I’m going to buy a SSD and need a good Linux Distro. Preferably with a minimalist and clean UI.
I’ve used Linux till 2008, and 10 years of OS X till 2018. It’s great to be back to Arch Linux. It’s better than ever 
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Nice, oprypin also mentioned a video in gitter that had a guy talk about how great Arch Linux is. Is it user friendly though? I mean, I use Linux on the server (Debian), and I feel comfortable in the console and know my way around, but I also don’t want to setup a GUI, etc. I just want to run an installer, and boom, I’m in a desktop environment.
If you’re looking for a clean UI and easy setup I think you’d enjoy elementary OS.
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Arch is also my distribution of choice for personal computers. It’s been a long time though…
But Arch is specifically targeted at advanced users who want to have control over their system. You would certainly fit the target profile with server experience. But it’s not exactly a one-button, low-maintenance solution. Arch gives you a lot of freedom and is a great tool, but you’ll have to invest in that to meet the obligations coming with that freedom.
For what you’re looking for, I’d simply go with Ubunutu, no second guesses.
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I’m using Ubuntu and OSX on desktop, and Debian for servers.
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I use arch but I’ll ditto what @straight-shoota said. You should look at manjaro or antergos. These are installer-based distros based on arch linux which give a nice middle ground between ubuntu and arch.
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I like very much Arch based distros, actualy using Manjaro KDE, perfect for me.
You could try any other favors of Manjaro more minimalists.
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I’m a happy ElementaryOS user, simple and elegant. I’ve been using it for a couple of months and I like it.
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Ubuntu/Debian guy, I use either XFCE or LXQt. Used to the more traditional window layouts so found Elementary a bit too far from what I’m used to; it does look the part though.
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I use Manjaro i3; it’s clean and minimalist, lightweight and comes with an already elegant themed terminal / i3 etc… Which is nice ground for customizing your distro 
Example screenshot below. I did not configure so much out of the box; And for real, I prefer usage of Visual Studio Code
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Running ARCH linux since years. I love it
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I use MacOS for everything at work and Antergos for all my personal machines. It is Arch with made easy and I like it.
I’m always using Ubuntu or Kali Linux, I used to like Linux Mint but they had some bad security issues and I thought I probably shouldn’t trust them any more.
Previously I’ve been on macOS, but for the last two years I’ve been on Arch ─ and lovin it.
For me it makes more sense to talk about Desktop Environments rather than the Linux distribution. That’s what you’ll see and use everyday. In fact, the main difference between them is the package manager. They have their pros/cons, IMHO nowadays they are all at least fine.
I’m also looking toward Alpine Linux.
I use LXQt, on both Manjaro and Lubuntu, that shares the same dotfiles. I don’t see a real difference in everyday use. The DE is easy to use and configurable, but there are still some minor issues from time to time.
I used to like Archlinux most of all (Manjaro for keyboardless devices, due to it’s visual installer). It has fresh versions of everything (even obscure libraries that nobody knows about, everything is in AUR already) and no need to heat up universe by compiling everything like in source-based distros.
The only problem is a need to constantly update - skip few months and it’s easier to just reinstall from scratch (or forget about updates at all).
Now WSL is my “distro” of choice. No more breaking drivers or anything like that.
What is WSL?
Windows 10 feature, like the WINE but opposite - bash and Crystal and package manager of your choice, all on Windows. So it’s a kind of joke, not a “distro”, but I’ve found that it completely replaced actual linux installation for me. There is a catch with gui apps, but console is enough for me.
WSL supports several Linux distros. I guess you’re using Ubuntu then?