Linux

If you are using Gnome distros: you can feel exactly what it feels like getting back to working in a restricted, overhyped, overbranded environment like Windows.

If you are using Ubuntu: you can get advertising during your system's software upgrades. No, really.

If you are using Arch: you can post aroudn the internet saying you use Arch btw.

Depending on the distro, you can use some alternative software stacks, but that's mostly the backend (eg.: systemd versus openRC, Apache vs Nginx, X vs Wayland); most "desktop app" level is mostly the same for each desktop environment, is kinda the point.

Technically speaking: nothing really, provided you have time and skills.

Except maybe not having access to NDA-ed binary blobs or something...

Compared to Arch(-based): Accesing the latest packages. It's not impossible, especially if you go for Debian testing repos, but it's definitely extra work.

Compared to special-purpose distros (i.e. gaming, portable, high security/privacy, pen-testing): Whatever their special purpose is will usually be harder to achieve.

Compared to huge corpo distros (SUSE/Fedora and derivatives): Ease of more intricate setups and maybe some security testing.

Compared to Ubuntu: Paying a corporation to not withhold security patches from you.

File-by-file integrity check against signed checksums upstream to trivially confirm validity of deployment.

But that's probably not interesting.

Acces to the AUR I guess? But not much really. If you like what you have just stick with it

Brag about being an Arch user (BTW.)

waydroid (if you don't install a wayland based de)

Serious answer? XFCE doesn't support multiple monitors with different refresh rates. So that.

Use Pacman as your package manager, or something. Linux is Linux. If you use a mainstream distro it should be 90% similar to all other distros. You don't really have to worry about FOMO when it comes to Linux.

Nothing, at all.
Some things you can't do easily in Mint, like create snapshots automatically and boot into them when something breaks.
But it's all Linux and freely available software under the hood, and the lines between configuration, customization and forking your distro are blurry.

Nothing, it's all Linux

Running alternatives to Systemd.

Waste time configuring things and troubleshooting things when your ultra custom system breaks.

You can't have your entire system configuration in a repository of plain text files, which has lots of advantages, but it's not worth caring about unless you feel excited to get into it.

You can't easilyy switch between different inages like on an atomic fedora system.

Do you have to switch now? No.

Y-you're not supposed to ask that!

If you are speaking about stock Linux mint Xfce, with the default kernal, mesa version etc., your support for very new hardware - Arrow lake, battlemage and RDNA 4 will be imperfect. In general, very new hardware (launched within the last 6 months) will not be supported properly because the lts kernel being used was written before these products were launched

Nerd stuff