Is Kali Bare Metal That Bad? What Are Good Alternatives?

The author uses Kali Linux in a bare metal installation for daily cybersecurity activities (such as TryHackMe, using tools like nmap or ffuf, and taking notes with Obsidian). They mention compatibility issues with VMs (especially on macOS with Silicon and OpenVPN) and slowness due to LUKS encryption on a 128 GB USB key with persistence. They question the risks of daily Kali usage and ask for alternatives with a similar interface to KDE, such as Parrot OS, ArchLinux/BlackArch, or Cinnamon, while retaining the necessary tools for their learning.