The move to a subscription model is the disservice and requires no particular savvy to differentiate from free.

Macs and Chromebooks are fine for some people and won’t require as much hand holding as a direct Linux install regardless of the distro.

People are going to rely on what others recommend when they don’t know themselves. It’s up to those people to cull the list from ten to two.

Is the person a budding tech that wants to hack on their system? Send them to Arch.

Are they a creative looking to craft? Throw them into Ubuntu Studios.

Maybe they’re grandparents who barely understand tech. Ok, Mint or Elementary are good options… Just maintain SSH access with keys.

The options are a strength.