Just press the macros. Only own one monitor and still want to enjoy using your computer as much as everyone else? Pop lets you do that.
As for the cons I will say that Pop is a particularly heavy distro in the RAM usage department, so I would strongly recommend you don't try to revive an old laptop with this or install on a device with only 4GB of RAM. You will not have a great time. This is not an lightweight distro. Best to look elsewhere. Other than that, this is an exceptionally clean, professional looking distro and it does everything I need it to do, but if you are one of those people who needs more besides "just works", Pop might not live up to your expectations. It's already excellent, but it will be more viable for a larger selection of people once they actually get around to fleshing out this OS with every feature people have been asking for.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2026-02-20
Country: Thailand
Votes: 1
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I did a bare metal install of Pop and while it's not for me it's quite a nice distro. FYI; Did you know that for whatever (Doesn't make sense to me why this distro) HP is now using Pop as their Linux distro which will come pre-instaled!
For gaming and everyday use it handles things nicely. For windows users it also handless the job and should please most users.
There is just too much Cosmic this and Cosmic that for my taste. Just name the distro Cosmic and be done with it.
My opinion is that the Cosmic desktop is not quite ready for prime time yet. It does hold a lot of promise though especially using Rust.
I see the raking here is good so it's popular enough. I wish them all the success in the world and if this is to your liking, enjoy.
Over a million downloads, that's pretty good.The tiling if that's you thing is quite nice as well. Battery life and applets are great features as well as security.
I would definetly be able to recommend this distro even though it's not for me.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-02-20
Country: Ireland
Votes: 1
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Tbh I am actually scratching my head with this distro.
I have seen alot of reviews stating, this is a really great distro but tbh, I am not seeing that.
The cosmic desktop is very nice and the distro overall is very fast and fluid. Once you get things up and running, its quite nice.
However getting there is the problem.
I have two dells, one dell would boot under uefi with a black screen at the end and booting under legacy was fine but as soon as you install it, it freezes up
Now if we compare this with linux mint which goes in like a treat on the same device and is also based off ubuntu 24.04, the differences are night and day. Zorin is the same perfect install on this device but not pop.
My second laptop booted the iso fine and installed fine on uefi but the configuration set by pop were basically wrong. It decided to set the hdmi as the default input and output device instead of the speakers which requires you to use their profile feature to fix it.
Synaptic pm wont open unless you run it from terminal with a switch and you cant even add a battery percentage indicator to the applet.
I also installed updates and then my opacity stopped working on my panel.
Once you get around the issues which in my mind should not be there considering its based off ubuntu, its a nice experience but if you are a first time newbie to linux, stay clear.
I dont know why but there is a developing trend these days of distros being released have baked, kaos being another example. If cosmic is not ready, then dont make it available.
This half baked philosophy is what they are doing with windows 11 and using the user base as beta testers is not a good look.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-02-18
Country: United States
Votes: 0
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It's been the best jack-of-all-trades out of the box flavor of Linux I've tried. From gaming to 3d modeling, running it headless as a psudo-server or watching movies it truly is a majority seemless experience. It's what I'll recommend to noobs to experienced users; just not to tinkering hacker power users. The move to COSMIC and therefore Wayland is what I'll praise, since stuff like dual monitors, all the laptop hardware, screen share, every expected game, network drivers, and secure boot for once actually worked first try on every system I've deployed it on. The only things I've disliked are the built-in cosmic apps being hot steamers, occasionally drive mounting gets drunk, and the alt-tab is weird. But those problems are nothing compared to the horrors of my Linux past.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-15
Country: Canada
Votes: 3
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This is my first time migrating away from Windows. I’ve always used the Windows operating system and honestly never thought I would switch. But after trying three different Linux distributions, my favorite so far is Pop!_OS.
Why?
Because Pop!_OS feels incredibly familiar coming from Windows—especially Windows 11 and earlier versions. The interface, workflow, and overall experience make the transition feel smooth and comfortable. I really believe this operating system offers one of the easiest learning curves for someone moving from Windows to Linux.
Another major reason I like Pop!_OS is that it supports most of the software I need to continue my work just as I did on Windows. This has made the switch not only easier but practical for my everyday tasks.
Overall, Pop!_OS has been the best balance of familiarity, performance, and usability for a first-time Windows-to-Linux user like me.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-06
Votes: 7
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I rarely take the time to write reviews, but I just had to for Pop!_OS. For some background, I started my Linux journey in 1997 with Redhat, then Debian, then stuck with Ubuntu up until 2021 when I became addicted to distro hopping. Always looking for my next "fix" and the "perfect" distro/workflow, I would try anything new not even sure why I wasn't just using Ubuntu, as I had for 16 years.
I'd heard about the COSMIC desktop environment, but was never inclined to try it until it was out of beta, and I am very glad I did, especially on its originating OS. It was the rehab I needed for my distro hopping addiction. The Ubuntu base I was very familiar with, and the new COSMIC DE was everything I wanted that Gnome never provided.
My favorite aspect of COSMIC was the ability to instantly switch between floating and tiling windows. I never knew tiling windows would fit my workflow better. I also like that Pop!_OS isn't afraid to update the underlying Ubuntu LTS base kernel to the latest stable version (after testing), and COSMIC itself is a sort of rolling-release desktop environment.
I now have Pop!_OS on five (5) systems (3 laptops and 2 desktops) completely stable and fully compatible with 4 to 5 year old Dell and Lenovo hardware. It is my daily driver at home, and I'm in the process of switching from Microsoft at work to Pop!_OS. Thank you System76, Pop!_OS, and especially COSMIC devs for this wonderful operating system! Keep up the good work!
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-04
Votes: 3
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I've been a Linux user since 2000 and have tried some 20 or more distros over the years, but always returned to vanilla Debian in the end. I think those days are over.
When Pop!_OS first came out, I tried it but wasn't particularly impressed at the time. More recently, I decided to give Pop!_OS and its Cosmic desktop environment a spin on the System76 Lemur Pro I bought, since the laptop came installed with it. The OS and the DE blew me away. It was love at first sight!
As much as I liked Gnome, Cosmic is exactly what I hoped it would be. It's configurable without being overwhelming; it's not a memory hog; and it's fast. I love especially keeping my desktop lean and clean, and prefer using keyboard shortcuts to point and click. I also love the tiling option, but tend to use launcher more often to access apps and files. Moreover, I haven't found it buggy at all, despite critiques from others.
In short, after using Pop!_OS for a few weeks, it's a keeper and now my main driver on both laptops.Great job System76 and the Pop!_OS and Cosmic devs for this heavenly distro!
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-29
Votes: 3
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My hardware where I test and run Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC desktop is:
CPU: i5-4590 ( Haswell )
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
GPU: AMD RX 6600
To me the cosmic DE might be the biggest news for Linux in several YEARS!!!
The shift to a fully GPU-accelerated desktop in Pop!_OS 24.04 (COSMIC) is what attracted me and I can confirm that it really works with my RX 6600 .
COSMIC is written from the ground up in Rust.
The entire UI is GPU-accelerated, meaning it offloads work from your CPU more effectively than older desktops.
I can confirm this personally even with my slightly older hardware. The GPU is doing the job and the result is a very smooth DE experience.
I give the cosmic DE a score of 9 out of 10 based on the great features and the GPU hardware acceleration and the future potential. Its fast and fairly lightweight and really offloads the slow CPU in my test rig and is super snappy.
Now that said, there are bugs. This is a early version, so I have not installed cosmic on my main PC yet.
In its current form a more fair score for cosmic DE is perhaps a score of 5 out of 10, but that is not the point at this stage. Cosmic is the future and the way to go. Its not a fork of a old DE its brand new code from bottom up.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-01-29
Votes: 5
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POP OS was always buggy, even when still on Gnome.
But with Cosmic it... sure, looks pretty. But the buggyness of the new Cosmic DE is essentially reaching "unusable" levels of buggy.
That DE is nowhere near ready to be shipped. And here we have the consequences of everyone wanting to re-invent the wheel instead of building on what's available. The biggest issue of Linux in general.
UI elements freeze, become unresponsive. The panel has app tray icons that wont respond. Quitting/shutting down apps wont remove them from app tray.
Too much sacrifice for mere eye candy.
For me, window tiling in Pop OS is more hassle than on other distros.
The software centre is still notoriously slow.
It honestly feels like a worse version of Gnome, even though that's the opposite that they tried to achieve.
Very disappointed.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-26
Votes: 0
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My hardware where I test and run Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC desktop is:
CPU: i5-4590 ( Haswell )
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
GPU: AMD RX 6600
The cosmic DE might be the biggest news for Linux in several YEARS!!!
""
COSMIC is written from the ground up in Rust, it bypasses much of the "bloat" associated with older C-based environments like GNOME.
The Rust Advantage: Because it’s memory-safe and highly concurrent, you won't see the "memory leaks" or UI stutters that sometimes plague long-running GNOME sessions.
GPU Acceleration: The entire UI is GPU-accelerated, meaning it offloads work from your CPU more effectively than older desktops.
The shift to a fully GPU-accelerated desktop in Pop!_OS 24.04 (COSMIC) is one of its most technical advantages. Unlike older desktops that often rely on the CPU to "paint" windows and then hand them to the GPU, COSMIC treats the entire desktop like a 3D game engine.
COSMIC's Approach:
It uses the Wgpu library (in Rust). Every single button, text character, and window shadow is rendered directly on the GPU using Vulkan.
The CPU "Offload": Because the GPU is specialized for math and drawing, the CPU is freed up for background tasks (like compiling code or processing data). This results in lower "system latency"—the time between you clicking a button and seeing the result.
""
I give the cosmic DE a score of 9 out of 10 based on the great features and the GPU hardware acceleration and the future potential. Its fast and fairly lightweight and really offloads the slow CPU in my test rig and is super snappy.
Now that said, there are bugs.
This is a early version, so I have not installed cosmic on my main PC yet.
In its current form a more fair score for cosmic DE is perhaps a score of 5 out of 10, but that is not the point at this stage. Cosmic is the future and the way to go. Its not a fork of a old DE its brand new code from bottom up.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-18
Votes: 3
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As I am using a dual monitor where one monitor is connected to the designated GPU, I had a lot of difficulty configuring the other distributions for them to work with proprietary drivers, but POP-OS with Nvidia ISO worked flawlessly without any tweaking from me. In terms of my work, I use terminal, containers, vim, and browser, and I'm very happy with the setup. Highly recommend this OS for custom build PCs with NVIDIA GPUs. System-76, keep up the great work. Your products are rock solid and I hope other distributions can learn a thing or two from you guys.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 4
Date: 2026-01-15
Votes: 0
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Después de más de un año con gnome se actualizó y el escritorio ahora es cosmic, un desastre, la pantalla se pixela, va a tirones. He vuelto a instalar gnome con extensiones.
Me parece que todavía no está depurado el escritorio, volverá a intentarlo dentro de un tiempo por ver si ha mejorado y si dejan o quitan el escritorio gnome pues cambiaré de distribución.
Podrían tener más escritorios como Debian por ejemplo y no que solamente tienen gnome y cosmic, poca variedad en escritorios.
Saludos.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2026-01-13
Votes: 9
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Have been using it for more than 5 years and was very tempted to update to the latest 24.04 release with COSMIC desktop. And unfortunately I was extremely disappointed with it - it's a complete garbage in it's current state, it's simply too raw and unfinished. Primitive configuration tasks like changing keyboard layout with Alt+Shift is impossible to achieve with reasonable efforts. GNOME extensions are not supported (I've been using Freon to display current CPU/GPU temperatures on 22.04, now it's unachievable). COSMIC Tweaks that is claimed to be a replacement for GNOME Tweaks simply can't change any of the settings it suppose to change. The environment performance is pure trash. I guess it's time to switch to something mature and polished, hello KDE.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-09
Votes: 1
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This was the district that I used to make the jump from windows, I have used Ubuntu previously but didn’t feel it had the daily drive ability that I was looking for. Pop has the perfect amount of simplicity and still having amazing features under the hood. I built this pc with an nvidia gpu and pop manages the nvidia driver updates super well, the only issues I ran into with those drivers where when I was dual booting for a bit and had windows trying to take over the firmware on my gpu. Runs steam games amazingly annd in some cases I tested games running faster on pop than windows on the same computer. amazing documentation, and with it being Ubuntu based that documentation is even better as most Ubuntu stuff applies to pop. Highly recommend this and I’m excited to give cosmic a try when it gets a bit more sorted!
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-09
Votes: 0
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Come from windows os 10 then had to move to 11 my god what a shit show that is.
Coming to pop os after plenty of research on what distro to use for gaming and hitting the delete everything tab thinking to myself what the fuck have I done.
Then setting it up and boy i was surprised how quiet it is no annoying ads pop ups or anything unbelievably refreshing.
Ok I had to use youtube to sort a few things out but all I do mostly is game and browsing the Internet.
Best move i have done in computing .
Keep it simple logical.
You all have done a great job thank you.
Rob
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-07
Votes: 0
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I have now been using Pop!_OS on my home machine for approximately 3 years, coming from a Debian/Ubuntu background at work and on other machines.
I enjoy this distro enough that I have shown it to both my business partner and my wife. Both have now been using it in place of their Windows 10 and 11 laptops respectively, and I have found supporting them—both new Linux users—to be an absolute dream. We are able to run everything required for day-to-day operations at both home and for running a small business (20 staff) working in the civil construction sector.
Our workplace is migrating to this distro for our work PCs this year to replace Ubuntu. It just works on our Panasonic Toughpads with minimal tweaks, including using the Panasonic docking stations, keyboards, LTE modems, and inbuilt GPS. Everything runs perfectly after install.
I do recommend this distro to new users and professionals alike. The tiling manager works great for programming and software development tasks. I write AutoCAD macros and scripts for QGIS on this distro.
At home I run video games and a media PC, and Pop!_OS has been totally rock solid on my Minisforum B550 with discrete NVIDIA graphics. Combined with Steam/Proton, I play even recent AAA games with my friends—with the help of ProtonDB, it runs great. I have changed graphics cards once over the past three years and it was a plug-and-play experience for me.
I intend to upgrade my home PC to Cosmic DE soon and try out 24.04.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-05
Votes: 1
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Pop has proven quite stable & capable for an operating system (OS) sporting a fresh new desktop environment (DE) only a few weeks into its first general availability release. I use it on 3 systems: a 6 month old System76 laptop, a 10 year old System76 laptop, and a 13 year old ZaReason desktop. All perform well with it.
With the cosmic tweaks tool, it's trivial for a user to switch between desktop layouts: the default for Cosmic, plus layouts mimicking Windows, Mac, & Ubuntu Unity. And then from there you can tweak to your heart's content.
I've tried to like auto-tiling, and it works well, but I find it's just not my cup of tea. It's quite easy to enable/disable it, and to use manual tiling on-demand instead of automatic.
Of course a DE in its initial release is not going to be as feature complete as DE many years old. Setting appropriate expectations is important. At the moment the most serious missing feature for our household is no ability to natively switch between concurrent users, important for a shared desktop. There's a workaround that's not bad, but is feature that needs to be added in the near term.
Pop is an eminently usable OS at the moment, and it's only going to get better. I'm happy to financially support System76 for their industry leadership.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-05
Votes: 0
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Use this distro daily in my main laptop and I'm really happy with the experience, including using the nvidia drivers for gaming. Installing it is as easy as it gets.
