which one do you recommend to install: ubuntu 20.04.3 or ubuntu 21.10

Question

I know in general the answer is 20.04.3 certainly.

but i have purchased a new laptop equipped with 11th gen Intel core i3 CPU and uefi boot. so new hardware support is important for me. also i will upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 as soon as its release so it is important for me to install an Ubuntu version which will make upgrading simpler in coming months.

What do you recommend?

Solution

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS upgrades to jammy are not offered until after the release of 22.04.1.

Ubuntu 21.10 upgrades are offered after the release of Ubuntu 22.04; ie. earlier.

LTS users it's assumed want a very stable system, thus upgrades are offered considerably later.

You can watch the release schedule for Ubuntu 22.04 (or currently jammy) using https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/jammy-jellyfish-release-schedule/23906 but you'll upgrade much earlier from 21.10 than from 20.04 LTS, but you can always force an upgrade from 20.04 LTS sooner than it's offered.

FYI: Recommending requires an opinion which is off-topic on this site in my opinion (Ubuntu Forums allows opinion geared questions), as both Ubuntu 21.10 & Ubuntu 20.04 LTS are stable systems, so for this answer I've picked a specific fact that differs - upgrade timing.

Consider what applications/packages you'll require. For Ubuntu repositories; the packages will really not differ (LTS releases have two kernel stack choices; GA or HWE, where as no such choice exists for non-LTS), but many 3rd party software sources only package for the LTS release. Here though you gave no specifics that allow a definite answer.

Comments

[guiverc]

In case you're wondering why 21.10 gets the upgrade first; are they guinea pigs or canaries (like myself running jammy now), No they're not. Ubuntu releases are built in a cycle that starts with 20.10 .. then 21.04, 21.10 before the final 22.04 LTS release... ie. 21.10 is a minor jump, in contrast to the jump from 20.04 which was the end of the prior LTS cycle (thus 21.10 -> 22.04 should have fewer issues than 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS). Should have because everyone's hardware is unique, and many issues are hardware specific (20.04 LTS has kernel stack choices & a larger jump if using GA)