Ubuntu is nagging me to update. Looking around, I see that 16.04 LTS has now reached the end of “hardware and maintenance updates”, but continues to supply “maintenance updates” for some time. Is there any pressing need to update my machine, or can I hang on for a while longer?
If I set “notify me of a new Ubuntu version” to “never”, do I still get a reminder when my current version reaches end of life?
You can still get hardware upgrades on 16.04 by installing a newer kernel:
You would do this for example if you bought a new device to add onto your computer and the drivers for it were only on a newer kernel.
In fact since I've started using Ubuntu 14.04 and then 16.04 I've usually been running on a newer kernel than the distribution version offered. Partly to stay up-to-date but but mostly as a hobby of researching new kernel versions.
I'm still running 16.04 myself and the support only ends in April 2021 so you have to upgrade before that, unless you're willing to pay for extended support in which case you're fine till April 2024.
I like to skip LTS releases because upgrading is 40+ hours of work in my case as my system is highly customized and does exactly what I want and looks the way I want (Steampunk).