Early Install - 13.04 vs 12.10

Question

This past week I built a new system that I need to install Ubuntu on. I would like to use 13.04 once it is released, and was hoping to wait until then for the system build. Unfortunately the system this one is replacing died this past week, necessitating moving up the schedule.

My question is whether it is better to install 12.10 for now and upgrade once 13.04 is fully released or install a pre-release version of 13.04 and just apply the updates once the full release comes out?

If you have specific reasons for recommending one option versus the other, I would love to hear those, too.

Solution

Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)

Personally I'd install 12.10(And I am running), seeing it's been out longer, and most bugs have been ruled out. I'll install 13.04, but not immediately after release.

Pros

• The bugs and error-reports in 12.10 is falling, and it will continue to fall, beginning to be a more stable release.

Cons

• Most likely a higher poweruse than 13.04 (as it's rumoured to be)
• If you're planning to run 12.10 for multiple years, 12.10 will go EOL(End-of-Life) before 13.04 (See EOL on www.ubuntu.com)

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Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)

13.04 is the newest and feature-filled release. There is pros and cons for 13.04.

Pros

• Newer (kernel, release, everything)
• Longer support time than 12.10 once it's released.
• It is rumoured to be more battery-friendly for laptops.

Cons

• By releasetime, there will (most likely) be more bugs.
• As of right now, there's around double the amount of error-reports for 13.04 than 12.10.
• 13.04 is still in beta-stage.
• 13.04 won't be support on askubuntu.com until it's released (see the FAQ).

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Overall

In the overall review, what I suggest is:
Install 12.10 now. And then upgrade to 13.04 when it's been released, and the amount of known bugs, and alike has fallen.

There is a live tracker of error reports for 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04 is listed here: https://errors.ubuntu.com/ and I'd suggest you keep watching this after release. The amount of reports for 13.04 will fall (Although 12.10 will most likely too).

Comments

[Eliah Kagan]

Related: Should I wait for 13.04?

[Eliah Kagan]

Are you asking the author of the answer here, or is this in reference to my answer to that related question? (If you're asking the author of the answer here, I recommend commenting on that answer, rather than your question itself.)

[web.learner]

13.04 will have longer support time once it's released. It's also not supported here until then.

[CWeinhofer]

I posted this above but Eliah Kagan suggested I re-post it here. Since updating / upgrading always leaves traces of the old version behind, any thoughts on whether upgrading 12.10 or updating a pre-release 13.04 would result in a cleaner full 13.10 system in the end?

[Frederik Spang]

It does, as far as I know. You could install 12.10, and wait for 13.04 as suggested in my answer. Just do a fresh install instead of an upgrade. Just backup relevant folders and files.