The new DE is looking very good, very responsive and the tiling feature works really well. A similar experience to Gnome, but with better options. It is stable, I have been using it since the last alpha with no problems at all. Of course, it has less resources than a more mature DE, but looks really promising. Looking forward to seeing the next steps for Cosmic.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-03
Votes: 0
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Pop has proven quite stable & capable for an operating system (OS) sporting a fresh new desktop environment (DE) only a few weeks into its first general availability release. I use it on 3 systems: a 6 month old System76 laptop, a 10 year old System76 laptop, and a 13 year old ZaReason desktop. All perform well with it.
With the cosmic tweaks tool, it's trivial for a user to switch between desktop layouts: the default for Cosmic, plus layouts mimicking Windows, Mac, & Ubuntu Unity. And then from there you can tweak to your heart's content.
I've tried to like auto-tiling, and it works well, but I find it's just not my cup of tea. It's quite easy to enable/disable it, and to use manual tiling on-demand instead of automatic.
Of course a DE in its initial release is not going to be as feature complete as DE many years old. Setting appropriate expectations is important. At the moment the most serious missing feature for our household is no ability to natively switch between concurrent users, important for a shared desktop. There's a workaround that's not bad, but is feature that needs to be added in the near term.
Pop is an eminently usable OS at the moment, and it's only going to get better. I'm happy to financially support System76 for their industry leadership.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 1
Date: 2026-01-02
Votes: 3
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Horrible!
Today i installed it freshly and used for 1-2 hours, but already freezed my computer like 3 times, because memory leak. And the memory leak was caused by a single program, which is cosmic-terminal. Yes, their own Rust made terminal leaked all my memory (24gb) three times in a row.
after seeing this i had enough of system76. I don't know what happened to them, but they were better than this. Anyone reading this, do yourself a favor and never install this distro, and instead use something more trustworthy like Linux Mint or Debian or Kubuntu.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-28
Votes: 1
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Polished install and UI, stable, fast, works well with Nvidia right out of the box.
It's the best Linux experience I've had so far, after trying CachyOS, Linux Mint, Fedora, and KDE Neon.
And I like the new Cosmos desktop too, clean and easy to use.
Overall, a very polished experience. Well done!
After struggling with the CachyOS install that had issues with partitioning, this one was smooth as butter. And after having issues with CachyOS/Plasma and Linux Mint both having issues with screen flickering, this one is just steady. It's also much faster than Mint and Neon.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-28
Votes: 0
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It's a great distro with great new cosmic desktop environment. works flawlessly in my machine. i have been tinkering around many distros over the years but now it have permanent place in my machine which i use daily! Although my laptop is touchscreen supported but cosmic is not very touch friendly, but i can scarifies that for what it provides to me, how it performs and i loved its vibe spec new cosmic desktop!
I did not encounter any issue after the installation but during installation there was an issue occurring in the display, the colours were getting invert automatically.
But everything worked fine after the installation.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-12-27
Votes: 3
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This puppy is fast! Window tiling (if you want to use it) works intelligently. A lot of the design choices resemble Gnome, but with better defaults (just like the previous 22.04 version of Pop that used Gnome instead of COSMIC).
Are there still problems? Yes, but mostly minor ones: No hot corners; inability to move window controls to the left; disappearing icons in the panel and the dock (really! One day a couple of each just went invisible, even though the programs are still there, and rebooting didn't help -- only uninstalling and reinstalling worked to return the icons); inconsistent resolution of apps (I have one AppImage that shows up absolutely HUGE and I apparently can't do a thing about it, while Ctrl-- or Ctrl+ work for other apps); there are missing, very common, features in the new COSMIC Files, like Copy to... and Move to..., or even Format (though that can be done in the Disks app).
In general, Pop now feels like a fast version of Gnome with more ability to customize features (add and remove elements of the Panel and the Dock easily, for instance), but with more bugs, and needing more tweaks to get going. So, it's a mixed bag. I go back and forth between COSMIC and Gnome on different laptops and both have some advantages.
In the end, once Pop irons out some of the more annoying quirks and bugs, I think COSMIC is going to be a very popular desktop environment, on par with KDE and Gnome (and far more sophisticated than old-school, Win95 clones like Cinnamon, Mate, Xfcd, and LXQt). I look forward to bumping up my rating to 9 or 10 in a year.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-26
Votes: 3
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Cons:
1. During installation, the system prompts you to select a language, layout and create a user. So, if you have chosen your regional language, and created the user password in English (which is not surprising and usual), then welcome: you will not be able to log in the first time you start the system using standard means. There is only one language left in the system (your regional one) and on the welcome screen you cannot change the language/layout (CTRL+ALT+F2..Fx will not help, since there is also no way to log in for the same reason). The only solution is live-SD or reinstallation and creating a password from numbers (security! :з ).
2. Switching languages is essentially only possible with Super+Space - other options without special shamanism are not provided for / are impossible in the system.
3. Occasionally (I never tracked under what circumstances) WM caught a permanent global defocus to the point where key presses in all applications stopped being registered (the “gray” keyboard keys work, but this does not save the situation). As a result, you cannot write anything (neither in the browser, nor anywhere else, including notepad or terminal). Pop-up windows instantly disappear, including the window on the dashboard responsible for choosing whether to reboot or shutdown. Only the command entry window remains working (called by a single press of Super) and in fact logout or reboot saves.
4. If the highlighting of the active window with a frame is turned on, this very frame occasionally remains from closed applications. And yes, it remains forever - until WM is rebooted. There is no application - the frame remains.
5. Sometimes non-existent “squares” of applications remain in the tray (similar to point 4). The application is closed - but the square remains without an icon. It doesn't function in any way, but it takes up space.
6. Sometimes the entire WM is “shaken” by a global glitch (like flickering textures in games) - it happens rarely, but regularly.
7. For some reason, this only occurs with telegram, which was installed from the provided application store (source: flatpak, but no other option was offered). However, without any additional settings, etc., if you close Telegram in the tray, you will never get it out of there again. The context menu works and offers to open an application on the screen, but it does not work. And when you click on “open Telegram” nothing happens. At all. Close the application - it works even when you restart it, if you do not minimize the window, it also works fine. An interesting fact is that, for example, Steam installed from there, which has exactly the same functionality with the tray, works great and there are no problems with it. Yes, and with other applications too, only with Telegram this problem appears. Corporate machinations?
8. Steam is installed from the application store and works. But some games that interact with WM and full screen in a special way start, but do not function correctly. You need to install gamescope, but this distribution does not have it, only a build from source - but then why Pop OS? Let's install Arch and admire the beauty!
9. Waydroid, like the gamescope story, is installed only from source with recompilation of kernel modules on this distribution, although this is not the case on other debian/ubuntu distributions. By the way, I never managed to do this (I didn’t have enough time, but will I continue trying?).
10. Almost absent drag'n'drop functionality throughout WM (you can't even send a picture to Telegram by dragging it).
11. 4GB of RAM consumed by this system during idle time for everything wonderful that is described above is the price you will pay for this pleasure.
P.S. Please sorry my english. This is google-translate.
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-25
Votes: 3
|
Pop_OS! with COSMIC has a lot of potential. Rewriting the interface in memory-safe Rust makes it more secure and a lot faster and more responsive ... when it works right. It's not quite there.
Pop_OS! 22.04 was a refined, stable Gnome desktop. Ten out of ten. I have no notes here (except, it needed updating to a new Ubuntu LTS version). I wish they had kept it updated and left it at that. It was my favorite distro.
Switching to COSMIC but adhering to something like the previous Gnome workflow means System76 had to duplicate much of the Gnome workflow and tools in Rust -- a big task that isn't finished. They are also also trying to add features to take the place of commonly used extensions, making the desktop environment highly configurable without extensions, in theory -- another task in progress.
Many have said they are using 24.04 as their daily driver. Good for them. I probably could, too. But the nagging bugs and missing features I have run into make me unwilling and uninterested in doing so at this moment. Trivial things, maybe, but attesting to a lack of polish. In my view, the Epoch 1 first release is still a buggy beta.
For instance, app scaling works inconsistently on my high-res screen; some programs are sized right, others are really wrong and there seems to be no easy way to fix this. In my ongoing usage some program icons have simply disappeared from the dock; the programs are still there (you can click on an apparently blank space successfully), but the icons have become invisible. Icons of some running background programs also exist, but are invisible, in the upper panel. Other background apps don't show up there at all.
And I can't move window controls to the left -- a crucial feature for anyone who has macOS muscle memory. But that's a missing feature, not a bug.
I want to like the new Pop_OS! I loved the previous version. Their quirky aesthetic is fun. This one may someday be my go-to distro again. But at the moment, it's just a lot of frustration (plus some admiration for System76's audacity).
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-20
Votes: 7
|
I reviewed 22.04 some time ago and noted that the move to 24.04 would be a big jump and the second would not be as complete as the first.
In fact, System76 has surprised me because 24.04 is very good. The long gap between the last pre-release and the release must have been mostly spent in bug-fixing as there were complaints about the quality of the pre-releases but the release is sound. I cannot find anything operationally wrong, although there are a few cosmetic issues - for example, the login screen uses three different fonts. That type of paper cut is easily fixed.
COSMIC, the new desktop environment, looks superficially like GNOME but feels completely different in operation. It tries less to be pretty and more to be fast. The signature automatic window tiling is switched off by default but, once switched on, it is as good as it ever has been. As I noted before, it is incredible that nobody else does anything like it as it is such a natural and effective way to manage what is on the screen; there is certainly nothing in Windows or MacOS that comes close.
The main difference between COSMIC and GNOME outside basic operation is that COSMIC has a great deal of customisation. There are some very useful options such as very fine control over styles and colours - and even more with a third-party tweak tool - three levels of white space (rather like the display options in Thunderbird), which goes right through the user interface, and even a "percentage boost" which makes fonts relatively bigger than window controls and decorations.
As well as the desktop environment, there are a number of apps (file manager, editor, media player, text editor). They are generally fairly basic, but work well and, again, are fast.
Below all this is standard Ubuntu LTS 24.04. Snaps are replaced by flatpaks, and there is a software manager which is one of the better ones I have seen; it works well and, once again, it is fast. The only issue is that, on a large screen, it crams a lot of information into its grid format to the extent that it can be hard to read.
Functional shortcomings? Very few. There is no night light, and the desktop is crude - icons automatically snap to alphabetic order and cannot be dragged around.
For a first release ("Epoch 1"), COSMIC is excellent. I look forward to what improvements will be done for the next Ubuntu LTS base, 26.04.
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-20
Votes: 1
|
No Issues Yet. Coming from Microsoft Windows 11 and Linux Mint 22.2 I decided to give Pop OS 24.04 a try. Install went perfect on a Hp Ryzen 5 system from 2020 with 32gb of memory. Setup took only several minutes to perform unlike some distros that can take up to 10-15 minutes. After setup I like how they OS isn't bloated and has everything needed to get your job done. I installed several others programs after install with no issues. Looking forward to see what System 76 adds to the OS in future updates.
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Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-16
Votes: 0
|
I have liked Pop for quite a while, especially for what they are doing. With this new update, introducing COSMIC, I actually like it quite a lot. It allows for quite a bit of customization, while still looking as good as GNOME does. Ofc it isn't as in-depth as KDE, but is enough for the daily user who will actually focus on their work. Gaming support is also fantastic, as it is based on Ubuntu. NVIDIA support is also great, as I have had no problems with it. It is also very fast, especially on older hardware. It functions great, and battery management is top tier.
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-15
Votes: 12
|
Truly extraordinary! I was truly impressed by the efficiency and speed of the desktop. Of course, it's the first stable release, so you might encounter some issues, but it's truly impressive how smooth, fast, and stable it is, especially when it comes to CPU and RAM usage. I hope they continue on this path because they've truly done an extraordinary job, and I think there's only room for improvement!
My laptop has burned ROM, everything runs on a USB stick (a 32GB Samsung), and only has 4GB of RAM, with a Pentium CPU. I said to myself, I'll try it now, why not, just to take a look, I expected it to be heavy and not very fluid given the conditions of my PC, but I was incredulous by the speed and fluidity of POPOS, so much so that I installed it (on the USB stick) and the PC runs like a rocket, also the battery management is incredible, I no longer need to install TLP, and to think that before I had Linux Mint XFCE, but PopOS incredibly runs better, it's smoother, faster, more efficient, an incredible thing, I still can't believe it, I'm very excited!
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-13
Votes: 3
|
As a previous user of PopOS, It looked fairly nice, but that was several years ago. The new release seems to value itself on the tiling feature, but I don't want to have to resize windows. I just move them out of the way and select them from the toolbar (that most distros have). Clicking on the Icon in the taskbar brings the window back to the front of the screen, no resizing necessary. I also don't like
the encrypted disk feature. If you have a system problem and can't reboot, recovery software isn't going to help. You won't be able to recover your files, because of the encryption. I'm not sure if that feature is optional but I think its the default.
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2025-12-12
Votes: 1
|
Not a fan of Cosmic. To me, it's ugly, very dated looking and doesn't integrate well with apps from the main two players, GNOME and KDE Plasma. Additionally, they are just way too slow to develop. So really, it's a no go just for the desktop environment alone. Now if they offered a KDE Plasma edition that kept up to date, it would be a serious contender.
On the plus side, it uses Ubuntu LTS.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-11-28
Votes: 2
|
I honestly can’t live without Pop!_OS’s Tile Windows feature. It’s the main reason I stick with this OS, even though I actually prefer Linux Mint for its stability and how well it works out of the box. With Pop!_OS, I have to manually update my older NVIDIA driver to fix suspend/sleep issues, and I need to install extra packages just to get video thumbnails working.
Pros:
Tile Windows is incredibly useful for multitasking on a large display. It automatically arranges all open windows, and although occasional gaps appear between them—which can be a bit annoying—it generally works very well.
Cons:
Having to manually install packages for video thumbnails and update the NVIDIA driver.
The GNOME desktop feels more intuitive and offers better universal file search indexing, something the COSMIC desktop in Pop!_OS currently lacks.
Overall, I am happy it works for my needs so far. I will test drive it daily and see if something else breaks and perhaps hop to another distro...
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-11-28
Votes: 1
|
This is a really strange situation with PopOS_beta_24.04 development. The beta version is out a few months, and during this time period there is nothing like significant progress.
1. many, I mean really many, bugs remains still unresolved
2. announced excellent performance is still a dream, not a reality
3. many apps does not work at all
4. some basic functionality is still missing ... mounting ISO file via file manager
5. graphic glitches, instability, etc
6. many standard apps complain on graphic engine incompatibility
7. etc, etc ...
In general, PopOS_COSMIC_beta 24.04 is still in development phase and there is no chance to use this OS on regular basic as is announced by many people here.
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-11-25
Votes: 1
|
Tested on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 Intel Core i9-12900H, 64GB, NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti.
Unfortunately, I experienced a couple of bugs with Bluetooth (the system tries to re-acquire the device every couple of minutes, so I can't connect my headphones to my smartphone - Pop!_OS just keeps re-acquiring them back). I also had issues with system apps often crashes, overall app speed is slow despite super huge amount of resources.
Firstly, I installed 22.04, when I experienced those bugs I think maybe upgrade will fix them, I upgraded to 24.04-beta, but the experience with system apps became worse. As I understand problem lies in new DE, slow system apps become slower, but less crashes to be honest.
List of things I was frustrated with:
1. Software sources could be managed from the Pop Shop in 22.04, but in 24.04 only Flathub sources can be managed.
2. COSMIC Files app performance is super poor; I had to switch back to the Files app from the previous version.
3. The Bluetooth bug is still there.
4. The sound bar doesn't display when I change volume from the keyboard.
5. Telegram application stops working entirely after upgrade.
On the positive side, Alacritty works perfectly well with Neovim; I can program and run my Docker apps comfortably. The Nvidia card works great — from my experience, training models is actually faster now. Also, LM Studio works well with GPT OSS 20B; no bugs spotted there.
