sysadm1n

When my national census form arrives and asks what religion I follow, I put 'Jedi'.

For smartphones, assume an always-on wiretap situation. But for laptops, it may be harder depending on how hardened your setup is, and how tight your opsec is. There is the possibility that if you're a high value target and you bought your laptop online that it could be bugged, but you would have to be someone like a drug trafficker or a journalist or some other high profile person.

You're right, Ubuntu feels bloated to me. It's subtle, but noticeable. Mint is a good lightweight alternative. 8GB is enough for everyday computing, although some people multitask with several apps open which can choke things a bit.