I hate Windows. I hate Microslop. I've hated them forever. Not using Windows helps, but I still have to deal with the consequences of everyone else using it!
What I hate most is people absolutely terrified of a *nix terminal, while willing to work around Windows problems via command prompt or messing with the goddamn fucking registry, which is just bloody ridiculous, why not just use fucking config files... but that's a rant for another time - and people looking at this kind of chatbot interface like cutting edge modern technology when it's actually just a CLI that doesn't fucking work. We had these at the dawn of personal computing, except that those ones worked and gave the same response to the same command every time! Look, I don't like using a terminal either, but at least be honest and consistent about it, people.
People who crap their dacks when they see *nix are probably not using the command prompt tbf. That said I would love to see a greater uptake of Linux, I'm half considering switching over with my laptop but I mostly use it for gaming and I (1) don't know just how many of my games work with WINE/proton (never used either) and (2) don't know how I would go about restoring my windows install if it goes south. Not really a show stopper. I have a legit license so obviously it's doable, plus my closest friend works as a sysadmin and is in the final year of his degree in computer science. But it has no removable drive which would be a first for me to install a new os on, and I don't want to have to sort it out, y'know? I'm confident installing Linux from USB but I don't know how it works with windows.
Once I'm back in the workforce I may put together a cheap, small form factor PC to run Linux on and get my confidence back with it - it must've been over a decade since I last used it in anger...
I switched to Linux mint last year and haven't had much problems when gaming. Every game I've tried is compatible with proton or wine, the only complication I've had is modding Fallout 4 being a bit more complicated, but that works as well. I highly recommend switching, especially since Linux doesn't carry bloatware and spyware owned by Microsoft
Hell yeah
Nexus Mod Manager is coming to Linux, so it should be easier in the future. There's also a Linux native mod manager called Limo, which I used for Skyrim, but its a bit of pain to setup correctly. Mod managers for Thunderstore hosted mods, like Gale Mod Manager and r2modman are great under Linux.
https://github.com/Anon00b/MO2 for Bethesda games is the easiest and cleaner solution that I found.
You can check game compatibility on ProtonDB and anticheat enabled games that support Linux on Are We Anti-Cheat Yet?
You can create a Windows USB install from Linux, but it's easier to just make one from Windows before formatting.
Dual booting does work, but I would advise you to have two boot partitions, one for Linux and one for Windows, the reason is that while you can just use a single boot partition for both, Windows is a piece of shit that will mess with your boot entries and delete the Linux entry after an update, forcing you to fix it manually which last I tried was hard to do from Windows.
Yeah, I honestly don't particularly trust those lists, but... Probably should. If I switch over there's no way I'm dual booting, apart from anything else I only have like 500gb internal storage. I'd sooner just jump over entirely, I spent a few years running Linux exclusively at home in the early 2000s so I feel confident I could do it.
Annoyingly, you cannot just flash the Wiindows installer .iso image to a USB like any other .iso image. There is a tool called WoeUSB for this though, which does essentially what the Windows installation media tool does on Windows.
Eh, you'd be surprised who you'll meet in certain "tech nerd" circles. Not a lot of people who are comfortable with Windows command prompt and other advanced tools, but shit a brick when they see *nix or just don't like it for reasons even they can't really articulate, but they do exist.
Your laptop's storage isn't removable??
There are laptops with soldered storage, not as common as soldered RAM but they're out there.
Well... No, not really. It's an SSD. I'm not replacing it if I can help it. No optical drive or equivalent.
This isn't really any of my business, so I don't mean to come across as judgemental, I only mean to propose an option that you have. The storage being an SSD doesn't make it unremovable, it just means you have to open the laptop's shell. Swapping the SSD would be the cheapest way to protect your windows installation, if you're really set on preserving it, while giving yourself the opportunity to switch to Linux and get your feet wet again. Gaming on Linux today is largely the same experience as gaming on Windows. If you use Steam, it isn't anymore complicated than installing the game from your library in the usual way you would on Windows.
Obviously it's physically possible to remove and replace a drive. Removable storage refers to storage that's designed to be routinely removed and replaced - optical media, external USB hard drives, etc. It's easy to say you "just" need to open the shell, but honestly, have you ever tinkered around inside a portable device? I've had to - this laptop spent a good year or two banging about inside my backpack while I cycled to and from uni, over an hour each way, so when the screen went black I thought it would be worth seeing if it was just a loose connector that needed reseating, which fortunately it was. In doing this, because the whole thing is largely held together with integral clip features that took some force to undo, I cracked the case and don't feel comfortable using it as a portable device any more than I have to, now. Yes, it's possible to replace an internal laptop drive but you don't "just" open the shell like you would with a desktop case. I also, frankly, can't justify the expense no matter how minimal, and don't actually need to switch off windows at this time.
(1) All of them that don't require you to install a rootkit will work fine, which means everything but AAA multiplayer shooter garbage
(2) Don't go back