the owner/lead dev/github project creator of polymc kinda went crazy a while ago and put some malware or something on the launcher so most of the dev team got an older, unadulterated version of the launcher and created prismlauncher, which is up until now, the best launcher i’ve used. also, if you have flatpak it’s really easy to find and install.

and ehhh performance mods are basically necessary to run minecraft smoothly, so i’d really recommend the simply optimized modpack, which is the same as vanilla but has the best optimization mods (or the fabulously optimized modpack, which is basically the same thing but has some quality of life mods thrown in too)