Just go with Mint. However, if you want to get the most out of the device, you'll need to use linux-surface and that will involve a little command line usage to setup. Fortunately, the project has detailed instructions..
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
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mint is definetly the way to go for beginners who want to avoid command line stuff, and it'll run perfectly fine on those specs for basic browsing and office work.
FYI that's reusing, if you want to recycle it, take it to your local electronics retailer, most of them accept electronics for recycling even if you didn't buy it from them
You may want to read here https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix
You're gonna have to get into command line stuff. Bazzite at least bundles scripts to make complex common tasks easier with a single command.
I survived the installation with a few commands, thanks for the tip!
Installation is the easy part. Good luck 👍
ubuntu. you're a beginner, you want things to just work and you need a touch-centric environment with good UI scaling OOB - mint is X11 and has neither of them things.
then once you figure stuff out, moving to e.g. fedora with stock GNOME and no snap crap will be a breeze. good luck.
Good to know, the touchscreen stuff would be a shame to lose. Thanks!
Btw an issue with this model I found if your computer randomly won’t charge is the smart charger is too smart and sometimes can’t start the dead battery. USB C to surface adapter will work
I’m running this model with more storage and I believe better ram and it runs fedora so well :) used it since high school until PhD. Fedora is easy and great but mint is often recommended for beginners. That said I did start with fedora.