If he got the cinnamon version, that is indeed the default Ubuntu based one. I use the same thing.
One of the biggest draws of regular Mint IMO is that it leverages the advantages and resources of Ubuntu but it removes the parts that many people don’t like.
An interesting data point in this discussion is to look at the list of countries in order of population density and see just how far down the list the US is.
We have a lot of people, some big cities, some major institutions, and a huge economy, but we also have a LOT of space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density