The best part about COSMIC is that they've designed it from the ground up to be distro agnostic. Tbf you could install the COSMIC packages and plugins on any GNOME desktop but they were community repackaged iirc
You don't need the laptop to run it, and I have unfortunately only had negative experiences with System76 laptops. I'd stick to the classic ThinkPads or maybe something like Tuxedo; the latter if you're based in Europe.
I also don't like System76 hardware, but they're doing this software work that they're hoping to recoup with hardware sales. If this becomes a good replacement for GNOME, for me it would be worth paying whatever they'd make from a laptop. But I ain't buying their laptop because I don't like it and I don't need it. So I'm gonna give them the difference somehow. 😂
I have been using it for months. Looking forward to this update as it has been a bit memory heavy.
Overall, it has been working great for me. There have been bugs though, especially with multi-monitor. Again, looking forward to trying out this update.
There is still room to go on the polish front I would say. And the built-in apps are still a bit basic. It all depends on your tolerance.