Manjaro Linux

Reader supplied reviews for Manjaro Linux Average rating 8.1 from 448 review(s) Please specify which version of the distribtion you are reviewing. Please select a rating in the range of 1-10. Please write at least a few sentences about the distribution while limiting your review to 4080 characters. What are your thoughts on Manjaro Linux? Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system. Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review. Version: -- stable25.0.324.2.123.1.422.1.321.3.020.2.119.018.1.017.1.1216.10.315.120.8.110.8.8 Rating:    -- 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 out of 10 Your review (minimum 250 words): Past reviews - sort by: DateVotes Version: stable Rating: 10 Date: 2025-06-12 Votes: 10 I've been using Manjaro Linux for a few weeks now, and it’s quickly won me over. For over a decade, I've been using macOS, but before that, I was a long-time Debian and, more specifically, Gentoo user. I loved tinkering with my computer, and Gentoo’s source-based system was perfect for that. However, these days, I just want a stable, easy-to-use distro without all the maintenance headaches. The thing that stands out most about Manjaro is its stability. I've tested various distros in the past, and many would randomly crash or break after an update. With Manjaro, that’s never been an issue. The rolling release model strikes a perfect balance—keeping software up-to-date while ensuring system reliability. Updates are thoroughly tested before they reach users, which is a huge bonus. Overall, Manjaro Linux is a rock-solid, user-friendly distro that doesn’t sacrifice flexibility for ease of use. With its great software management, access to the AUR, easy kernel switching, and impressive stability, it’s an ideal choice for both newcomers and seasoned Linux users. Highly recommended! Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: stable Rating: 10 Date: 2025-05-30 Votes: 16 I've been using Manjaro since over 5 years. Manjaro is installed on 3 different systems, all running the stable branch. There wasn't a single severe issue on any of the systems so far and the oldest of my systems runs 24/7 as home server since one and a half year. There are at least 3 major points on how Manjaro differs from the underlying Arch system. 1. Installation Manjaro uses a live system with Calamares for the installation process which is pretty standard. After installation you boot into a working desktop environment. There are ISOs for Plasma, XFCE, and Gnome. 2. Hardware support and kernels Manjaro comes with its own Linux kernels having a broader hardware support. The Manjaro settings manager includes a GUI front-end for installing and switching between kernels. Moreover the Manjaro hardware detection tool helps to find the right drivers for your computer. 3. Packet management and updating Unlike the underlying Arch distribution, Manjaro offers three different branches, namely unstable, testing, and stable. After installation you are on stable by default, and this is a good choice for most users, but you can still choose which branch is best for you. The unstable branch rolls along with the Arch stable branch. So you get single package updates each other day or even a couple of times per day. (Nothing is hold back or delayed.) Unstable is also the entry point for Manjaro specific packages and modifications. On the stable branch only certain snapshots of the unstable branch are rolled out. Namely snapshots considered to be good. Such snapshots are rolled out first to the testing branch. If issues are detected, there will be another roll out on testing. Only the snapshots that don't contain too many or severe issues are moved forward to the stable branch. So on stable you roll over many states that appeared on Arch stable, and the snapshots you receive eventually are sort of cherry-picked. There is no rule of how often stable snapshots are rolled out - they are ready when they are ready. (In practise there were on average between one and two stable snapshots per month over the past years.) Moreover, Manjaro offers a GUI package manager called Pamac that under the hood uses the libraries that pacman provides. Pamac can also serve as AUR helper, but one can also use any of the known command line tools like yay. And of course you can use pacman for the official package repositories, too. I mostly use Pamac. It isn't the greatest tool but it is convenient and gets the job done. Conclusion and recommendation I think Arch Linux is a great distribution especially from a technical perspective. If you agree and on the other hand like the additional convenience Manjaro offers it probably is the right distribution for you. I'm a bit hesitating to recommend Manjaro to newcomers, though. (Perhaps if they come from FreeBSD or similar - just kidding.) At least one should know how to maintain a rolling release, and since Manjaro makes advanced features conveniently available, one shouldn't tinker with things one doesn't fully understand. For newcomers there are better options, like distributions with a focus more towards non technical users. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: stable Rating: 10 Date: 2025-05-26 Votes: 3 In 6 months i have had not 1 single crash on older 2020 laptop. Best linux OS period. I have distro hopped all over and never reached stability like this.I am using the XFCE version. The only problem i had was bluetooth broke and and appimage was a problem always. Tried using a LLM fopr trouble shooting to no avail. Will try now in my heavier compute desktops.I reccomend Terminator for terminal , Nemo for file explorer with additional plugins installed for customization. I highly reccomend using YAY instead of Pamac. Pamac is good but YAY is more easier. Simply type yay and whatever you wanna install after. A firewall and clam tk for virus detection and stacer or bleachbit for cleanup. The 1 MUST is using Librewolf for a browser. Its not default on Manjaro but it should be. If not you get fingerprinted EVERYWHERE. Google is a tracking empire. You cant create second acounts or emails either they will know. Incognito tabs? Google dont care. Enable the special Librewolf security settings as well. However this is not sufficent enough to keep you private. You need to install these extensions in firefox store. Privacy badger , Chameleon , Canvas blocker. You will need to ask Ai for the settings. Google fingerprints your resolution , your keyboard , timezone, OS , etag tracking , tab history , media devices , even your window names lmao. BRUTAL. And thats just chameleon you will have to figure out the rest. Lastly DO NOT go to the Pling store on Manjaro.If you wanna stick with the default firefox do the same. This is the setup i used that has not broken on me or even frozen.One bad thing is XFCE is ugly and it cant scale your screen by default. Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 448 reader reviews of Manjaro Linux...