QubesOS - yes there is a learning curve. Tip: spend a bit on hardware and max out the memory. There are ways to use eGPU (with a security tradeoff, look for 'passthrough") but I don't know them. Helpful community forum. Wish my mum and dad would use it. Capable for most things on my 16Gb (email, browser, terminal applications, etc), but won't run videos smoothly and CAD programs fail utterly - suspect more will also fubb up.
Linux Mint on another x230. It just works. Use it where Qubes is just too hard.
Looking at Silverblue, one of several "atomic" versions of Fedora. Haven't tried them yet, but they seem to offer some of the benefits I get from Qubes and Graphene - software I can trust, principally, and isolation between processes - but with less overheads to run it (Qubes is resource heavy). These are the main advantages purported:
- Reliability: By minimizing the impact of updates and potential conflicts, the desktop environment becomes more reliable.
- Consistency: Every instance of the desktop is consistent with others, reducing discrepancies in software versions and behavior.
- Security: The isolation of applications and the immutable nature of the system components enhance the overall security posture.
- Rollback and Reproducibility: Easy rollback capabilities and the ability to reproduce environments make management and troubleshooting simpler.
source: https://christitus.com/linux-atomic-desktops/
I'd be curious to hear what others here with more expertise than me feel about the atomic approach?