Looking for some suggestions, preferably with existing tested compatibility with the Framework laptop hardware so I can do more well rounded research. I’m the most familiar with Ubuntu and CentOS. Picked Ubuntu initially for mid 2000s nostalgia purposes but it’s time to move on.
EDIT: As some people have pointed out, “more privacy oriented” was probably not the best phrase to use here. I am looking to move off of a Linux OS with corporate sponsorship and also looking forward to exploring Linux OSes that are privacy focused.
If you want something up to date but less DIY than Arch, I recommend OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I switched to it after decades of always using Debian, Ubuntu or Mint, and I am really enjoying using it. It’s not quite as out-of-the-box as Mint, but it’s very up to date, surprisingly stable and solid, and it has the great advantage that if you mess anything up you can always roll back to a btrfs snapshot. I’ve hardly ever needed to do so, and the couple of times I did it was because of my own mistakes. It’s a pretty slick distro. OpenSUSE had never really been on my “to try” list, and because it has been around so long I assumed it was old-fashioned. I’m pleasantly surprised.
If you just want a nicer version of Ubuntu, Mint is also great. And if you want something rock solid and don’t care about being bang up to date, you can’t go wrong with Debian.