(I don't have a deep level of knowledge on this, hopefully another Hexbear who knows better will chime in.)

Linux on the M1 and M2 chips is still a work in progress, you're likely to run into some hiccups. The Asahi Linux project is working on support for those chips. There are multiple distros supported on top of their work, but they recommend their branch of Fedora, so that's what I'd recommend too. You don't really want to be running a custom version of a custom version unless you're a hobbyist Linux enthusiast trying to work out the bugs.

Gaming on an M1 in Linux is really going to be sketchy too. You're running a completely different chip architecture than most games are built for, WINE isn't enough.

Doesn't really look like a good idea for the computer you have and the things you want to do with it.

Linux on M1 is still experimental. I wouldn't daily drive it as a main OS.

Not a good idea imo. I personally use a kali linux vm on VMware but bare metal linux is not good on the ARM MacBook yet.

If you live in a first world country then get a cheap second hand ThinkPad.

Second hand macbooks can still fetch good money if you want to swap it out for something else.

Worth considering if you want to try linux more than you want to stay on Apple architecture.

Linux and MacOs both branched off from the original UNIX in similar ways compared to Windows so linux can look and feel very simialr. Linux just lets you do more with its layout and features

If you have an M1, ur only option is Fedora Asahi Remix. The microphone and usb-c displays dont work yet but there is a fully conformant opengl driver. It will act as a second operating system so you will still have MacOS on your machine. You can dip your toes into GNU/Linux that way.

This means u can play minecraft on it but not say, install games with only x86_64 binaries. You can watch Netflix with DRM widevine but you won't get the full battery life as you would get on MacOS (but still really good). If you are looking to game then u should just get a Steam deck (which still allows you to pirate games and you don't have to buy anything on Steam to use all its features). Gaming is still a x86_64 dominated space.

M1 isn't going to be great.

Second hand Thinkpads are popular for a good reason. I'd suggest picking one up for cheap and using that over Mac hardware.

Everybody is saying asahi, and it’s absolutely the most polished Linux running on apple silicon.

I would recommend you not switch to it though.

Unless you have a really good reason, it’s gonna be a tough climb to go from not knowing much about computers to using a very niche and unique distribution of Linux with limited support.

What problem are you trying to solve by switching?