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-11-24
Votes: 0
|
Pop OS Cosmic is a nice change to the repetitive linux distros full of Gnome and KDE spins. Customizing feels comfortable and the DE is easy to navigate. My only complaint (though it's still in beta) is that it does not have night time settings and currently I can't use Input Leap/Barrier/Desk Flow. I think it's due to wayland. I use 2 PCs. One for gaming and one for recording and producing videos. I need to be able to share my mouse and keyboard between the PC's to get stuff done. Once this is resolved I can see myself running this as my daily. I'm looking forward to their final release. Good job so far PopOS team!
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-11-22
Votes: 0
|
I really like the work they've done with Cosmic. I am not a Gnome fan, and it looks like they've taken what I don't like about Gnome and tweaked it to the point where I can easily consider it a drop-in replacement. For example, the full screen menu in Gnome reminds me entirely too much of Windows 8.x - and I never could tolerate that. Whether it's 22.04 or 24.04's beta, I like the fact that they've made categories for Office, etc. It reduces clutter considerably! Even more so than Ubuntu too. My personal choice is between this, Zorin or Mint if you're going to stay in the Ubuntu family. This does have a few issues since it's beta, but I am confident that it will iron out the incongruities prior to launch. I'm keeping a close eye on this one!
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-11-14
Votes: 17
|
After years switching between distros like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Zorin, and Fedora, Pop!_OS Cosmic really surprised me in a good way. The design brings solutions that many others never implemented. The translations to other languages, especially Portuguese Brazil, are very well done. Features like smart window resizing and customizable colors, which should be standard in every distro, are already included here.
Since it’s a beta version, there are still a few things to fix, especially for people using more than one monitor. Even so, Pop!_OS Cosmic looks very promising.
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-10-30
Votes: 5
|
I've been thoroughly impressed by the overall polish and refinement of this distro, it's clear that a lot of care and attention has gone into its development. The new COSMIC desktop environment, in particular, stands out as a major highlight. It’s not just visually appealing, but also thoughtfully designed: the interface feels clean, modern, and intuitive, and the responsiveness is excellent. Navigating through tasks is smooth and snappy, and the streamlined layout makes it easy to stay focused without unnecessary distractions.
COSMIC brings a fresh energy to the Linux desktop experience, and I genuinely enjoy using it. From the subtle animations to the well-organized settings, everything feels cohesive and purposeful. It’s a great example of how user experience and performance can go hand in hand.
That said, there is one noticeable issue in this version that I hope gets addressed before the final release: battery life. Even when running on integrated graphics, the system seems to drain power faster than expected. For users on laptops or mobile setups, this could be a significant drawback, especially if you're working remotely or traveling and need to rely on extended battery performance.
I understand that this is still a pre-release version, and optimizations are likely ongoing. Hopefully, the development team is already aware of this and working on improvements. If they manage to resolve the battery efficiency concerns, this distro could easily become one of the top choices for both casual users and professionals looking for a sleek, responsive, and modern Linux environment.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-27
Votes: 2
|
I've been using various distributions for years, and Pop!_OS has been one of the most comfortable ones in terms of productivity and stability. Its UX setup aligns perfectly with the experience I look for in a Linux desktop distribution. I really enjoy and support this journey. I hope their own desktop environment will further enhance the user experience they’ve built so far. I wanted to list a few disadvantages here as well, but honestly, I couldn’t find any. I know experiences with Linux distributions can vary greatly from user to user and from one hardware setup to another, but Pop!_OS performs exceptionally well on the PCs I own, even under heavy workloads.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-24
Votes: 8
|
I have tried every gaming distro on my existing hardware for gaming and the results went from not even booting to running one game from my steam library and no more.
I even tried my opensuse for games but the result was tedious, long and ultimately a failure with most games failing to open.
Now popos made installing steam EASY. And steam is running ALL my games.
I was using windows 10 but it has developed a "activate" watermark on every screen.
And windows 10 was great.
I think popos has a better frame rate.
I tried it as a joke having written off linux for gaming as needing expensive hardware.
I dont use windows for anything much and have been a linux convert for a couple of decades now so using microsoft for anything violates my comfort zone.
Popos is sooo easy to use and intuitive to understand.
As for upgrading popos, i will never do that because it just works, if it is not broke I do not fix it.
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-23
Votes: 26
|
After years switching between distros like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Zorin, and Fedora, Pop!_OS Cosmic really surprised me in a good way. The design brings solutions that many others never implemented. The translations to other languages, especially Portuguese Brazil, are very well done. Features like smart window resizing and customizable colors, which should be standard in every distro, are already included here.
Since it’s a beta version, there are still a few things to fix, especially for people using more than one monitor. Even so, Pop!_OS Cosmic looks very promising.
|
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-10-22
Votes: 0
|
I tied out the Comic beta version. It's nice but needs a bit more work. I ran it in Virtualbox so maybe I didn't get the real feel for the OS. In the VM every opened application stacks up in the ram usage even after closing the applications. For some reason I couldn't download anything from the Cosmic app store or via terminal. My last issue was that there is no night light setting. Night light is a deal breaker for me. That is the only reason I don't run Ubuntu Unity too.
This a newly developed desktop environment, so I'll stand back and watch how it grows up before trying again. I appreciate their effort though. I'm so sick of looking at KDE, Gnome, XFCE, and Cinnamon. Unfortunately, China is leading the way with innovation within Deepin and Kylin desktop (I ran Deepin for a month with no issues...but trust). Wish there were more DE environments being developed with a solid base.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-12
Votes: 9
|
As MS IT Technician, I have decided to test after approx. 10 years one linux distro which spoke to me on this site. I took EoL T580 from our company and initiated install from USB flash drive. I am amazed how far the linux went and I like this one very much. Cosmic UI is finally something that doesn't look like a kindergarden project and I miss nothing from Win or Mac OS. Every feature works out of the box, no issues nor errors. I will continue to test this amazing OS and if it will survive a week of testing, I will make it a main.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-01
Votes: 7
|
Everything just works out of the box. Davinci Resolve just works on Linux out of the box, no customization needed. I got a nice NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and it worked perfectly out of the box because they have a special Pop_OS! .iso that caters to desktops with NVIDIA cards.
Sharing over my network has been simple, I didn't even have to set my printer up it was just there and working when I needed it. Everything just works.
It does seem to be resource heavy, with gnome-shell regularly taking up 2-4GB of resources, but I have 64GB of RAM so it doesn't ever slow me down.
When it comes to theming.. it doesn't really have much in the way of theming. THANK YOU! Whenever I tried KDE I spent hours, and days, and weeks just customizing and tweaking how everything looked and felt but with Pop_OS! it was pretty much just "Dark" or "Light" and I really appreciate how much time and energy this saves me and how much more productive I have become since I started using this Distro back in March.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 2
Date: 2025-09-30
Votes: 2
|
I just tested as vmware virtual guest latest beta version PopOS 24.04, and I must say, that this project is still very far from acceptable state. Many, really many, things does not work as expected. Maybe the beta version is not well compatible with virtualization. But the fact, that some basic apps does not work well or does not work at all (double commander, guake, drop-down terminal, iso mounting via desktop environment, etc., etc.) is really terrible.
After very long time of development ... and this the nearly final beta version???
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-09-30
Votes: 1
|
Why do they even bother?
Its laggy, its resource hungry which ia amazing considering Cosmic was created in RUST so they must have done some really bad coding.
There is no way to add the actual day to the bar, and when you ask you get attitude from their very unfriendly forums.
If anything I would say they lost their way by trying to create another DE that nobody actually wants.
You can do everything they claim Cosmic does in Gnome, with a much lower memory hog and of course undfer Gnome you can add the day of the week to the bar.
I have to say its a failed OS that just needs to look at itself and start again.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-09-27
Votes: 0
|
I switched to Linux in 2017 and ran Solus Budgie until that project team disappeared and stopped updating. Afterwards I tried Fedora, Debian, Rocky, Ubuntu Budgie, then one day I said, "Hey, let me give this Pop_OS! thing a try!"
So I downloaded Pop_OS! 22.04. Best decision I ever made.
Everything just works out of the box. Davinci Resolve just works on Linux out of the box, no customization needed. I got a nice NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and it worked perfectly out of the box because they have a special Pop_OS! .iso that caters to desktops with NVIDIA cards.
Sharing over my network has been simple, I didn't even have to set my printer up it was just there and working when I needed it. Everything just works.
It does seem to be resource heavy, with gnome-shell regularly taking up 2-4GB of resources, but I have 64GB of RAM so it doesn't ever slow me down.
When it comes to theming.. it doesn't really have much in the way of theming. THANK YOU! Whenever I tried KDE I spent hours, and days, and weeks just customizing and tweaking how everything looked and felt but with Pop_OS! it was pretty much just "Dark" or "Light" and I really appreciate how much time and energy this saves me and how much more productive I have become since I started using this Distro back in March.
Excitedly waiting for the flood of new Cosmic Beta release users to do the initial testing and then planning on upgrading my current install to 24.04 running Cosmic Desktop Environment.
This is a great project, WITH AMAZING DOCUMENTATION, and they have all kinds of platforms to engage with them from Reddit to Github to Mattermost and I have been very impressed and am grateful to have stopped my distrohopping and settled down with Pop_OS!
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-09-27
Votes: 2
|
Very disappointing, I really enjoyed the early versions of this where they augmented Ubuntu and Gnome with their own tweaks and additions, it was great for supporting Nvidia out of the box. But, as soon as they started this Cosmic desktop stuff it's been nothing but a mess, they're pursuing a pet project but aren't really equipped it seems like, Cosmic is really bad. I mean, maybe they can get there eventually but I'm not waiting, I've moved on and honestly Gnome is probably going to stay leaps and bounds better than Cosmic. KDE is better and likely always will be. Even Cinnamon. But, if they want to waste their time and resources, it's no skin off my nose.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-09-25
Votes: 0
|
For me it's the best Linux system I've used in 17 years. Pop!_OS Upgrade & Recovery is a unique and genuine Pop!_OS tool that allows you to:
- Update your operating system safely and easily, even between major versions (for example, from Pop!_OS 22.04 to 24.04).
- Recover your system if a serious failure occurs, without needing to use an installation USB or lose your data.
1. Secure and automatic updates
- Updates between major versions: Pop!_OS Upgrade & Recovery allows you to update the system to new versions automatically and securely, something that in other distributions usually requires manual processes or reinstallations.
- Clear notifications: It notifies you when a new version is available and guides you through the process.
2. Integrated recovery system
- Recovery partition: Pop!_OS creates a hidden partition on your hard drive during installation, which contains a copy of the recovery system.
- Recovery options:
- Reinstall the system without deleting your personal files.
- Repair the boot manager (GRUB).
- Restore factory settings.
- Access an emergency terminal to troubleshoot manually.
- No other Linux distribution offers such an integrated and easy-to-use tool for updates and recovery.
- It does not rely on external tools. Unlike other distributions that use generic solutions such as Timeshift or Clonezilla, which can be a big problem if you have an encrypted disk.
Well done. System76 Thank you!!!
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-09-20
Votes: 1
|
Beside Zorin, I also use Pop OS on another PC. I like the way it looks, I am looking forward to see Cosmic, but currently I am not satisfied with Pop OS. I had issues earlier, now I have issues again. Every issue I had was because of too early updates. Few days ago, Pop OS was updated with new kernel, and it caused VMWare to stop working. Updates simply come too often and not tested enough.
Thankfully after update I got option to boot into old version, but now i have updates waiting to be installed in older version.
Second thing I don't like about it is Store. It has a great support of apps, but when searching apps it lags a lot. Hopefully it's gonna be solved in Cosmic version.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-09-14
Votes: 0
|
I'm new to Linux and as my first Distro is Pop!_OS. Before Linux I used of course Windows 11. I'm using Pop!_OS on my main computer that is running a spec wise:
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
32GB of Ram
Pop!_OS as my first Linux Distro has been awesome great for what i do allowing me to do the basics of my computer without using to much resource like windows 11 took. I'm still able to game! But of course with Proton. Reading that Pop!_OS keeps the Linux Kernel up to date is nice and that there Mesa drivers are also up to date. I can't wait to see there cosmic desktop environment that they created with rust come out.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-09-12
Votes: 0
|
I’m using an older server workstation with the following specs:
Intel® Xeon® W-2125 CPU @ 4.00GHz × 8 and NVIDIA Quadro P400 (GP107GL).
Pop!_OS with the nVidia drivers didn’t work right away, and I experienced issues with video playback, such as skipping frames or crashes.
It took me a few tries to figure out the solution:
I first tried updating the nVidia drivers via the terminal, but that didn’t work.
Then, I manually selected and installed the latest nVidia drivers from the Pop!_Shop under the updates/installed apps section.
That finally fixed the issue.
I imagine many first-time users could run into the same problem. I also tested Linux Mint, and it worked perfectly from the start, no issues at all. Pop!_OS could learn from Mint on this.
The reason I’m recommending and sticking with Pop!_OS, though, is the Windows Tiling feature. It’s fantastic for multitasking, especially if you have a wide monitor. It reduces the need for constant alt-tab switching by automatically tiling the most recently used windows side-by-side. That’s a real productivity boost for me.
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-09-08
Votes: 3
|
I have always tried out various distributions on modern hardware and its always the same distributions that struggle with simple things...
Since i switched to mac i switched to HiDPI screen(s) 4K, and i honestly don't see any reason to go back to 1080...
Also my mouse and keyboard are Bluetooth connectivity with the possibility to switch between 3 devices.
1) First problem during the install iam getting greeted by a low res setup screen.
unlike some distros like mint i was able to select my resolution before starting the setup.
2) After the install PopOS failed to update, no matter what i tried, even tips to do it over the terminal failed.
3) Bluetooth devices fail to wakeup (hello keyboard + mouse) once the system goes to sleep and i need to push the power button to wakeup Bluetooth fails to wakeup and a hard reset is needed.
4) Limited config for HiDPI screen, whathever adjustments i could make the UI still sucks and doesnt scale with HiDPI screens.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-09-07
Votes: 0
|
I was really just looking for a distribution that was stable for doing the basics.
I've been on the pop-OS for a couple years.
I'm currently using the pop-OS 22.0-4 version.
I'm running it on an HP Elitebook 840 g6
32 gig memory, i7 CPU
I'm also using a Cannon 7020a Printer - wireless connection
Using the Document Scanner App to Scan.
I'm using a Logitech Webcam HD PRO webcam C90
Pertaining to what I use it's been a stable OS.
I'm using Oracle Virtual-box
Zoom
Document Scanner
Obsidian
LibreOffice
Pros
As posted below, I like the short cut keys for Windows Manipulation.
Con
Initially the store would lock up (Resolved purely by accident - I was dinging around installing different desk-top environments, when I re-installed the pop-OS desktop environment it upgraded to the newer desktop - looks like it's resolved.)
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 2
Date: 2025-09-05
Votes: 0
|
had so many problems during installation. I was trying to install on my old dell laptop with i7 ,16 gb ram and 256GB SSD (so old but fairly good configuration ) and during installation it felt so slow so i thought it was because i was running through USB pen drive. So I installed it and it was still slow (which is strange for a linux) . Especially their software center from which we can install apps. It was so slow. I used it for 2 days and then wiped out and replaced it with linux mint as i had used it in the past. Some how linux mint was snappy (even with cinnemon)
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Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-08-31
Votes: 0
|
I have been using Pop!_OS 24.04 for over 2 months which was a record for me, being a distro hopper. This is a rating only for 24.04 alpha
I like Pop!_OS 22.04 more than most other ubuntu/debian-based distro because it is pretty stable and reliable, but a bit outdated
Pros:
-Can toggle between tiling and floating windows
cons:
-customization
-lots of bugs
-app center is not great
COSMIC has great potential, but as of now it is mostly unuseable. I tried 22.04 before and it works much better for me and still has tiling-floating behaviour I liked on COSMIC.
