Need advice Distro needed, no gaming needed.

Thanks very much guys, I appreciate your patience!

I dunno if UEFI is actually worse than BIOS was, which wasn't a breeze for me, tbh.
Are you running Win8 for compatibility with some games? Please tell me that you are-- because I'd hate to learn that Mint won't cover all my needs, which are pretty much E-mail and the Web.
I wish to divorce myself from MS completely! If I will need an MS OS and not solely Mint, what's the point?

MS is slowly and sneakingly adding Win10(read snooper's paradise) features to Win 7, 8 and 8.1. Thank you Redmond!
AVG is now selling my info to whoever they sell it to. Thanks AVG! Used them for years and liked 'em. cloasters, hurry up with a new solely Linux machine! Money, what apita.

Thank you for letting me know that yes, you only need Windows for some games. Whew, that's a great relief (for me) but not for you--sorry.
Maybe the people who created UEFI thought that it's an MS world and loved it that way. Argh.

Man, I fucking hate UEFI. Once UEFI was introduced was when I suddenly got problems installing Linux.

Fast boot, UEFI, "secure" boot, all fucking annoying.

UEFI is the new standard, so learning how it works it probably preferable than banging your head against the wall every time you need to install Linux on it. Personally I like how I can configure just one bootloader from Arch to boot up other distros if I dual boot.

Also, keep in mind that if you have a hard drive over 2TB, then you can only boot from this hard drive on UEFI. BIOS MBR can't boot hard drives over 2TB.

Fast Boot is Windows specific, and would even cause issues if you dual booted two windows versions on the same computer. But it boots up Windows blazingly fast so I supposed that's why so many hardware manufacturers push it.

Secure Boot is also a concept I am not very fond it, because it is designed to only boot "signed" kernels and bootloaders. There is one nasty aspect to Secure Boot. If there was no option to disable Secure Boot, it would mean you would be locked to running whatever OS came pre-installed on the hardware. So far there have been no devices of this kind that I know of, and hopefully there never will be.

It is possible to boot Linux with Secure Boot enabled. I did this on my Surface Pro 3, since it boots with an ugly red screen when Secure Boot is disabled.

The problem I have with all this, is the whole "Secure Boot" issue, because hardware manufacturers can essentially lock the hardware to only run Windows. I think it is a good idea to more actively look for Linux friendly hardware manufacturers and support them.

An article discussing how Secure Boot can actually lock you out from installed anything else on the Hardware

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...t-mandatory-locks-out-other-operating-systems

Thanks very much for supplying the link to the Extreme Tech article Daerandin, it's an important one. As long as we have less and less freedom to run what we want all the while paying incrementally more for the hardware, everybody who matters is happy.

If Fast Boot is disabled my Lenovo desktop beeps during boot into Win7. Very annoying.

Yeah, you have to do some research if you're going to buy a laptop and use it for Linux. My new laptop is a bit bitchy about booting both windows and linux install images. I have to plug the usb dvd rom or the usb stick, go into bios, then take it out and in again cause it's not there, then I restart and go into bios, and then I can see the device there.

I asked asus customer support to get a update in the works for the bios for my model but I haven't heard jack shit. I might have to call them or go to their headquarters in Norway.

I hope this question isn't off topic. I've made a tentative list of the hardware to put in my new Linux only (the latest Mint, Cinnamon) box. Who knows, mebbe I'll try to install FreeBSD on it as well--some day. I'm a sucker for the OS's mascot.

Asus Z170 LGA 1151 Mainboard
Intel i5 6500 3.2 Ghz CPU

Kingston Value Hyper X 8 Gb X2 RAM Query, please: the fancier Kingston RAM modules with added ?plastic "shield" costs the same. My guess is that exposed RAM chips run cooler. Maybe I'm wrong about this?

Samsung 850 EVO500 Gb SSD, plus
Crucial MX200 250 Gb SSD

LG 16X BluRay burner
EVGA GeForce 720GT 2 Gb There's no ~$100 Vidcard option with this local assembler. Their next offered Vidcard is
a $176 EVGA GeForce 950 SC GTX 2Gb GDDR5 unit. I don't game, but $66 for their 720 GT is looking too tight-butted, come to think of it.

Firepower Silencer 600 PSU(already bought and paid for).

Any suggestions to improve the list or a caveat about one or more chosen components would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks very much!

Thanks very much for your reply, Booman! The GEForce 750ti is a great suggestion, but the local retail assembler offers limited choices, I think I'll spring for the GF 950 SC GTX, I've never had a Vidcard that cost more than a C-Note before and this new box may be the last I'll ever have. Thank you again!