Yeah, I used to run a vanilla Arch install on my laptop, and I did manage to get it working
almost as well as Windows or macOS after about a week of tinkering, but after a certain point I realized that I want to work on cooler problems than mucking with systemd or dkms, so I just installed Ubuntu and never looked back until I bought a Macbook last year.
I think the newest versions of Ubuntu are great. They've started to give me everything I like about macOS [1] while being FOSS(ish) and portable to any computer I want.
[1] Not comparing Ubuntu to macOS directly, but more of a macOS "feel" in the sense of how I use it.