So if you hated 24.04 alpha, try 22.04, it is better in some ways
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Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 5
Date: 2025-07-16
Votes: 5
|
It didn't last a day on my system.
On first boot it looks good. A lot like a modified Gnome desktop, but when you dig deeper and actually try to use the system you find huge issues that for me at least make it impossible to use such a limited OS.
I like to tweak my settings, but COSMIC won't allow you to do much. Sure they call it accents colours etc, but I can already do that in loads of other DE's. When I was unable to even show the day of the week on the top bar, and spent ages looking on-line to find out how to do it, I was told in the forums to just do with out!
Not a helpful bunch unfortunately.
Also I found the COSMIC terminal to be very slow. It's not the best I've used, and being so slow would annoy me eventually.
The COSMIC store is terrible, stutters, and sometimes crashes. It is unable to install flatpaks and use the icon correctly, so some of them you end up with a gray icon with a cog motif, hovering over the icon doesn't show a tool-tip either, and trying to figure out how to label the thing was terrible as well.
Out of date apps, slow system usage, high memory, and just a generally broken offering isn't really the sort of thing you'd expect from something that has been worked on supposedly for three years now apparently.
I've been generous and given it a 5 for looks, but that all it gets and should really be a lot lower ratings wise.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-07-03
Votes: 0
|
i was my first experience with Linux and it was full of bugs and crashes.
Unfortunately, unlike what they claimed it wasn't compliable with my Nvidia Graphic card. i ended up hating it
Cosmic it was so lag, Ui was cluttered with pointless animations. Switching between windows felt like running 30fps monitor
I had to reinstall the Pop!os multiple times due to absurd stability issues
Graphic Card : 1070Ti
Cpu : AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Ram 16GB
|
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-06-07
Votes: 6
|
I'm using Alpha 7 as my daily driver, despite the constant admonition not to do so. But I would say this version is "alpha" primarily in being feature-incomplete (no obvious way to move windows controls from right to left; no obvious way to start programs at boot-up; etc). It's not alpha in the sense of being notably buggy (though the search feature in Settings hangs on me from time to time).
Rewriting the desktop in the Rust environment seemed to be a fool's errand, but you can't argue with the results: This is a fast set of tools (and memory safe besides). The app store is particularly improved by Rust, but having Files or Terminal pop up instantly is startling and pleasant.
What always distinguishes Pop_OS is its smart choice of apps and settings (and it's auto-tiling feature, which give you a lot of the i3 interface without the i3 learning curve). This alpha is no exception.
This is a bold reimagining of the Gnome 3 desktop and one I will likely use extensively in the future. For now, though, I need something a bit more feature-rich, so the long-in-the-tooth 22.04 version will do. It's still a solid choice.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-05-06
Votes: 11
|
Stable 'classic' Pop!_OS version 22.04 comes with a modern Linux kernel.
Simply install Pop!_OS and run the standard update (just click to update).
You can also often choose more recent apps as Flatpaks instead of DEBs.
Daily updates are provided. It works with Nvidia graphics on Lenovo laptops.
For those who like to tinker with the system, I recommend installing the TIMESHIFT app. :)
If not, you can try to recover using the system's built-in rescue partition - just remember to check for updates to that partition from time to time.
I've been using Pop!_OS as my daily driver for over two years. To run specific Windows programs, I use VirtualBox or Wine/PlayOnLinux on Pop!_OS.
If you rely on MS Office, you can use it in the cloud or check out the OnlyOffice app to get rid of Windows entirely ;)
I haven't tested the alpha version because I already have everything I need.
Previously, I used Windows (which burned through PCs and disks with heavy updates and failures), then switched to Peppermint Linux on old laptops, and Pop!_OS on regular laptops. I also played around with Ventoy to test MX, antiX, and Zorin. I plan to stick with Pop!_OS.
As of today (2025-05-06), the Linux kernel is (in terminal):
uname -a
Linux pop-os 6.12.10-76061203-generic
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-18
Votes: 16
|
People frequently ask whether or not they should skip Pop 22.04 and wait until the newer, Rust-based COSMIC DE is out of Alpha, but if you aren't looking to Alpha test the new DE in Pop 24.04, and are looking for a decent distro today, Pop 22.04 is still a great choice.
It really is an all-around fantastic distro. Sane out-of-the-box layout of GNOME DE thanks to the default Pop GNOME Extensions. Window tiling option is very nice. Still receives the latest kernel and graphics driver updates, but only after extensive quality control checks, so no breaking. Always up-to-date software with Flatpak enabled out-of-the-box. Decent documentation on official site. Very active and helpful user community on official Reddit, where the devs themselves frequently post and respond.
Pro tip:
Immediately download and use the newer app store, COMSIC store (available in PopShop), instead of the older, default app store, PopShop. COSMIC store runs exponentially faster, uses less memory, and even has a better layout than the older PopShop. You can then either delete PopShop after, or keep it and simply disable it from automatically starting in the background at login.
So, if you don't feel like Alpha testing the future Rust-based COSMIC DE, then give Pop 22.04 a chance. It is still a great choice today.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha6
Rating: 3
Date: 2025-03-29
Votes: 2
|
Cosmic store is really fast.
Display looks great. VLC is perfect for watching movies (18" monitor) and sound is fine. Strawberry for listening to music and handles flac files perfect. Slideshow is a nice option though it now only supports built-in pictures. Suppose own pictures will be possible to use when stable version is released.
With only 8Gb RAM on 16 year old VAIO VGN AW41XHQ it is behind only Zorin and Q4OS in handling. With that little RAM and only 2 cores in CPU I find it OK not to use several programs at same time. The old Nvidia 9600 is not supported in the nVidia release so used the universal without problems and the correct version was detected immediately.
Will try on my desktop (daily computer) when 24.04 stable is released.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha6
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-03-24
Votes: 0
|
Awaiting final release to replace my primary desktop. Currently switching between Linux Mint LMDE6 and Ubuntu 24.04.
Love the stability of Mint LMDE but like the graphical feel of Ubuntu. COSMIC Desktop is more to my liking...
Hoping that stability will be there as i didn't installed it to work for long period with it.
Previous comments seems to indicate such instability...
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-03-20
Votes: 0
|
Get used to pop up that declare your system is "unresponsive"
I have used both alpha and the POPos version official but I had to quit after several issues.
System hanging is the chagrin on POPos. It wear you down with its POPup message
System crashes are common and it may happen when you are in the midst of some busy work like loading an ML model using ollama.
Its just not ready
I have moved back to mint and I am thinking of going back to UBUNTU because I want to get some work done
My sense is that cosmic Os will not be ready until 2026
|
Version: 24.04-alpha6
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-03-13
Votes: 20
|
Wow, its just so bad.
Huge memory hog, stutters on app loading, then it hangs so often you have to wonder what on earth they've been doing the last three years?
They should have just stuck to what they were doing already, plenty of people were happy with the finished product and they had plenty of fans that were willing to use their version of Debian rather than Ubuntu's effort.
But nope, someone there thought lets try and flood the market with yet another unneeded DE
Certainly not worth using in any way shape or form and POP os have lost a loyal fan.
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Version: 24.04-alpha6
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-03-11
Votes: 0
|
This needs work, I got the nvidia iso. The installer freezes up then works then 1/2 way through tells me there is a hardware problem but I know there is not a problem which means the installer has a problem with the drivers it is using. I also realize that all Ubuntu based distro's tell me my ata2 is slow and it's not so it's got to be a motherboard driver it's using or the installer has a glitch with it that certain combo's of hardware only show up on. I was expecting something great but was totally disappointed and you can tell it's an alpha and they need a broader range of PC's to test it on from how the installer froze up, also might want to install Nvidia drivers for the install since it didn't seem to do that and whatever they used like a wrapper or xwayland is not working since xwayland acts like it's still in alpha also.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-03-05
Votes: 2
|
Being simple and stable, Pop!_OS is still my go to distro.
No, it's not a rolling release. Don't expect the latest version software all the time, nor a cutting edge kernel. Nevertheless, system and security updates are constantly available, so it's definitely neither "abandoned" nor "unmantained". You want the latest Gnome or Hyprland? It's Linux! Just install it and spend the next few weeks configuring it until it performs to your liking. Meanwhile I'm just happy with the way this modified Gnome 42.9 runs.
Nvidia drivers are installed by default (using Nvidia ISO, of course), work perfectly well and are updated frequently (now running 570.86.16), with the hybrid function running without a hitch.
I can do all my online work, and play some games, on this my old laptop. No complaints at all. It just works out of the box.
MODEL: Lenovo Y50-70
CPU: Intel i7-4720HQ (8) @ 3.600GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
MEM: 16GB
SSD: Kinsgton 480GB
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-02-09
Votes: 22
|
Pop! is a complete distribution. After installation and reboot, it is possible to get going without any further configuration. The defaults are, indeed, sane defaults.
Pop! offers a heavily modified GNOME called COSMIC, including desktop icons, a dock with a lot of configuration allowed and a tabbed Show Applications. Show Applications, in particular, is far superior to GNOME's offering as it is less quirky - for example, applications are sorted alphabetically without having to install an extension to do so.
The big new feature of Pop! is automatic window tiling. It is switched off by default but, once switched on and used for a bit, it is sensational. There is nothing like it in Windows/MacOS and nothing as easy to set up or use in Linux. In fact, the whole way of managing the screen is so intuitive and obvious once used it it is surprising that there are so few attempts at tiling and those that exist are not the mainstream flavours of distributions.
There are a number of other thoughtful features, such as firmware updates built in, a recovery partition built in, USB flashing built in (Popsicle) and an app store (Pop! Shop) which is less clumsy than most and supports DEB files and flatpaks.
I note some reviews about "old" and "unmaintained". Well, Pop! is based on Ubuntu LTS 22.04, which is supported until 2027. It uses GNOME 42 but, really, the differences between that and the current version, 47, are mostly cosmetic, particularly in what feels like the endless shuffling around of options in the file manager (Nautilus). If required newer versions of GNOME apps can be installed via flatpak.
More concerning is that the kernel is old and in between LTS versions (6.9.3; the LTSs are 6.6.x and 6.12.x). However, with three commands I switched to the xanmod kernel, which is currently at 6.12.13.
The "old" is because Pop! took a very radical step in developing its own desktop environment, COSMIC, rather than put up with GNOME's often arbitrary and increasing constraints on what modifications could be made to vanilla GNOME. By definition that takes a long time; it is certain that version 1 of "new COSMIC" will be good but not as feature-rich as "old COSMIC" as reviewed here, but the alpha releases are very promising.
The rating is tricky. I give 8 because Pop! has clearly done all it can with GNOME and produced a remarkably effective take, with the automatic window tiling worth the price of admission on its own, but there will be a step to get over between "old COSMIC" and "new COSMIC".
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 4
Date: 2025-02-02
Votes: 3
|
Practically unmaintained and unusable in its current state. The only hope for Pop!_OS users is that system76 may drop 24.04 within their lifetimes and fix so so many of the issues with this 3-year-old distro release which is just running off of old buggy software with no patches. Stayed on it for 3 years and had to swap to something more maintained because it was getting harder and harder to use it as my daily driver. Hopefully 24.04 will release with COSMIC being usable out of the box within a reasonable amount of time and progress on it is looking promising but system76 ditching their community to go work on an entirely new DE without even bothering to still update what people were stuck on was a horrible choice.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-01-30
Votes: 1
|
Une tres bonne distribution Linux sous enviironnement Gnome pour mon Mac Mini 2012 ( 16 GB Ram ).
Je l'utilise sur un disque Externe OWC en USB 3. La distribution est tres stable et fluide dans son usage.
Merci au developeurs pour cette distribution tres agreable.
Un grand merci.
Philippe
A very good Linux distribution under the Gnome environment for my Mac Mini 2012 ( 16 GB Ram ).
I'm using it on an external OWC USB 3 drive. The distribution is very stable and smooth to use.
Thanks to the developers for this very pleasant distro.
Many thanks.
Philippe
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-01-16
Votes: 3
|
Using Pop_OS for a year now
Desktop - AMD 7800X3D / NVIDIA 4070
setup works pretty good, and no regrets for quiting windows.
Still, I will give another try to MINT soon (let's first wait for COSMIC release).
Indeed, I find too much graphical / dispay issues using Wine (GEProton), and I miss creating files in folder with a right-click....
that said, system is stable, fast and easy to set-up. Image with Nvidia driver is a plus (even if some would disagree on that).
It gives choice, when possible, to install deb or flatpak versions of apps (nextcloud client, steam, etc)
this will remain my OS, unless Mint convince me again.
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Version: 24.04-alpha5
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-01-10
Votes: 4
|
It is almost Perfect.
Pros: -
1. This is the best compromise between, Gnome, Cinnamon, KDE Plasma and a tiling window manager.
2. Although it seems to use a lot of system memory, the performance is always fast.
3. It is a joy to use on the Ubuntu base or on Fedora.
Cons: -
1. The file manager still needs to be finished, it is slow to find samba shares.
2. The firmware section in system settings needs to be finished.
Other than that I really like it and have been using Cosmic since Alpha 1, give it a try it is worth it.
For the problems with the file manager just install Nemo and you will be just fine.
If you want online accounts, install gnome-online-accounts-gtk it works well, but you will need Nemo if you want to access your Gdrive.
Plus Nemo or Nautilus can mount samba shares and they will then show up in the Cosmic File Manager.
