Zorin OS

Reader supplied reviews for Zorin OS Average rating 8.6 from 338 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 Zorin OS? 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: -- 18.117.316.315.312.4111098.17.16.45.243.221 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: 18.1 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-06-11 Country: United States Votes: 45 I've been doing a lot of distro-hopping lately. CachyOS, Ubuntu 26.04, Endeavour OS, Fedora 44, Pop OS 24.04, I came back to this. As simple as it may sound, I like the auto-switch from day to night without having to toggle it. Games run flawlessly, ranging from modded Skyrim and Starfield all the way down to older titles like Half Life/Half Life 2. I have three monitors, I do wish that the status/task bar at the bottom would show running programs across all three monitors by default. There might be an extension for that. I haven't looked avidly. I'm one of the weird ones like uses the X Window system for two reasons - BOINC and the screensaver it uses (both programs puke in Wayland). I'd strongly recommend this, it's just as capable as Mint but looks much nicer. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 18.1 Rating: 10 Date: 2026-05-15 Country: Romania Votes: 55 Zorin OS 18.1 Core - The Undisputed King of Gaming and Modern Desktop StabilityRating: 10/10 After approximately 2 months of daily driving Zorin OS 18.1 Core on an AMD Ryzen 3 4300G setup with 8GB RAM, I can confidently say this distribution deserves a perfect 10+. Coming from a gaming background, my main goal was to see if a modern Linux distro could handle heavy, older 32-bit Windows titles and complex modding environments without collapsing. Zorin OS shattered all my expectations. Transitioning from Windows 10 Apps: Before making the switch, I was quite anxious that the software and applications I relied on daily in Windows 10 wouldn't work correctly on Zorin. However, I ended up completely dropping my old Windows apps because I found native Linux equivalents that are not only completely free but actually work better and faster. Admittedly, there were a few minor hiccups during the first few days, but that is completely normal—just like switching to a new car, it takes a moment to adjust to the controls until you fully adapt. Once you get past that very short learning curve, everything clicks perfectly. The Gaming Experience & Compatibility: Using Lutris paired with specific runners like wine-ge-8-26, I managed to configure massive, notoriously unstable Windows mods such as Medieval II: Total War - Divide and Conquer (DaC), Tsardoms, and Game of Thrones. Thanks to Zorin’s excellent kernel tuning and out-of-the-box hardware detection, I am getting flawless performance. With essential tweaks like enabling zRAM (zram-config) and shared memory flags, the system manages system memory like a charm. I have logged over 40+ hours in massive strategic campaigns, simulating thousands of units on screen at x2 and x6 speeds with absolute zero desktop crashes or memory fragmentation leaks. Even complex asset redirection bugs that plague Wine on other distros were easily managed and resolved natively here. Older legacy shooters like Call of Duty 1 & 2 also run flawlessly. Out-of-the-Box Polish & Stability: What makes Zorin OS spectacular is its out-of-the-box maturity. The desktop environment feels lightning-fast, premium, and highly intuitive for anyone coming from Windows. It bridges the gap perfectly: it gives you a polished layout but retains the raw terminal power of Ubuntu/Debian when you need to run advanced system optimizations. Audio routing via PulseAudio/PipeWire works seamlessly, keeping system latency low enough to maintain stable audio buffers in older video games. Conclusion: Zorin OS is not just a "beginner distro"—it is a rock-solid, deeply optimized operating system capable of handling high-end gaming, complex mod configurations, and intensive daily tasks on modest hardware. If you have 8GB of RAM and an AMD APU, this operating system will make your hardware breathe new life. A well-deserved 10/10! Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 18.1 Rating: 9 Date: 2026-04-22 Country: Italy Votes: 22 I downloaded Zorin on the AI's recommendation to replace Linux Lite. It was a very pleasant surprise, as the installed software is sufficient. I easily installed a couple of apps like Bleachbit, and by choosing the OS with NVIDIA drivers, I had my laptop up and running in no time. I'm really pleased with the simplicity and speed of operation. It's true that Gnome isn't the best, but these are small details. I think Windows users will find Zorin OS very pleasant and functional. I already used Brave Browser on Linux Lite, so it's nice not to have to add it and find it already up and running! Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 338 reader reviews of Zorin OS...