Didn't bother going through the hoops and installed EndeavourOS which is arch-based with some additional default applications.

For me, the best thing of Arch isn't the distribution but the Arch wiki. An impressive piece of documentation.

I had issues with Manjaro and WiFi disconnecting. Also, Manjaro dropped hardware acceleration for video codecs. Eventually got too annoyed to deal with the Manjaro direction and moved to EOS. Everything is working fine barring a script to get the headphones volume to work (recognised as bass speaker in alsa paths). So far, EOS has been the set and forget type of OS for me.

Windows runs my laptop harder, uses more battery and the fans are spinning a lot of times whist it runs almost silent in Linux. I've settled on EndeavourOS which has given me a headache-free experience for my hardware (lenovo yoga pro 7 7840hs). Only keep widows for BIOS updates otherwise I'd have nuked that hodge podge of software melange.

If you're really set on windows you could try tiny11 to remove most of the bloat.

Well, hello there Don Draper

The AI centipede era has begun

Yeah, completely agree. YouTube commodified a certain style, people tend to copy it even when they're not great communicators, and the whole excitement akin to a Labrador salivating is quite undignified.

What about images sent from Japan? Aren't they all pixelated by default? /s

Bought a Yoga Pro 7 7840HS 32GB 1TB. Everything works fine in Linux. Battery does 8-10h on full charge, good build quality, no issues with any parts. Running EndeavourOS after had some minor issues with Manjaro, WiFi connecting 1 minute after booting and some weird disconnects after a while. No such thing in EndeavourOS.

Running idle with minimum brightness, Bluetooth off, WiFi connected and keyboard backlight turned off consumes minimum 3.6W. Got it less than $900 around 4 months ago.

Thanks for explaining. It's interesting and outside metadata there could be a case for data being secure. However, this is the same company that lied and got fined in the EU when they asserted that they wouldn't be able to link WhatsApp and Facebook identities. This allowed the merger to happen. Security and privacy being something that the average Joe doesn't care that much, it wouldn't be too much of a negative impact when they already have so much bad press on other matters. Finally, from an ethical perspective, I'll give this corp a miss. Values don't really align with my personal ones even if privacy and security were beyond reproach.

Thanks. Haven't used them in like a decade so things seem to have changed. At the time, new phone meant your messages transferred automatically.

At the same time, even if Facebook requires a backup for the messages to show up, as the app is close sourced, how would one know for sure whether the app doesn't harvest the private key anyway?

Thanks. I stand corrected. I was one of those that paid $1 for life when WhatsApp was a new kid on there block but haven't used it since news broke that Facebook acquired them like a decade ago. At the time, you had a new phone, your messages would transfer. Dunno how it is today after all those years but seems to be similar to Signal.

Based on the stories coming up on Facebook and their lack of moral / humane boundaries I still won't trust them not to have access to a private key when their app is so invasive. Their whole model is based on behind the curtain trafficking.

WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted. How does all the data magically show up when you change phone which doesn't have the same private key as the old phone? It's like having a lock on your front door and giving the keys to a random neighbour. Most folks trade convenience for privacy or security. That trade is looking less and less appealing by the day.