Selecting a Linux distribution can be simplified by considering your needs and preferences.
Selecting a Linux distribution can be simplified by considering your needs and preferences.
I've worked with Arch Linux before, mainly using it for gaming on an older laptop about two years ago. WINE was the only option available. I believe as long as you can follow the wiki—though it often seems to oversimplify—the process is manageable. Check DistroWatch (https://distrowatch.com/) to find out which Ubuntu-based distros support Cinnamon Native. Personally, I plan to try Manjaro as a bootable USB on my current laptop since I've upgraded the hard drive and installed Windows there. I'm uncertain about the Debian repositories, but both the official and unofficial ones seem to function similarly in my experience with Arch.
Running Monjaro on your laptop and in a VM is a great choice. I highly recommend it.
While it won't always work, there is a program named debtap that will convert .deb files to .tar.xz for Arch based distros. You will also most likely find that most programs are either in the Manjaro repos or the AUR. In the event that they aren't I tend to find them to be small projects without binary releases who are basically asking you to pull straight from Github.