u/Common_Warthog_G

I'm getting a new Laptop in 2 days (Lenovo Yoga 7 pro 14ASP10) and I'm torn between two distros. Void and Gentoo.

For some reason I'm really curious about Void but I know Gentoo fits me well, since I used it back in 2002-2004. I did a stage 1 install back then (WHAT WAS I THINKING?) and tinkered around with it for years. I remember printing 90 pages just for the installation alone but I loved every second of it.

Ubuntu came out, I installed it over gentoo and it killed my love for linux for some reason, making me go to apple for a few years. I just recently switched to back to linux 5 months ago after a decade of windows 10 and one week of windows 11 (windows 10 was fine for me) and I'm also planning on pursuing a career in IT again, so I'm very eager to go back into the depths of linux.

I currently have a FreeBSD with ZFS in my basement as a NAS and arch linux on my other 3 machines, but that new laptop is supposed to replace my old Lenovo as a daily driver. I absolutely want a minimal system, with wayland, no systemd (the part that didn't make a lot of sense to me, since using linux again, hence why I want to abandon arch), a rolling release, a repo that's decently up to date with a few "more" packages but I don't need AUR. FWIW I'm using MangoWM and want to keep the footprint low (currently sitting at 500MB of RAM with almost no CPU cycles wasted - my battery loves it).

For some reason I feel bad for wanting gentoo because it's like "going back" and I think typing emerge the first time will feel very weird... I don't know much about Void but from what I've read it might be a very capable, organized distro for me.

So I'm asking you: Cons and Pros of each? I don't mind if things become complicated I only mind it when it becomes unnecessarily complicated.

I don't code, I might add.

Cheers and thanks for your open ears and eyes!