I often hear folks in the Linux community discussing their preference for Arch (and Linux in general) because they can install only the packages they want or need - no bloat.
I’ve come across users with a couple of hundred packages installed (likely fresh installs), but I’ve also seen others with thousands.
Personally, I’m currently at 1.7k packages on my desktop and 1.3k on my laptop (both running EndeavourOS). There might be a few packages I could remove, but I don’t feel like my system is bloated.
I guess it’s subjective, but when do you consider a system to be bloated?
I’m asking as a relatively new Linux user - been daily driving for about 7/8 months
You said you love a system with lots of useful processes running in the background. My comment questions if these useful background processes are really bloat, at least in your system.
I am not about to descend into a philosophical discussion of the nature of bloatware. There’s a definition somewhere, but I’d rather use the tried and true “I know it when I see it.”