Cosmic desktop is a breath of fresh air.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-12-16
Votes: 9
|
Tried some linux back in 2006, as media server and player at home office. But was stuck on MacOS. In 2022, my MacBookPro started to be outdated and got a Windows laptop from one of my jobs I consulted for. Decided to make the the IT guy/CEO mad and install some linux on the laptop. Tried many good ones, but landed on PopOS 22.04, that fitted my needs absolutely best. It's so stable and simplest to use. Have also the new 24.04 Alpha 4 on a spare computer, just to try put. Feels very promising and suprislingy fast on a old i3 with only 4gB RAM.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2024-10-23
Votes: 0
|
Have not tried Pop OS is a while and was surprised to see it was still at 22.04 LTS. Not that I crave cutting edge Linux releases but I do find it sort of behind the times for even a LTS distro. Maybe its why I have seen Pop OS sort of fall in downloads. I think with so much happening in hardware I do want a OS to keep up with a more recent kernel and improvements. I especially find it strange since System 76 hardware offers a choice between Pop OS and Ubuntu which is now on 24.04. Still, I still find PopOS acceptable and stable dispite the lag in updating. But I am not sure about sticking with it when so many other distro's are updating faster.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-10-07
Votes: 4
|
I've been using some version of Pop!_OS for at least eight years and have found it to be reliable. I'm running it on a System76 Gazelle laptop that has an Intel Core i7-11800H 2.3 GHz processor, 16 Gbytes of memory, 1Tbyte SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile graphics processor. The system and OS have been trouble free. Pop!_OS is my daily driver and I use it for everything. For example I use it with: OBS Studio for recording onscreen videos, Shotcut for video editing, Brave for web browsing, Betterbird for getting and writing emails, Lazarus/Free Pascal for RAD GUI development, GCC for coding console applications, GIMP for image editing, etc. I quit using MS-Windows over twelve years ago and I don't miss anything about Win-Doze. I keep one laptop, that currently has MS-Windows 10 on it, for cross development work (using Lazarus/Free Pascal) that I do for a charity organization that requires Windows compatible applications. I was a Win-Doze user since the 3.0 days and it took me a long time of trying Linux distros to finally bite the bullet and switch, mainly because it's taken Linux and its assorted applications many years to mature into something that's reliable and powerful enough to supplant Win-Doze. It has achieved that capability and capacity. I vote "YES" for Pop!_OS and I say goodbye Win-Doze I don't miss you one damned bit.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-09-16
Votes: 1
|
Using Pop!_OS since months. Working good on high resolution monitors under Wayland, very smooth. Has a good App store, but of curse you can install software via apt or from .deb files or via flatpak files directly. I like the menu of Pop!_OS which does not cover the whole display as it does the GNOME Menu and does not need 2 mouse clicks to open it as in default GNOME. I love the integration of the weather app and calender app into the date/time panel widget, so when you click on the date widget on the panel, you see the weather and all your apointments in calendar without having to open the calender app and weather app. The system apps like calendar, contacts have good nextcloud integration. If you don't like the default theme and icons as I do, it's not that difficult to change them, I just followed some guidelines on youtube and could install nice icons and change the theme of menu and the panel. Also what I love about Pop!_OS that it is made for multiple monitor usage, so if you open a program on the monitor B it will be minimized to the menu on the monitor B. If the mous coursor is currently on the monitor A and I hit the "super" key, the menu opens itself on the monitor A. So there are some very good designed and thougtfull concepts on Pop!_OS which I could not see on other distros. All the software I use no matter if e-mail client or music player are the newest versions, the kernel is also always updated reguralry. Pop!_OS became my daily driver system, and I am using it sinse months after trying different distros like zorin os (which is very good), mint, ubuntu, fedora, debian. For me Pop!_OS offers the best experience. I just needed an OS for office work, emails, movie streaming services, listening to high resolution music files, having regularly videocalls, programming, virtual box, reading eBooks, printing and scanning documents, youtube, online shopping on multi monitor system setup - and for that Pop!_OS works just fine.
|
Version: 24.04-alpha1
Rating: 8
Date: 2024-09-09
Votes: 1
|
As the continue to polish this, it will be become one of the best. There is really not much to complain about for an alpha release. I've used full released M$ windows versions that were much worse. Pop is really easy to use in general and i suspect most people beginner or advanced can really enjoy it. I plan to make it my daily driver when its fully ready and for an alpha its pretty close already. It also works well as a gamer distro. I have tried most distros for gaming stability and mint seems to be the most solid. ( drauger is not quite ready from my perspective but getting closer. It is difficult to install and behaves differently almost every time during install.
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Version: 24.04-alpha1
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-08-15
Votes: 20
|
I installed and tested pop os 24.04 on my laptop with 4 GB ram, i5 3rd generation processor, 128 GB ssd, 1 GB amd ati radeon graphics card. The result is PERFECT!!! I was very surprised to see such a great performance on such an old laptop! If the alpha version is like this, it is very difficult to guess how great the stable version will be. pop os will write its name in gold letters in history as a distribution that represents the beginning of the golden ages of the linux world! Greetings from Türkiye.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2024-08-09
Votes: 14
|
Good, stable, but outdated as hell.
Several version behind Ubuntu and still sporting Gnome 42, while they're busy rewriting their DE in Rust. Packages are extremely outdated as well, hard to find anything new. For example VLC is hardly usable here. Even Debian is newer than this.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, except maybe to someone who just uses internet and basic stuff. But even then there's much better choices offering rock-stable system with new packages and hands free maintenance - like Universal Blue distros.
I ditched Windows ten months ago and been running Pop with zero problems, except for outdated stuff when I had to use distrobox, but I don't feel like this is getting updated anytime soon. Currently in a process of switching to something else, probably Tumbleweed or Bluefin.
If you insist on going with Pop, it'll serve you well, but so will other distros with newer packages. No point in installing this now.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-07-23
Votes: 11
|
Basic, modern and functional right out of the box.
Plenty of modification options are possible, but the distribution should be usable straight out of the box for a newcomer. I like POP_OS as it provides what a nominal user like me needs. Windows tiling is a very user friendly feature I found here. The combination of window tiling feature with multiple workspaces makes my daily tasks with the OS very seamless and less cultured experience.
Without editing or mapping configuration files, keyboard shortcut keys for keyboard backlighting and screen brightness works. Unlike some other distros, there is no need to update the sudoers file in order to add the current user as root. This is a deal breaker for newcomers, but can figure it out with little research. POP OS wins since it grants sudo privileges to the user that was created during the installation process. Overall, this distribution is excellent right out of the box; very little to no modification is required to make it functional. I liked it.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-07-16
Votes: 7
|
My experience using Pop OS was very enjoyable, both for the Intel / AMD processor version and the ARM version.
Installation is quite easy and smooth. The OS also runs well even though it takes up quite a lot of memory, but runs quite fast and stable.
I haven't encountered any serious problems while using this OS. I also used the ARM version of Pop OS on a Raspberry pi single board computer, and it ran quite fast, stable and without problems. very satisfactory. Can't wait for the next upgrade, considering that Pop OS 22.04 is quite old.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-06-29
Votes: 4
|
Hardware : iMac 27 Inch, Late 2015
I am a basic level user, tested almost all main Debian distros, familiar with terminal, no issues there.
Earlier I was working with Ubuntu unity 22.04 and 24.04 on this machine.
I had issues with connecting Bluetooth headsets in both 22.04 and 24.04.
Then tried to do with Arch + KDE and Ubuntu +Gnome. both not succeeded.
Had many issues after successful booting up.
Currently using Pop OS for 2 weeks now.
All things work out of box, very simple, easy to use.(my experience with Ubuntu helped me a lot)
Only wifi driver I had to install separately(now fine), that too wired connection was working fine.
Thanks for the developers who worked and currently working behind Pop OS.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-06-27
Votes: 4
|
With its Ubuntu underpinnings but a preference for apt and flatpak (and not snap) this is a familiar distribution that makes good choices. The goal is to minimize distractions and give users a powerful desktop for coding -- but POP_OS works just fine as a daily driver on any machine. The auto-tiling feature gives you the best of i3, if you're interested, but without the steep learning curve. It is my distro of choice, and I'm anticipating the new Cosmic interface, currently in alpha. These are some clever folks.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2024-06-12
Votes: 5
|
It's a great Linux Distribution and one of the best distros that I've ever used. But it has some problems or well 'one' problem. The Pop Shop sometimes crashes and is quite slow as compared to the software store of Linux Mint. Although I don't use GUI software installer instead I just my packages from the terminal but I sometimes like to look around in the available packages to find some useful one and there the problem occurs... other than that this is an amazing operating system. The main reason I love this is because of what it offers. The desktop environment is basically gnome but with a bunch of addons which makes the work flow extremely good. Although this can be achieved in any distro but I'd rather prefer a complete out of the box exp pre-installed. If end up breaking my system it will take me hours to setup my desktop environment the way I use it. Also if I end up breaking my pop!_os system(it rarely happens tho) I can just boot the live media and there's an option to just re-install my system with all my files exactly where they were which makes it so much more good!. I want to thank System76 for building such an amazing operating system.
I love Pop!_OS:)
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-17
Votes: 11
|
Absolutely phenomenal distro, its like a paid operating system! Everything just works, even my stubborn NVIDIA graphics card is accepted into the system just like on windows (which I cant get it to work on other distro for some reason) I tried to donate to them but something is wrong with their payment system idk but awsome job Pop os team!
Details:
>Based on Ubuntu
>No snap
>Gnome
>Watch as Ubuntu continuously shoot themself in the foot by forcing snap upon their user
What is this strategy called?
I really hope this is a community distro so it can be sustainable and awesome
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2024-05-17
Votes: 2
|
Pop_OS just works, it has better stability than the vast majority of Debian/Ubuntu based distros, and makes using an Nvidia GPU on Linux an absolute breeze. Debian is arguably getting just as good in terms of easy-to-install, easy-to-use but I personally would rather use a more bleeding-edge distro for most of my needs anyway. For any beginner coming in especially a windows or macOS user that is used to interacting with a GUI, it simply cannot be matched in terms of accessibility (barring the amazing Linux Mint). Definitely would use this distro again for fun once the 24.04 refresh comes out.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-11
Votes: 3
|
I don't need to go into much detail - I always come back to this distro, because everything just works perfectly.
Every time I try something else there is always some little unexplained issue, performance is not right, etc.
This distro (from a gaming/general usage standpoint) just works and I don't think I'll ever need anything else.
Also I've never seen a distro that installs faster, don't know what magic they are doing but it's something to behold.
Literally the only complaint I can make is the Pop Shop is a weak point and a bit buggy. I don't mind as I barely use it.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-03
Votes: 2
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I am back on Pop!_OS after a 12 month hiatus. I previously had it installed and used it dual booting with Windows 10 for about 14 months. I was also using LMDE 5 at the time and then LMDE 6 came out and have been hooked on that too making it my preference for a while. Eventually, I put Pop_OS back on an external SSD and did some minor tweaks and it runs so well. System76 has taken a good base and desktop and really made it their own. It boots quickly, shuts down fast and everything always works right with the no trouble shooting needed unlike Fedora or even regular Ubuntu lately. Their COSMIC desktop version GNOME is not my favorite desktop environment but somehow Pop!_OS makes it function better than Ubuntu. I am looking forward their RUST based COSMIC desktop sans GNOME. Their current 22.04 is still solid, I am looking forward to the 24.04 rebase with the rust based COSMIC desktop. Great job System76!
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-03-31
Votes: 5
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Like just about everyone else, I anxiously await the full release of the Cosmic desktop. But I think the current incarnation is already excellent. For me, this means that it's stable, reliable, seamless, and transparent. It has sensible defaults--I don't think I have changed much of anything out of the box beyond setting the wallpaper to a solid color. It stays out of my way; it doesn't annoy me.
For reference, I am coming from Debian 12 with Xmonad, and before that FreeBSD running IceWM. I am perfectly comfortable at the command line, but it is still a welcome change to be able to configure everything (so far) from the GUI. I have previously spent many years on macOS, and it feels very much like that to me, perhaps even better since it includes the ability to easily switch to tiling windows at will.
Probably the biggest weakness I have noticed is the Pop!_Shop, which has a nasty way of blocking the UI whenever it decides to check for updates. I almost always run apt manually from the command line, but I don't expect everyone to be the same way, so you might find this aspect annoying. I hear this is much improved in Cosmic, and I hope to find out soon.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-03-30
Votes: 3
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I tested the NVidia version so I'll only comment on that:
A typical Linux distribution these days. Everything in Pop OS! is somehow thoughtlessly glued together and the probability that the Pop OS! installation can be maintained by ordinary users is close to zero.
The graphics card detection and setup for my modern laptop worked right away (cudos to the team for that), as did the installation of Steam and OBS (out of the box, by the way), but that's basically it.
Removable devices anyone? Not recognized (anymore) after one day of use.
Coexistence with other distros on the same disk (maybe with a boot manager)? Wait, that would be possible like with other distros? Haha, just jokin'... it's Pop OS, so no. Not right out of the box.
No, guys. This is not for me. I'm not going to study the weird behaviors of another distro. I've done that enough in the past. and I have a life. I'll use it for a while, but in the end, imho, it's a distro for the bin.
But anyway, have fun with it if you like it!
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-16
Votes: 12
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About as close to a perfect "10" as you can get. After being a Linux Mint user for eight years I decided to give the latest version of POP_OS! a test drive. I am not a fan of GNOME but I was very pleasantly surprised. It has a calming interface in their modifications of GNOME, GNOME shell extensions and color selection of interface items. A light aqua-blue and orange with a well thought out light and dark desktop theme. Most importantly, there seems to be a concern for quality and user system restoration functions. The last couple of years Linux Mint was focused on adding trivial features instead of fixing bugs, making it easier to restore the Cinnamon desktop on a fresh install and offering other than a GRUB boot option.
Kudos to the System76 team on skipping a 22.10 release to focus on COSMIC and the big changes coming in 24.04 LTS. I like the philosophy of what System76 brings to the distro. Providing a nice base with a minimalist email client and a full office suite and then letting user fill out their system with software they need than trying to be a Swiss Army knife.
I am excited for the future of this disto and hope System76 keeps making the right decisions going forward.
I use my workstations mostly for development, OS testing and music production. POP_OS! does what it says it does for my needs.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-14
Votes: 1
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I am coming from Lubuntu LXQt DE. Gnome takes a little getting used to, but many distributions are using a docker today. I like that it is based on Debian, and I can install many of the programs that I am used to using, such as jedit, filezilla, gwenview, synaptic, variety, youtube-dl, etc. I do not care for the Files manager: I much prefer Thunar or PCManFM-Qt, since the latter has a better compact view, and you can copy the path and paste it into a command line prompt. I like that you can scale a high resolution monitor easily under settings, and you can switch easily from light to dark themes.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-01-09
Votes: 0
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POP!_OS has truly surpassed my expectations, making it the most exceptional distribution I've encountered thus far. As someone deeply immersed in various creative pursuits, my PC serves as a hub for music production, software development, and gaming. Remarkably, POP!_OS seamlessly caters to all these needs with unparalleled performance, making it the ideal choice for my diverse requirements.
One of the standout features for me is its custom GNOME environment. While I appreciate GNOME, its limitations sometimes hinder my workflow, such as the inability to create files or folders directly on the desktop. However, POP!_OS ingeniously addresses this drawback, providing a user-friendly interface that grants me this functionality. This subtle yet significant advantage enhances my productivity and overall experience.
Looking ahead, the anticipation for version 24.04 with the Cosmic desktop is palpable. The promise of continued improvements and innovative features further solidifies my loyalty to this OS. In fact, I'm already planning to complement my computing experience by investing in a Thelio for my next desktop.
Having experimented with various other distributions in the past, I can confidently attest that POP!_OS stands tall above the rest. Its user-centric design, performance-driven ethos, and seamless integration across my creative endeavors earn it a resounding perfect score of 10 stars in my review.
R-
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-22
Votes: 1
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Best performance and CPU scheduling OOTB from OSes Ive tested, fast startup and shutdown.
Only negative might be funny name and not the best theme/ui design for now (until Cosmic gets released).
It is simple and not exiting to tinker with and I have this as a positive, it is complete package and you can install it and start with your work in 15minutes. Really efficient for productivity.
Of course you can tinker with it and edit it any way you want as every other Linux OS. It is Ubuntu based, so you get all the info on forums and application support.
Updates are rock solid, automatic - not he bleeding edge but it works well.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-12-04
Votes: 2
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This is a solid, innovative distribution, written for coders by coders. Those who maintain it are smart and clear-headed about what they want in a distro (I've spoken to them several times and always been impressed). If you're a programmer, or high-end user, this is an OS that gets out of your way with excellent defaults and crisp operation. Interestingly, the windows-management system adds some of the best features of i3 in a much easier-to-use setup (which can be enabled or disabled with a click or two). Despite being based on Ubuntu, snaps are not enabled by default. (Good choice!) I'm looking forward to the next version based on Ubuntu 24.04 sometime next year.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-09
Votes: 0
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Very good distribution with lots of improvements over Ubuntu, on which it is based. Many core packages are at a higher version of Ubuntu and are well tested/curated/integrated when Pop!_OS decides to ship more recent versions.
The settings/config is also at a higher level than what I was used from Ubuntu. Certain popular applications, such as Firefox, GIMP, Inkscape, Telegram, Signal, Audacity, OBS, Spotify, Shotcut, Mattermost, Ungoogled Chromium and a dozen more, I use installed via Flathub, which is integrated in their installer.
