I am a Linux noobie and have only used Mint for around six months now. While I have definitely learned a lot, I don’t have the time to always be doing crazy power user stuff and just want something that works out of the box. While I love Mint, I want to try out other decently easy to use distros as well, specifically not based on Ubuntu, so no Pop OS. Is Manjaro a possibly good distro for me to check out?
This is fine and your prerogative.
And this is the problem I had with your original comment. You don’t actually know what the root cause is and yet you’re ready to apply blame to Manjaro with absolute certainty. This is why I say you’re just jumping on the bandwagon. Many of the other “reports” that you mention are in a similar vein. It all boils down to “well something broke, I don’t know what, and therefore I blame Manjaro”.
Do you know how many people use Ubuntu and had something break for them? Their forums are littered with these posts as well. I personally have had Ubuntu absolutely shit the bed during system updates, but you don’t see me going around declaring Ubuntu is shit and for good reason! I don’t actually know what caused it! It could have been something specific in my setup. I know that Ubuntu works well for many other people. Likewise, there are many people, myself included, who’ve used Manjaro before and it worked fine for them.
All I am saying is don’t be so quick to judge. All you have is 2 random breakages that you haven’t properly root-caused and what you claim to be a bunch of random hearsay from others, and yet you’re ready to throw your anecdotal experience into the ring as complete fact.