Discussion
Personally i would opt for Debian or Mint over Ubuntu. So many distros and flavours out there...
Mint would be an easier transition from Windows in my humble opinion.
Mint didn’t look great in 2022 video. Unless the UI changed recently I probably won’t like it
They did a major upgrade in 2023. Not sure what you would think now. Just put it on a thumb drive and take it for a spin.
This? 
I also find it ugly, I use Kubuntu on my main PC because I like the community and support around Ubuntu and love KDE Plasma desktop. I tried the real KDE distro, Neon, but I had too many issues with it, starting with how Full Disk Encryption is managed.
However for a node that run 24:7 and that you connect to only for maintenance and update, you don't care about the GUI. For the node management itself, like open/closing/rebalancing Lightning channel you use an app with a WebGUI (Thunderhub or RTL) or even Zeus on a secured enough mobile.
I'm also on the same boat. Running Umbrel on a Raspberry but sick of it freezing regularly and having delay on some app update. If I have time I will do a node on a miniPC (like an Optiplex Mini that are dirt cheap second hand). However I would love to migrate all my channel on it without closing/reopening but I'm not sure it's (easily) doable.
Let us know once you made it!