Point of improvement is to not skip Ubuntu releases, althought the backporting is done well.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-05
Votes: 0
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It was very good distribution until it will never get update anymore it becomes suck.
OS with LTS terms is bad experience for desktop because the user's desktop is needed to have the latest software and features rather than effectively the stable terms is not really that stable is just keep the old bugs and no more regression. Linux desktop is already suck in terms of backward compatibility, so I think to keep the version old is not meant to be stable. As my advice I will very glad to have the semi-rolling OS and having the latest stable version of the packages and fixes the bugs more often and forget about regression, Linux env is the king of regression.
That's it, Linux should have much more investor to have solid foundation software on desktop computers, I don't want to talk about on a server side.
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Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-10-15
Votes: 2
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Pop!_Os is a great distro of Linux to run. It just works! It has a refined feel and if you are changing from windows or mac to Linux you will feel at home with this distro. I use it for my daily work and home computer and it reliable and stable. Documentation is good and I feel that anyone can use this and be successful.
System76 provides good and timely updates but they do not monkey around with the system. Things to not "break" when you get a new update. There was an issue with the last kernel and HDMI, Sytem76 had great communication, just loaded the old kernel till they could get it solved. No productivity lost and when they got it right they upgraded the kernel.
I suggest that if you want a distro that works and does not cause headaches this is the one.
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Latest Reviews
Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-03-12
Votes: 0
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Wow, just three months after the initial Epoch 1 release, virtually all my issues (but two) have been resolved. The progress being made in this desktop environment is really impressive. Pop! is certainly ready for use as a daily driver ... as they refine the interface, add features, and fix bugs.
What isn't working for me? (1) Large file transfers -- say, 80 GB of miscellaneous files and images from a memory stick to the hard drive -- are noticeably slower than the Gnome alternative. In addition, the transfer may or may not finish, topping out at 99 percent and seemingly dying. There are some tweaks to be made there still. And (2) I'd love to move the window controls the the left, a la macOS. That's on the roadmap, so I know it'll get there eventually, but the sooner the better.
Anyway, good job System76. I look forward to years of improvements.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-03-05
Votes: 5
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We had a good working relationship for about two years, but there are some fundamental weaknesses in POP!_OS that are unacceptable for more experienced Linux users.
+ Nvidia (RTX 4060 laptop) worked flawlessly from day one (NVidia ISO)
+ Gnome/X11 never caused any problems
+ Game Ready with Steam (flatpak)
+ Good system stability
- Nvidia driver updates within a Gnome/X11 session have been (at least for me) guaranteed computer crashes. Fix: log out from Gnome-session, switch to a different TTY (virtual console) by using Strg + Alt + F1 (to F6), login there, update, logout, back to the Gnome login greeter, login and you're fine
- System76 delivers updates that render the system irreparably unusable (welcome to 'dummy output' hell for Intel PCM sound, unfixable on my Tangfong barebone laptop). Thanks system76 for delivering that garbage to my system.
- Outdated software
- The Pop!_Shop is unstable and contains too much non-functional software
- Somewhat active community forums are only found on 'walled garden' social media like Reddit and Discord
For various reasons, I will dump 22.04 as soon as possible and won't switch to 24.04, but will look for a different distribution that better suits my personal needs. Maybe I will go back to Arch Linux (+10 years with mixed experiences) or will give NixOS a try.
Anyhow.
My experiences don't have to be your experiences.
Have fun on your personal journey if you want to try POP!_OS.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-02-27
Votes: 5
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This is in my personal opinion one of the top three distros for former W10 users who are new to Linux and not interested in learning Linux's CLI right away and for anyone who is having trouble deciding which distro fulfills their needs. Installation is extremely user-friendly and the whole distro as whole is very straight forward and is a great starting point even if you do decide to hop to something else in the future.
The COSMIC desktop environment is the main feature that defines Pop (the current description above as of me writing this is misleading; since Q1 of this year Pop is no longer based on GNOME, but on System76's own, Rust-based/Iced-based DE). It is VERY fast and responsive to inputs. It feels like it can actually keep up with me. The settings menu is beautifully simplistic in design: options are arranged horizontally across the window within a vertical list you can scroll through. No vague categories, endless hierarchies you have to click through every time to find a feature you need to change, and pop-ups full of boxes for check marks to enable obscure settings you have no idea about. It even has a search box to send you to your setting faster. However, its simplicity is partially due to the fact that as of February COSMIC is unfortunately very under-cooked in terms of advanced settings, which other DE's have. HDR support for example is not yet available (though it is on their roadmap).
The COSMIC store is equally as easy to use. Just look through the categories or search manually for what application you want, and choose the package format you want for that application. On the bottom you can find the Updates section, which allows you to update your Flatpaks and Pop itself. In early January, I suffered issues with COSMIC Store freezing, but this bug eventually stopped happening altogether. Do not be misled by the Debian tag, Pop gets very frequent system updates from its developers, it is much more comparable to Ubuntu's update frequency (and in fact still draws from Ubuntu's repos), but even more proactively.
The niche Pop! serves as a whole is to be an all-rounder that can be turned into whatever you want it to be on the fly. If you want your desktop layout and form factor to look and work a certain way that suits you specifically, or to resemble a different DE really, there is almost always a setting for that. I'd say it shines primarily as a workstation distro for ADHD maniacs like me, but can also be used for gaming with no problems whatsoever.
And on a related note I need to talk about how amazing the workspaces are. Because Pop has been the ideal compact, multitasking, keyboard-centric OS for me. So if you are into that, then Pop is for you, but if not then it is probably still okay anyway. Need to stack programs on the same window together? Just press a macro. Want them to tile into appropriate corners instantly? Just press the macro. Want to resize and relocate applications and toss them into different workspaces so you can subdivide your workflow on top of your already obsessively organized and subdivided workflow? Just press the macros. Only own one monitor and still want to enjoy using your computer as much as everyone else? Pop lets you do that.
As for the cons I will say that Pop is a particularly heavy distro in the RAM usage department, so I would strongly recommend you don't try to revive an old laptop with this or install on a device with only 4GB of RAM. You will not have a great time. This is not an lightweight distro. Best to look elsewhere. Other than that, this is an exceptionally clean, professional looking distro and it does everything I need it to do, but if you are one of those people who needs more besides "just works", Pop might not live up to your expectations. It's already excellent, but it will be more viable for a larger selection of people once they actually get around to fleshing out this OS with every feature people have been asking for.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-02-20
Votes: 1
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Tbh I am actually scratching my head with this distro.
I have seen alot of reviews stating, this is a really great distro but tbh, I am not seeing that.
The cosmic desktop is very nice and the distro overall is very fast and fluid. Once you get things up and running, its quite nice.
However getting there is the problem.
I have two dells, one dell would boot under uefi with a black screen at the end and booting under legacy was fine but as soon as you install it, it freezes up
Now if we compare this with linux mint which goes in like a treat on the same device and is also based off ubuntu 24.04, the differences are night and day. Zorin is the same perfect install on this device but not pop.
My second laptop booted the iso fine and installed fine on uefi but the configuration set by pop were basically wrong. It decided to set the hdmi as the default input and output device instead of the speakers which requires you to use their profile feature to fix it.
Synaptic pm wont open unless you run it from terminal with a switch and you cant even add a battery percentage indicator to the applet.
I also installed updates and then my opacity stopped working on my panel.
Once you get around the issues which in my mind should not be there considering its based off ubuntu, its a nice experience but if you are a first time newbie to linux, stay clear.
I dont know why but there is a developing trend these days of distros being released have baked, kaos being another example. If cosmic is not ready, then dont make it available.
This half baked philosophy is what they are doing with windows 11 and using the user base as beta testers is not a good look.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2026-02-20
Votes: 1
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I did a bare metal install of Pop and while it's not for me it's quite a nice distro. FYI; Did you know that for whatever (Doesn't make sense to me why this distro) HP is now using Pop as their Linux distro which will come pre-instaled!
For gaming and everyday use it handles things nicely. For windows users it also handless the job and should please most users.
There is just too much Cosmic this and Cosmic that for my taste. Just name the distro Cosmic and be done with it.
My opinion is that the Cosmic desktop is not quite ready for prime time yet. It does hold a lot of promise though especially using Rust.
I see the raking here is good so it's popular enough. I wish them all the success in the world and if this is to your liking, enjoy.
Over a million downloads, that's pretty good.The tiling if that's you thing is quite nice as well. Battery life and applets are great features as well as security.
I would definetly be able to recommend this distro even though it's not for me.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-02-18
Votes: 0
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It's been the best jack-of-all-trades out of the box flavor of Linux I've tried. From gaming to 3d modeling, running it headless as a psudo-server or watching movies it truly is a majority seemless experience. It's what I'll recommend to noobs to experienced users; just not to tinkering hacker power users. The move to COSMIC and therefore Wayland is what I'll praise, since stuff like dual monitors, all the laptop hardware, screen share, every expected game, network drivers, and secure boot for once actually worked first try on every system I've deployed it on. The only things I've disliked are the built-in cosmic apps being hot steamers, occasionally drive mounting gets drunk, and the alt-tab is weird. But those problems are nothing compared to the horrors of my Linux past.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-15
Votes: 3
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This is my first time migrating away from Windows. I’ve always used the Windows operating system and honestly never thought I would switch. But after trying three different Linux distributions, my favorite so far is Pop!_OS.
Why?
Because Pop!_OS feels incredibly familiar coming from Windows—especially Windows 11 and earlier versions. The interface, workflow, and overall experience make the transition feel smooth and comfortable. I really believe this operating system offers one of the easiest learning curves for someone moving from Windows to Linux.
Another major reason I like Pop!_OS is that it supports most of the software I need to continue my work just as I did on Windows. This has made the switch not only easier but practical for my everyday tasks.
Overall, Pop!_OS has been the best balance of familiarity, performance, and usability for a first-time Windows-to-Linux user like me.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-06
Votes: 7
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I rarely take the time to write reviews, but I just had to for Pop!_OS. For some background, I started my Linux journey in 1997 with Redhat, then Debian, then stuck with Ubuntu up until 2021 when I became addicted to distro hopping. Always looking for my next "fix" and the "perfect" distro/workflow, I would try anything new not even sure why I wasn't just using Ubuntu, as I had for 16 years.
I'd heard about the COSMIC desktop environment, but was never inclined to try it until it was out of beta, and I am very glad I did, especially on its originating OS. It was the rehab I needed for my distro hopping addiction. The Ubuntu base I was very familiar with, and the new COSMIC DE was everything I wanted that Gnome never provided.
My favorite aspect of COSMIC was the ability to instantly switch between floating and tiling windows. I never knew tiling windows would fit my workflow better. I also like that Pop!_OS isn't afraid to update the underlying Ubuntu LTS base kernel to the latest stable version (after testing), and COSMIC itself is a sort of rolling-release desktop environment.
I now have Pop!_OS on five (5) systems (3 laptops and 2 desktops) completely stable and fully compatible with 4 to 5 year old Dell and Lenovo hardware. It is my daily driver at home, and I'm in the process of switching from Microsoft at work to Pop!_OS. Thank you System76, Pop!_OS, and especially COSMIC devs for this wonderful operating system! Keep up the good work!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-02-04
Votes: 3
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I've been a Linux user since 2000 and have tried some 20 or more distros over the years, but always returned to vanilla Debian in the end. I think those days are over.
When Pop!_OS first came out, I tried it but wasn't particularly impressed at the time. More recently, I decided to give Pop!_OS and its Cosmic desktop environment a spin on the System76 Lemur Pro I bought, since the laptop came installed with it. The OS and the DE blew me away. It was love at first sight!
As much as I liked Gnome, Cosmic is exactly what I hoped it would be. It's configurable without being overwhelming; it's not a memory hog; and it's fast. I love especially keeping my desktop lean and clean, and prefer using keyboard shortcuts to point and click. I also love the tiling option, but tend to use launcher more often to access apps and files. Moreover, I haven't found it buggy at all, despite critiques from others.
In short, after using Pop!_OS for a few weeks, it's a keeper and now my main driver on both laptops.Great job System76 and the Pop!_OS and Cosmic devs for this heavenly distro!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2026-01-29
Votes: 5
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POP OS was always buggy, even when still on Gnome.
But with Cosmic it... sure, looks pretty. But the buggyness of the new Cosmic DE is essentially reaching "unusable" levels of buggy.
That DE is nowhere near ready to be shipped. And here we have the consequences of everyone wanting to re-invent the wheel instead of building on what's available. The biggest issue of Linux in general.
UI elements freeze, become unresponsive. The panel has app tray icons that wont respond. Quitting/shutting down apps wont remove them from app tray.
Too much sacrifice for mere eye candy.
For me, window tiling in Pop OS is more hassle than on other distros.
The software centre is still notoriously slow.
It honestly feels like a worse version of Gnome, even though that's the opposite that they tried to achieve.
Very disappointed.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-29
Votes: 3
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My hardware where I test and run Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC desktop is:
CPU: i5-4590 ( Haswell )
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
GPU: AMD RX 6600
To me the cosmic DE might be the biggest news for Linux in several YEARS!!!
The shift to a fully GPU-accelerated desktop in Pop!_OS 24.04 (COSMIC) is what attracted me and I can confirm that it really works with my RX 6600 .
COSMIC is written from the ground up in Rust.
The entire UI is GPU-accelerated, meaning it offloads work from your CPU more effectively than older desktops.
I can confirm this personally even with my slightly older hardware. The GPU is doing the job and the result is a very smooth DE experience.
I give the cosmic DE a score of 9 out of 10 based on the great features and the GPU hardware acceleration and the future potential. Its fast and fairly lightweight and really offloads the slow CPU in my test rig and is super snappy.
Now that said, there are bugs. This is a early version, so I have not installed cosmic on my main PC yet.
In its current form a more fair score for cosmic DE is perhaps a score of 5 out of 10, but that is not the point at this stage. Cosmic is the future and the way to go. Its not a fork of a old DE its brand new code from bottom up.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-26
Votes: 0
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My hardware where I test and run Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC desktop is:
CPU: i5-4590 ( Haswell )
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
GPU: AMD RX 6600
The cosmic DE might be the biggest news for Linux in several YEARS!!!
""
COSMIC is written from the ground up in Rust, it bypasses much of the "bloat" associated with older C-based environments like GNOME.
The Rust Advantage: Because it’s memory-safe and highly concurrent, you won't see the "memory leaks" or UI stutters that sometimes plague long-running GNOME sessions.
GPU Acceleration: The entire UI is GPU-accelerated, meaning it offloads work from your CPU more effectively than older desktops.
The shift to a fully GPU-accelerated desktop in Pop!_OS 24.04 (COSMIC) is one of its most technical advantages. Unlike older desktops that often rely on the CPU to "paint" windows and then hand them to the GPU, COSMIC treats the entire desktop like a 3D game engine.
COSMIC's Approach:
It uses the Wgpu library (in Rust). Every single button, text character, and window shadow is rendered directly on the GPU using Vulkan.
The CPU "Offload": Because the GPU is specialized for math and drawing, the CPU is freed up for background tasks (like compiling code or processing data). This results in lower "system latency"—the time between you clicking a button and seeing the result.
""
I give the cosmic DE a score of 9 out of 10 based on the great features and the GPU hardware acceleration and the future potential. Its fast and fairly lightweight and really offloads the slow CPU in my test rig and is super snappy.
Now that said, there are bugs.
This is a early version, so I have not installed cosmic on my main PC yet.
