[s_c_r]

I think it’s a matter of expectations. I use stock Ubuntu and GNOME and have almost zero customizations. I haven’t touched it except to upgrade since 2018 and have had zero issues. I get it though. I also use an M1 and love it.

[speed_spread]

Yeah, using one of the big boring distros really helps to focus on work. I've switched to Fedora for my new box and once the hardware setup was sorted I just stopped messing with it.

[Rediscover]

I use Slackware or OpenBSD. I completely understand You said (I used RH based distros when I was at Some-Large Commercial Air* in Seattle (it was a joy minus my second set of mgr's)). As much as I dislike using Red Hat*, they are great at what You mention.

[Gigachad]

I don’t even install all those gnome extensions everyone insists are essential.

The base fedora install + the proprietary codecs repo is literally all you need. Everything else is a waste of time.