And “learning Linux” really isn’t the huge learning curve many make it out to be. You can get everything set up and ready for gaming or whatever with a handful of GUI tools:
Etcher or similar for getting the install media ready
Boot into the install media by holding F11, Esc, or Del (depends on computer)
Follow instructions in install process
Use Discover (pre-installed in many distros) to install Steam and anything else you might need
Login, install games, and play
There are some hiccups here and there depending on what you need:
if you have an NVIDIA GPU, you’ll need to install drivers (though I’m pretty sure Intel doesn’t need any, and AMD certainly doesn’t); look up instructions for your distro, don’t go to NVIDIA’s website
Heroic launcher (again, Discover store) can play games from Epic and GOG
some peripherals may need extra work - most things work out of the box though
But for 90% of people, the five steps above is all you need, and only step 4 is different reinstalling Windows.
Not necessary for most setups, since most people tend to just leave their laptops plugged in. Even then, it’s generally fine, I get comparable battery life between Windows and Linux on my laptop, and that’s without any tweaks.
And yeah, some things may be easier to do with the command-line, but very few things need command-line config. You’d only really need it if you’re doing something exotic or using really crappy hardware.
average user
The average user just needs a browser and maybe Steam. Linux does both of those things incredibly well, so it’s absolutely ready for the average user. It may not be suitable for the average Windows power-user, and it struggles in some niches. But for your average user, it pretty much works out of the box.
And “learning Linux” really isn’t the huge learning curve many make it out to be. You can get everything set up and ready for gaming or whatever with a handful of GUI tools:
There are some hiccups here and there depending on what you need:
But for 90% of people, the five steps above is all you need, and only step 4 is different reinstalling Windows.
Right, right.
Power management on Linux is a joke.
Things still require command-line config
No, Linux still isn’t ready for the desktop for the average user.
Not necessary for most setups, since most people tend to just leave their laptops plugged in. Even then, it’s generally fine, I get comparable battery life between Windows and Linux on my laptop, and that’s without any tweaks.
And yeah, some things may be easier to do with the command-line, but very few things need command-line config. You’d only really need it if you’re doing something exotic or using really crappy hardware.
The average user just needs a browser and maybe Steam. Linux does both of those things incredibly well, so it’s absolutely ready for the average user. It may not be suitable for the average Windows power-user, and it struggles in some niches. But for your average user, it pretty much works out of the box.