I've been hand-rolling my Neovim config for years. Last month I tried LazyVim. Here's what I actually think - not as a beginner, but as someone who already knows what they're doing.
Neovim still feels pretty obscure to new users, which is a shame considering how powerful it is. That’s part of why distros got so popular, and also because we’ve gotten used to plug-and-play setups.
The downside is that, while they’re efficient and usually good enough, they don’t really teach you how Neovim works. So when something breaks or you want to do something specific, you can get stuck. The community also has tons of great plugins, and even if some look similar, they’re built for different needs. With distros, you might not get the one that fits you best.
Setting up Neovim from scratch takes effort, but in the end, you get something perfectly tailored to your needs. Nonetheless if you can be guided by an experienced user, you can get on track within only two hours. That said, a lot of people are fine with basic features and just adapt to their tools. Personally, I like that Linux adapts to me instead.
Neovim still feels pretty obscure to new users, which is a shame considering how powerful it is. That’s part of why distros got so popular, and also because we’ve gotten used to plug-and-play setups.
The downside is that, while they’re efficient and usually good enough, they don’t really teach you how Neovim works. So when something breaks or you want to do something specific, you can get stuck. The community also has tons of great plugins, and even if some look similar, they’re built for different needs. With distros, you might not get the one that fits you best.
Setting up Neovim from scratch takes effort, but in the end, you get something perfectly tailored to your needs. Nonetheless if you can be guided by an experienced user, you can get on track within only two hours. That said, a lot of people are fine with basic features and just adapt to their tools. Personally, I like that Linux adapts to me instead.