Our verdict

Zorin OS is Linux Mint's main rival for the first-time switcher, and the difference is presentation. Zorin 18.1 ships a layout chooser, so on your first day you tell it to look like recent Windows, older Windows or macOS, and it rearranges itself.

The free Core edition is a full system, not a demo. Pro costs money and adds extra desktop layouts and a bundle of creative apps. Nothing in Pro is required to use the computer, and you can add most of those apps yourself later for nothing.

Zorin publishes a minimum of a 1 GHz dual core processor, 2 GB of memory, an 800 by 600 screen and 15 GB of disk for Core. Education needs 35 GB and Pro needs 45 GB. There is a separate Lite edition using the lighter Xfce desktop for old machines, though the project does not publish separate figures for it.

Best for: First-time switchers, People who want it to look familiar straight away, Anyone nervous about change.

What's good

A layout chooser lets you pick a Windows style desktop in two clicks
Free Core edition is complete, not a trial
Built on Ubuntu LTS, so it gets long support and wide app compatibility
Clear, friendly setup guide aimed at people coming from Windows

What to know first

The nicest layouts are locked behind the paid Pro edition
New versions arrive slowly after the Ubuntu base they are built on
Pro needs 45 GB of disk space, which is a lot for a small laptop

The details

Memory (RAM) needed

2 GB minimum, 4 GB comfortable

Disk space needed

15 GB

Desktop look

Zorin Desktop (also: Zorin Desktop (GNOME based), Xfce (Lite edition))

Updates

A new version every so often, stable in between

Supported for

5 years per version

Built on

Ubuntu LTS