Your preferred linux config?

[FindersKeepers]

What is your preferred linux config? After testing a number of windows and linux versions on the exact same hardware using 6 different intel based boxes I would happily use either of the following

1. Manjaro 17 Xfce x64 - light weight, fast GUI, blazing cpu performance (arch based)
2. Fedora 25 Xfce x64 - light weight, fast boot, fast GUI, marginally slower than Manjaro (rhel spinoff)

Some things I have noted -
a) both are faster than any pro version of windows 7/8/10; sometimes by a stupid quantum
b) audio in linux is crystal clear using onboard hd audio
c) cpu resources are way better utilised in linux; zero lag in just about everything
d) security is the biggest unknown - a firewall is an absolute minimum before connecting to the interweb
e) integrated bash/python/perl makes for some powerful terminal capability using minimal programming knowledge
f) productivity in database/data management/data mining is off the chart compared to windows

The inbuilt systemctl / journalctl is a great solution for managing system status and event logging.