In its current form a more fair score for cosmic DE is perhaps a score of 5 out of 10, but that is not the point at this stage. Cosmic is the future and the way to go. Its not a fork of a old DE its brand new code from bottom up.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-18
Votes: 3
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As I am using a dual monitor where one monitor is connected to the designated GPU, I had a lot of difficulty configuring the other distributions for them to work with proprietary drivers, but POP-OS with Nvidia ISO worked flawlessly without any tweaking from me. In terms of my work, I use terminal, containers, vim, and browser, and I'm very happy with the setup. Highly recommend this OS for custom build PCs with NVIDIA GPUs. System-76, keep up the great work. Your products are rock solid and I hope other distributions can learn a thing or two from you guys.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 4
Date: 2026-01-15
Votes: 0
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Después de más de un año con gnome se actualizó y el escritorio ahora es cosmic, un desastre, la pantalla se pixela, va a tirones. He vuelto a instalar gnome con extensiones.
Me parece que todavía no está depurado el escritorio, volverá a intentarlo dentro de un tiempo por ver si ha mejorado y si dejan o quitan el escritorio gnome pues cambiaré de distribución.
Podrían tener más escritorios como Debian por ejemplo y no que solamente tienen gnome y cosmic, poca variedad en escritorios.
Saludos.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2026-01-13
Votes: 9
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Have been using it for more than 5 years and was very tempted to update to the latest 24.04 release with COSMIC desktop. And unfortunately I was extremely disappointed with it - it's a complete garbage in it's current state, it's simply too raw and unfinished. Primitive configuration tasks like changing keyboard layout with Alt+Shift is impossible to achieve with reasonable efforts. GNOME extensions are not supported (I've been using Freon to display current CPU/GPU temperatures on 22.04, now it's unachievable). COSMIC Tweaks that is claimed to be a replacement for GNOME Tweaks simply can't change any of the settings it suppose to change. The environment performance is pure trash. I guess it's time to switch to something mature and polished, hello KDE.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-09
Votes: 0
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Come from windows os 10 then had to move to 11 my god what a shit show that is.
Coming to pop os after plenty of research on what distro to use for gaming and hitting the delete everything tab thinking to myself what the fuck have I done.
Then setting it up and boy i was surprised how quiet it is no annoying ads pop ups or anything unbelievably refreshing.
Ok I had to use youtube to sort a few things out but all I do mostly is game and browsing the Internet.
Best move i have done in computing .
Keep it simple logical.
You all have done a great job thank you.
Rob
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-09
Votes: 1
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This was the district that I used to make the jump from windows, I have used Ubuntu previously but didn’t feel it had the daily drive ability that I was looking for. Pop has the perfect amount of simplicity and still having amazing features under the hood. I built this pc with an nvidia gpu and pop manages the nvidia driver updates super well, the only issues I ran into with those drivers where when I was dual booting for a bit and had windows trying to take over the firmware on my gpu. Runs steam games amazingly annd in some cases I tested games running faster on pop than windows on the same computer. amazing documentation, and with it being Ubuntu based that documentation is even better as most Ubuntu stuff applies to pop. Highly recommend this and I’m excited to give cosmic a try when it gets a bit more sorted!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-01-07
Votes: 0
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I have now been using Pop!_OS on my home machine for approximately 3 years, coming from a Debian/Ubuntu background at work and on other machines.
I enjoy this distro enough that I have shown it to both my business partner and my wife. Both have now been using it in place of their Windows 10 and 11 laptops respectively, and I have found supporting them—both new Linux users—to be an absolute dream. We are able to run everything required for day-to-day operations at both home and for running a small business (20 staff) working in the civil construction sector.
Our workplace is migrating to this distro for our work PCs this year to replace Ubuntu. It just works on our Panasonic Toughpads with minimal tweaks, including using the Panasonic docking stations, keyboards, LTE modems, and inbuilt GPS. Everything runs perfectly after install.
I do recommend this distro to new users and professionals alike. The tiling manager works great for programming and software development tasks. I write AutoCAD macros and scripts for QGIS on this distro.
At home I run video games and a media PC, and Pop!_OS has been totally rock solid on my Minisforum B550 with discrete NVIDIA graphics. Combined with Steam/Proton, I play even recent AAA games with my friends—with the help of ProtonDB, it runs great. I have changed graphics cards once over the past three years and it was a plug-and-play experience for me.
I intend to upgrade my home PC to Cosmic DE soon and try out 24.04.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-05
Votes: 0
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Use this distro daily in my main laptop and I'm really happy with the experience, including using the nvidia drivers for gaming. Installing it is as easy as it gets.
The new DE is looking very good, very responsive and the tiling feature works really well. A similar experience to Gnome, but with better options. It is stable, I have been using it since the last alpha with no problems at all. Of course, it has less resources than a more mature DE, but looks really promising. Looking forward to seeing the next steps for Cosmic.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-05
Votes: 1
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Pop has proven quite stable & capable for an operating system (OS) sporting a fresh new desktop environment (DE) only a few weeks into its first general availability release. I use it on 3 systems: a 6 month old System76 laptop, a 10 year old System76 laptop, and a 13 year old ZaReason desktop. All perform well with it.
With the cosmic tweaks tool, it's trivial for a user to switch between desktop layouts: the default for Cosmic, plus layouts mimicking Windows, Mac, & Ubuntu Unity. And then from there you can tweak to your heart's content.
I've tried to like auto-tiling, and it works well, but I find it's just not my cup of tea. It's quite easy to enable/disable it, and to use manual tiling on-demand instead of automatic.
Of course a DE in its initial release is not going to be as feature complete as DE many years old. Setting appropriate expectations is important. At the moment the most serious missing feature for our household is no ability to natively switch between concurrent users, important for a shared desktop. There's a workaround that's not bad, but is feature that needs to be added in the near term.
Pop is an eminently usable OS at the moment, and it's only going to get better. I'm happy to financially support System76 for their industry leadership.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-01-03
Votes: 0
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Pop has proven quite stable & capable for an operating system (OS) sporting a fresh new desktop environment (DE) only a few weeks into its first general availability release. I use it on 3 systems: a 6 month old System76 laptop, a 10 year old System76 laptop, and a 13 year old ZaReason desktop. All perform well with it.
With the cosmic tweaks tool, it's trivial for a user to switch between desktop layouts: the default for Cosmic, plus layouts mimicking Windows, Mac, & Ubuntu Unity. And then from there you can tweak to your heart's content.
I've tried to like auto-tiling, and it works well, but I find it's just not my cup of tea. It's quite easy to enable/disable it, and to use manual tiling on-demand instead of automatic.
Of course a DE in its initial release is not going to be as feature complete as DE many years old. Setting appropriate expectations is important. At the moment the most serious missing feature for our household is no ability to natively switch between concurrent users, important for a shared desktop. There's a workaround that's not bad, but is feature that needs to be added in the near term.
Pop is an eminently usable OS at the moment, and it's only going to get better. I'm happy to financially support System76 for their industry leadership.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 1
Date: 2026-01-02
Votes: 3
|
Horrible!
Today i installed it freshly and used for 1-2 hours, but already freezed my computer like 3 times, because memory leak. And the memory leak was caused by a single program, which is cosmic-terminal. Yes, their own Rust made terminal leaked all my memory (24gb) three times in a row.
after seeing this i had enough of system76. I don't know what happened to them, but they were better than this. Anyone reading this, do yourself a favor and never install this distro, and instead use something more trustworthy like Linux Mint or Debian or Kubuntu.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-28
Votes: 0
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It's a great distro with great new cosmic desktop environment. works flawlessly in my machine. i have been tinkering around many distros over the years but now it have permanent place in my machine which i use daily! Although my laptop is touchscreen supported but cosmic is not very touch friendly, but i can scarifies that for what it provides to me, how it performs and i loved its vibe spec new cosmic desktop!
I did not encounter any issue after the installation but during installation there was an issue occurring in the display, the colours were getting invert automatically.
But everything worked fine after the installation.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-28
Votes: 1
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Polished install and UI, stable, fast, works well with Nvidia right out of the box.
It's the best Linux experience I've had so far, after trying CachyOS, Linux Mint, Fedora, and KDE Neon.
And I like the new Cosmos desktop too, clean and easy to use.
Overall, a very polished experience. Well done!
After struggling with the CachyOS install that had issues with partitioning, this one was smooth as butter. And after having issues with CachyOS/Plasma and Linux Mint both having issues with screen flickering, this one is just steady. It's also much faster than Mint and Neon.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-12-27
Votes: 3
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This puppy is fast! Window tiling (if you want to use it) works intelligently. A lot of the design choices resemble Gnome, but with better defaults (just like the previous 22.04 version of Pop that used Gnome instead of COSMIC).
Are there still problems? Yes, but mostly minor ones: No hot corners; inability to move window controls to the left; disappearing icons in the panel and the dock (really! One day a couple of each just went invisible, even though the programs are still there, and rebooting didn't help -- only uninstalling and reinstalling worked to return the icons); inconsistent resolution of apps (I have one AppImage that shows up absolutely HUGE and I apparently can't do a thing about it, while Ctrl-- or Ctrl+ work for other apps); there are missing, very common, features in the new COSMIC Files, like Copy to... and Move to..., or even Format (though that can be done in the Disks app).
In general, Pop now feels like a fast version of Gnome with more ability to customize features (add and remove elements of the Panel and the Dock easily, for instance), but with more bugs, and needing more tweaks to get going. So, it's a mixed bag. I go back and forth between COSMIC and Gnome on different laptops and both have some advantages.
In the end, once Pop irons out some of the more annoying quirks and bugs, I think COSMIC is going to be a very popular desktop environment, on par with KDE and Gnome (and far more sophisticated than old-school, Win95 clones like Cinnamon, Mate, Xfcd, and LXQt). I look forward to bumping up my rating to 9 or 10 in a year.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-26
Votes: 3
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Cons:
1. During installation, the system prompts you to select a language, layout and create a user. So, if you have chosen your regional language, and created the user password in English (which is not surprising and usual), then welcome: you will not be able to log in the first time you start the system using standard means. There is only one language left in the system (your regional one) and on the welcome screen you cannot change the language/layout (CTRL+ALT+F2..Fx will not help, since there is also no way to log in for the same reason). The only solution is live-SD or reinstallation and creating a password from numbers (security! :з ).
2. Switching languages is essentially only possible with Super+Space - other options without special shamanism are not provided for / are impossible in the system.
3. Occasionally (I never tracked under what circumstances) WM caught a permanent global defocus to the point where key presses in all applications stopped being registered (the “gray” keyboard keys work, but this does not save the situation). As a result, you cannot write anything (neither in the browser, nor anywhere else, including notepad or terminal). Pop-up windows instantly disappear, including the window on the dashboard responsible for choosing whether to reboot or shutdown. Only the command entry window remains working (called by a single press of Super) and in fact logout or reboot saves.
4. If the highlighting of the active window with a frame is turned on, this very frame occasionally remains from closed applications. And yes, it remains forever - until WM is rebooted. There is no application - the frame remains.
5. Sometimes non-existent “squares” of applications remain in the tray (similar to point 4). The application is closed - but the square remains without an icon. It doesn't function in any way, but it takes up space.
6. Sometimes the entire WM is “shaken” by a global glitch (like flickering textures in games) - it happens rarely, but regularly.
7. For some reason, this only occurs with telegram, which was installed from the provided application store (source: flatpak, but no other option was offered). However, without any additional settings, etc., if you close Telegram in the tray, you will never get it out of there again. The context menu works and offers to open an application on the screen, but it does not work. And when you click on “open Telegram” nothing happens. At all. Close the application - it works even when you restart it, if you do not minimize the window, it also works fine. An interesting fact is that, for example, Steam installed from there, which has exactly the same functionality with the tray, works great and there are no problems with it. Yes, and with other applications too, only with Telegram this problem appears. Corporate machinations?
8. Steam is installed from the application store and works. But some games that interact with WM and full screen in a special way start, but do not function correctly. You need to install gamescope, but this distribution does not have it, only a build from source - but then why Pop OS? Let's install Arch and admire the beauty!
9. Waydroid, like the gamescope story, is installed only from source with recompilation of kernel modules on this distribution, although this is not the case on other debian/ubuntu distributions. By the way, I never managed to do this (I didn’t have enough time, but will I continue trying?).
10. Almost absent drag'n'drop functionality throughout WM (you can't even send a picture to Telegram by dragging it).
11. 4GB of RAM consumed by this system during idle time for everything wonderful that is described above is the price you will pay for this pleasure.
P.S. Please sorry my english. This is google-translate.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-25
Votes: 3
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Pop_OS! with COSMIC has a lot of potential. Rewriting the interface in memory-safe Rust makes it more secure and a lot faster and more responsive ... when it works right. It's not quite there.
Pop_OS! 22.04 was a refined, stable Gnome desktop. Ten out of ten. I have no notes here (except, it needed updating to a new Ubuntu LTS version). I wish they had kept it updated and left it at that. It was my favorite distro.
Switching to COSMIC but adhering to something like the previous Gnome workflow means System76 had to duplicate much of the Gnome workflow and tools in Rust -- a big task that isn't finished. They are also also trying to add features to take the place of commonly used extensions, making the desktop environment highly configurable without extensions, in theory -- another task in progress.
Many have said they are using 24.04 as their daily driver. Good for them. I probably could, too. But the nagging bugs and missing features I have run into make me unwilling and uninterested in doing so at this moment. Trivial things, maybe, but attesting to a lack of polish. In my view, the Epoch 1 first release is still a buggy beta.
For instance, app scaling works inconsistently on my high-res screen; some programs are sized right, others are really wrong and there seems to be no easy way to fix this. In my ongoing usage some program icons have simply disappeared from the dock; the programs are still there (you can click on an apparently blank space successfully), but the icons have become invisible. Icons of some running background programs also exist, but are invisible, in the upper panel. Other background apps don't show up there at all.
And I can't move window controls to the left -- a crucial feature for anyone who has macOS muscle memory. But that's a missing feature, not a bug.
I want to like the new Pop_OS! I loved the previous version. Their quirky aesthetic is fun. This one may someday be my go-to distro again. But at the moment, it's just a lot of frustration (plus some admiration for System76's audacity).
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-12-20
Votes: 1
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No Issues Yet. Coming from Microsoft Windows 11 and Linux Mint 22.2 I decided to give Pop OS 24.04 a try. Install went perfect on a Hp Ryzen 5 system from 2020 with 32gb of memory. Setup took only several minutes to perform unlike some distros that can take up to 10-15 minutes. After setup I like how they OS isn't bloated and has everything needed to get your job done. I installed several others programs after install with no issues. Looking forward to see what System 76 adds to the OS in future updates.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-20
Votes: 7
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I reviewed 22.04 some time ago and noted that the move to 24.04 would be a big jump and the second would not be as complete as the first.
In fact, System76 has surprised me because 24.04 is very good. The long gap between the last pre-release and the release must have been mostly spent in bug-fixing as there were complaints about the quality of the pre-releases but the release is sound. I cannot find anything operationally wrong, although there are a few cosmetic issues - for example, the login screen uses three different fonts. That type of paper cut is easily fixed.
COSMIC, the new desktop environment, looks superficially like GNOME but feels completely different in operation. It tries less to be pretty and more to be fast. The signature automatic window tiling is switched off by default but, once switched on, it is as good as it ever has been. As I noted before, it is incredible that nobody else does anything like it as it is such a natural and effective way to manage what is on the screen; there is certainly nothing in Windows or MacOS that comes close.
The main difference between COSMIC and GNOME outside basic operation is that COSMIC has a great deal of customisation. There are some very useful options such as very fine control over styles and colours - and even more with a third-party tweak tool - three levels of white space (rather like the display options in Thunderbird), which goes right through the user interface, and even a "percentage boost" which makes fonts relatively bigger than window controls and decorations.
