Arch and Gentoo have IMO the best documentation ever and you learn a lot when you try using either of those distributions as you have to do everything from scratch starting from a minimal system. Since you’re saying you’re new to Linux though, I’d say you should start with something more user-friendly like Mint or Ubuntu (or even Manjaro if you want a rolling release distro) and stay away from Arch and Gentoo in the beginning.

I use mint and I really like it. It’s an easy familiar transition from windows.

Arch is for user’s who want to start with a completely blank slate. Like there’s no file system when you start, as far as I know. Think of arch like windows but nothing is installed, not even explorer.exe

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Arch teaches you about the inner workings of Linux. Mostly because it breaks all the time and you have to fix it.

If you like extra config work you’ll love Arch relative to Mint.

Well, Arch is not inherently better, it depends on your needs. If you want up-to-date packages and don’t mind the do it yourself approach you’ll love Arch. I’ve used Arch for a few years and learned a lot from it. I love the minimalism. Now I switched to a minimal install of Sway on Debian because I just want a tried and tested stable system. I am at a point of my life where I want a really boring install. Instead of tinkering with the system I use it as a base to learn more on the server side, and learn more coding, etc

The community and wiki.

Package base is always up to date since it’s rolling. The AUR is absolutely fantastic and gives me any obscure application I could ever need. You ever tried installing the marathon trilogy with alephone on fedora? The AUR makes it a single button install. I’m currently running endeavour OS plasma, such a smooth experience.

More of the software I use is in the repos/aur compared to debian. Which makes everything easier.

Customization, lots of apps (via aur), no bloat

Just to chime in, I first tried arch because some youtuber I followed recommended it, but after 5 years I would say I’ve stayed with it for the AUR and the community. The AUR has almost every app I’ve ever needed, and whenever I have a problem there’s always a solution on one forum or another, to the point where I can usually just copy and paste it into the terminal and it’s solved!

I use Crystal Linux, which is Arch based.

I’ve tried Mint along with 10 other distros. What I liked about Arch is:

• Latest Kernel, always. This means new drivers, better support for your current devices and support for more devices. Security & performance patches.
• AUR. Massive repo of user submitted apps & libs most not found elsewhere.
• Arch WiKi. Everything you will need or want to do somebody else already did and documented it so everyone else can have a guide to do it. Best documentation site ever.
• Arch Repo. Always the latest Software. Officially maintained apps and libs land first on Arch, Debian & Ubuntu derivatives take ages to catch up in comparison.

One of arch’s things is it’s a rolling release distro, which means that every bit of arch is updated as soon as an update is available for it. Mint on the other hand tests the package updates before they release it to make sure its stable, but this results in the packages being out of date.

minimalism

The AUR