I didn't really like it on desktop, but it was pretty okay on a tablet (Surface Pro). Also ran really smoothly on my potato machine with Pentium 4, so I kinda get why some people miss it.
universal android debloater helps a lot. remove all google/oem/carrier bs
also, there are treble gsi roms that work (mostly) universally. if bootloader can be unlocked, it may be trivial to get custom roms like lineageos on an unpopular phone.
do you reinstall your system often? i installed my system in 2022 right after slackware 15.0 released, never reinstalled since. even when switching hardware i just have to update/modify the kernel, nothing else.
fucking based, bro is a real artist