hmmmm, back then mint did have quite an old kernel, but you could update it to a newer version trough the update manager, but now is not a problem beacuse in the new releases of LM 22 and LMDE 7, they ship with a fresh kernel.
For sure this place feels way more civilized than your average corner of the internet, maybe because 11 of every 10 people in this space, is a huge nerd rooting for this space to succeed!
you get to develop muscle memory faster, configurations are easier to find, and things start simple and become complex when you need them to get complex instead of always be kinda complex.
Also, I hate dolphin, it is quite bad, you can't open files with sudo directly, you have to navigate trough various menus to find the button for that, is also harder to read IMO.
i think i explained it poorly, but i mean you get the hang of things faster, and usually stuff is where is more convenient for for them to be.
I don't hate KDE, if Cinnamon wasn't a thing, i would go for it, but as things stands now, I prefer cinnamon.
it comes to personal preference i guess, but i find KDE clunky at times and not that ergonomic, even when you customize it a bit, like adding centre spaces to put things in the panels.
Cinnamon feels polished and relatively simple while still being highly customizable.
if you use LMDE is still a bit easier because the sources are already added, "sudo apt install nvidia-driver" and then use the envy control program to configure it properly.
Well, they updated it, they updated it heavily.