As well as the desktop environment, there are a number of apps (file manager, editor, media player, text editor). They are generally fairly basic, but work well and, again, are fast.
Below all this is standard Ubuntu LTS 24.04. Snaps are replaced by flatpaks, and there is a software manager which is one of the better ones I have seen; it works well and, once again, it is fast. The only issue is that, on a large screen, it crams a lot of information into its grid format to the extent that it can be hard to read.
Functional shortcomings? Very few. There is no night light, and the desktop is crude - icons automatically snap to alphabetic order and cannot be dragged around.
For a first release ("Epoch 1"), COSMIC is excellent. I look forward to what improvements will be done for the next Ubuntu LTS base, 26.04.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-16
Votes: 0
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I have liked Pop for quite a while, especially for what they are doing. With this new update, introducing COSMIC, I actually like it quite a lot. It allows for quite a bit of customization, while still looking as good as GNOME does. Ofc it isn't as in-depth as KDE, but is enough for the daily user who will actually focus on their work. Gaming support is also fantastic, as it is based on Ubuntu. NVIDIA support is also great, as I have had no problems with it. It is also very fast, especially on older hardware. It functions great, and battery management is top tier.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-12-15
Votes: 12
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Truly extraordinary! I was truly impressed by the efficiency and speed of the desktop. Of course, it's the first stable release, so you might encounter some issues, but it's truly impressive how smooth, fast, and stable it is, especially when it comes to CPU and RAM usage. I hope they continue on this path because they've truly done an extraordinary job, and I think there's only room for improvement!
My laptop has burned ROM, everything runs on a USB stick (a 32GB Samsung), and only has 4GB of RAM, with a Pentium CPU. I said to myself, I'll try it now, why not, just to take a look, I expected it to be heavy and not very fluid given the conditions of my PC, but I was incredulous by the speed and fluidity of POPOS, so much so that I installed it (on the USB stick) and the PC runs like a rocket, also the battery management is incredible, I no longer need to install TLP, and to think that before I had Linux Mint XFCE, but PopOS incredibly runs better, it's smoother, faster, more efficient, an incredible thing, I still can't believe it, I'm very excited!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-12-13
Votes: 3
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As a previous user of PopOS, It looked fairly nice, but that was several years ago. The new release seems to value itself on the tiling feature, but I don't want to have to resize windows. I just move them out of the way and select them from the toolbar (that most distros have). Clicking on the Icon in the taskbar brings the window back to the front of the screen, no resizing necessary. I also don't like
the encrypted disk feature. If you have a system problem and can't reboot, recovery software isn't going to help. You won't be able to recover your files, because of the encryption. I'm not sure if that feature is optional but I think its the default.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2025-12-12
Votes: 1
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Not a fan of Cosmic. To me, it's ugly, very dated looking and doesn't integrate well with apps from the main two players, GNOME and KDE Plasma. Additionally, they are just way too slow to develop. So really, it's a no go just for the desktop environment alone. Now if they offered a KDE Plasma edition that kept up to date, it would be a serious contender.
On the plus side, it uses Ubuntu LTS.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-11-28
Votes: 1
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This is a really strange situation with PopOS_beta_24.04 development. The beta version is out a few months, and during this time period there is nothing like significant progress.
1. many, I mean really many, bugs remains still unresolved
2. announced excellent performance is still a dream, not a reality
3. many apps does not work at all
4. some basic functionality is still missing ... mounting ISO file via file manager
5. graphic glitches, instability, etc
6. many standard apps complain on graphic engine incompatibility
7. etc, etc ...
In general, PopOS_COSMIC_beta 24.04 is still in development phase and there is no chance to use this OS on regular basic as is announced by many people here.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-11-28
Votes: 2
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I honestly can’t live without Pop!_OS’s Tile Windows feature. It’s the main reason I stick with this OS, even though I actually prefer Linux Mint for its stability and how well it works out of the box. With Pop!_OS, I have to manually update my older NVIDIA driver to fix suspend/sleep issues, and I need to install extra packages just to get video thumbnails working.
Pros:
Tile Windows is incredibly useful for multitasking on a large display. It automatically arranges all open windows, and although occasional gaps appear between them—which can be a bit annoying—it generally works very well.
Cons:
Having to manually install packages for video thumbnails and update the NVIDIA driver.
The GNOME desktop feels more intuitive and offers better universal file search indexing, something the COSMIC desktop in Pop!_OS currently lacks.
Overall, I am happy it works for my needs so far. I will test drive it daily and see if something else breaks and perhaps hop to another distro...
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-11-25
Votes: 1
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Tested on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 Intel Core i9-12900H, 64GB, NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti.
Unfortunately, I experienced a couple of bugs with Bluetooth (the system tries to re-acquire the device every couple of minutes, so I can't connect my headphones to my smartphone - Pop!_OS just keeps re-acquiring them back). I also had issues with system apps often crashes, overall app speed is slow despite super huge amount of resources.
Firstly, I installed 22.04, when I experienced those bugs I think maybe upgrade will fix them, I upgraded to 24.04-beta, but the experience with system apps became worse. As I understand problem lies in new DE, slow system apps become slower, but less crashes to be honest.
List of things I was frustrated with:
1. Software sources could be managed from the Pop Shop in 22.04, but in 24.04 only Flathub sources can be managed.
2. COSMIC Files app performance is super poor; I had to switch back to the Files app from the previous version.
3. The Bluetooth bug is still there.
4. The sound bar doesn't display when I change volume from the keyboard.
5. Telegram application stops working entirely after upgrade.
On the positive side, Alacritty works perfectly well with Neovim; I can program and run my Docker apps comfortably. The Nvidia card works great — from my experience, training models is actually faster now. Also, LM Studio works well with GPT OSS 20B; no bugs spotted there.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-11-24
Votes: 0
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Pop OS Cosmic is a nice change to the repetitive linux distros full of Gnome and KDE spins. Customizing feels comfortable and the DE is easy to navigate. My only complaint (though it's still in beta) is that it does not have night time settings and currently I can't use Input Leap/Barrier/Desk Flow. I think it's due to wayland. I use 2 PCs. One for gaming and one for recording and producing videos. I need to be able to share my mouse and keyboard between the PC's to get stuff done. Once this is resolved I can see myself running this as my daily. I'm looking forward to their final release. Good job so far PopOS team!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-11-22
Votes: 0
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I really like the work they've done with Cosmic. I am not a Gnome fan, and it looks like they've taken what I don't like about Gnome and tweaked it to the point where I can easily consider it a drop-in replacement. For example, the full screen menu in Gnome reminds me entirely too much of Windows 8.x - and I never could tolerate that. Whether it's 22.04 or 24.04's beta, I like the fact that they've made categories for Office, etc. It reduces clutter considerably! Even more so than Ubuntu too. My personal choice is between this, Zorin or Mint if you're going to stay in the Ubuntu family. This does have a few issues since it's beta, but I am confident that it will iron out the incongruities prior to launch. I'm keeping a close eye on this one!
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-11-14
Votes: 17
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After years switching between distros like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Zorin, and Fedora, Pop!_OS Cosmic really surprised me in a good way. The design brings solutions that many others never implemented. The translations to other languages, especially Portuguese Brazil, are very well done. Features like smart window resizing and customizable colors, which should be standard in every distro, are already included here.
Since it’s a beta version, there are still a few things to fix, especially for people using more than one monitor. Even so, Pop!_OS Cosmic looks very promising.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-10-30
Votes: 5
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I've been thoroughly impressed by the overall polish and refinement of this distro, it's clear that a lot of care and attention has gone into its development. The new COSMIC desktop environment, in particular, stands out as a major highlight. It’s not just visually appealing, but also thoughtfully designed: the interface feels clean, modern, and intuitive, and the responsiveness is excellent. Navigating through tasks is smooth and snappy, and the streamlined layout makes it easy to stay focused without unnecessary distractions.
COSMIC brings a fresh energy to the Linux desktop experience, and I genuinely enjoy using it. From the subtle animations to the well-organized settings, everything feels cohesive and purposeful. It’s a great example of how user experience and performance can go hand in hand.
That said, there is one noticeable issue in this version that I hope gets addressed before the final release: battery life. Even when running on integrated graphics, the system seems to drain power faster than expected. For users on laptops or mobile setups, this could be a significant drawback, especially if you're working remotely or traveling and need to rely on extended battery performance.
I understand that this is still a pre-release version, and optimizations are likely ongoing. Hopefully, the development team is already aware of this and working on improvements. If they manage to resolve the battery efficiency concerns, this distro could easily become one of the top choices for both casual users and professionals looking for a sleek, responsive, and modern Linux environment.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-27
Votes: 2
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I've been using various distributions for years, and Pop!_OS has been one of the most comfortable ones in terms of productivity and stability. Its UX setup aligns perfectly with the experience I look for in a Linux desktop distribution. I really enjoy and support this journey. I hope their own desktop environment will further enhance the user experience they’ve built so far. I wanted to list a few disadvantages here as well, but honestly, I couldn’t find any. I know experiences with Linux distributions can vary greatly from user to user and from one hardware setup to another, but Pop!_OS performs exceptionally well on the PCs I own, even under heavy workloads.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-24
Votes: 8
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I have tried every gaming distro on my existing hardware for gaming and the results went from not even booting to running one game from my steam library and no more.
I even tried my opensuse for games but the result was tedious, long and ultimately a failure with most games failing to open.
Now popos made installing steam EASY. And steam is running ALL my games.
I was using windows 10 but it has developed a "activate" watermark on every screen.
And windows 10 was great.
I think popos has a better frame rate.
I tried it as a joke having written off linux for gaming as needing expensive hardware.
I dont use windows for anything much and have been a linux convert for a couple of decades now so using microsoft for anything violates my comfort zone.
Popos is sooo easy to use and intuitive to understand.
As for upgrading popos, i will never do that because it just works, if it is not broke I do not fix it.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-23
Votes: 26
|
After years switching between distros like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Zorin, and Fedora, Pop!_OS Cosmic really surprised me in a good way. The design brings solutions that many others never implemented. The translations to other languages, especially Portuguese Brazil, are very well done. Features like smart window resizing and customizable colors, which should be standard in every distro, are already included here.
Since it’s a beta version, there are still a few things to fix, especially for people using more than one monitor. Even so, Pop!_OS Cosmic looks very promising.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-beta
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-10-22
Votes: 0
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I tied out the Comic beta version. It's nice but needs a bit more work. I ran it in Virtualbox so maybe I didn't get the real feel for the OS. In the VM every opened application stacks up in the ram usage even after closing the applications. For some reason I couldn't download anything from the Cosmic app store or via terminal. My last issue was that there is no night light setting. Night light is a deal breaker for me. That is the only reason I don't run Ubuntu Unity too.
This a newly developed desktop environment, so I'll stand back and watch how it grows up before trying again. I appreciate their effort though. I'm so sick of looking at KDE, Gnome, XFCE, and Cinnamon. Unfortunately, China is leading the way with innovation within Deepin and Kylin desktop (I ran Deepin for a month with no issues...but trust). Wish there were more DE environments being developed with a solid base.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-12
Votes: 9
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As MS IT Technician, I have decided to test after approx. 10 years one linux distro which spoke to me on this site. I took EoL T580 from our company and initiated install from USB flash drive. I am amazed how far the linux went and I like this one very much. Cosmic UI is finally something that doesn't look like a kindergarden project and I miss nothing from Win or Mac OS. Every feature works out of the box, no issues nor errors. I will continue to test this amazing OS and if it will survive a week of testing, I will make it a main.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-10-01
Votes: 7
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Everything just works out of the box. Davinci Resolve just works on Linux out of the box, no customization needed. I got a nice NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and it worked perfectly out of the box because they have a special Pop_OS! .iso that caters to desktops with NVIDIA cards.
Sharing over my network has been simple, I didn't even have to set my printer up it was just there and working when I needed it. Everything just works.
It does seem to be resource heavy, with gnome-shell regularly taking up 2-4GB of resources, but I have 64GB of RAM so it doesn't ever slow me down.
When it comes to theming.. it doesn't really have much in the way of theming. THANK YOU! Whenever I tried KDE I spent hours, and days, and weeks just customizing and tweaking how everything looked and felt but with Pop_OS! it was pretty much just "Dark" or "Light" and I really appreciate how much time and energy this saves me and how much more productive I have become since I started using this Distro back in March.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-09-30
Votes: 1
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Why do they even bother?
Its laggy, its resource hungry which ia amazing considering Cosmic was created in RUST so they must have done some really bad coding.
There is no way to add the actual day to the bar, and when you ask you get attitude from their very unfriendly forums.
If anything I would say they lost their way by trying to create another DE that nobody actually wants.
You can do everything they claim Cosmic does in Gnome, with a much lower memory hog and of course undfer Gnome you can add the day of the week to the bar.
I have to say its a failed OS that just needs to look at itself and start again.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 2
Date: 2025-09-30
Votes: 2
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I just tested as vmware virtual guest latest beta version PopOS 24.04, and I must say, that this project is still very far from acceptable state. Many, really many, things does not work as expected. Maybe the beta version is not well compatible with virtualization. But the fact, that some basic apps does not work well or does not work at all (double commander, guake, drop-down terminal, iso mounting via desktop environment, etc., etc.) is really terrible.
After very long time of development ... and this the nearly final beta version???
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 24.04-alpha7
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-09-27
Votes: 2
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Very disappointing, I really enjoyed the early versions of this where they augmented Ubuntu and Gnome with their own tweaks and additions, it was great for supporting Nvidia out of the box. But, as soon as they started this Cosmic desktop stuff it's been nothing but a mess, they're pursuing a pet project but aren't really equipped it seems like, Cosmic is really bad. I mean, maybe they can get there eventually but I'm not waiting, I've moved on and honestly Gnome is probably going to stay leaps and bounds better than Cosmic. KDE is better and likely always will be. Even Cinnamon. But, if they want to waste their time and resources, it's no skin off my nose.
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Project: Pop!_OS
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-09-27
Votes: 0
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I switched to Linux in 2017 and ran Solus Budgie until that project team disappeared and stopped updating. Afterwards I tried Fedora, Debian, Rocky, Ubuntu Budgie, then one day I said, "Hey, let me give this Pop_OS! thing a try!"
So I downloaded Pop_OS! 22.04. Best decision I ever made.
Everything just works out of the box. Davinci Resolve just works on Linux out of the box, no customization needed. I got a nice NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and it worked perfectly out of the box because they have a special Pop_OS! .iso that caters to desktops with NVIDIA cards.
Sharing over my network has been simple, I didn't even have to set my printer up it was just there and working when I needed it. Everything just works.
It does seem to be resource heavy, with gnome-shell regularly taking up 2-4GB of resources, but I have 64GB of RAM so it doesn't ever slow me down.
When it comes to theming.. it doesn't really have much in the way of theming. THANK YOU! Whenever I tried KDE I spent hours, and days, and weeks just customizing and tweaking how everything looked and felt but with Pop_OS! it was pretty much just "Dark" or "Light" and I really appreciate how much time and energy this saves me and how much more productive I have become since I started using this Distro back in March.
Excitedly waiting for the flood of new Cosmic Beta release users to do the initial testing and then planning on upgrading my current install to 24.04 running Cosmic Desktop Environment.
This is a great project, WITH AMAZING DOCUMENTATION, and they have all kinds of platforms to engage with them from Reddit to Github to Mattermost and I have been very impressed and am grateful to have stopped my distrohopping and settled down with Pop_OS!
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