Fedora is a general-purpose Linux desktop from the Fedora Project, sponsored by Red Hat. Releases land about every six months. The installer gives you a current GNOME session on Wayland.
Codecs and some drivers sit outside the default repos because of licenses. You enable RPM Fusion or you live without them. Upgrades are part of the habit. Fedora is not a locked-down security OS. It is a clean daily system. Flatpak and your own firewall still matter. A Linux laptop does not hide you from the sites you log into.
Use it as a normal computer that is not Windows or macOS. fedoraproject.org
After installing Fedora, add the codecs you actually need and stop. Third-party repos are also how people add random packages. Full disk encryption at install time is the setting that matters if the laptop is stolen. Fedora will not stop a site from tracking you in the browser. Pair it with the browser and DNS choices in the other guides. Upgrades twice a year are mandatory, not optional, if you want patches.
