I have wanted to install Linux on my laptop (a Thinkpad T16) for nearly as long as I’ve owned it and now I’ve finally got round to doing it.
I am happy to report that it was very easy.
I decided that I wanted to use Debian because it is both popular - good for support, both on issues and for software - and not controlled by a large company like some other distros (i.e. Ubuntu).
I wanted to dual boot with the existing Windows OS so I needed to decrease the size of the Windows partition. Pagefiles needed to be turned off temporarily but otherwise that went smoothly.
I then booted into a flash drive with an Debian Linux installer. I installed Debian using the graphical interface (onto the free partition), rebooted, and it just worked.
Now when I turn the laptop on, I am presented with an option to boot into Debian or Windows. I was a bit worried that Windows wouldn’t be happy with this setup but it boots just fine.
KDE Plasma is a lovely, familiar desktop environment (is that the correct term?) which is not only Microsoft-free but a better experience than Windows so far, plus I can have a fun animation for closing windows!
Nearly all of the software that I use is available on Linux, with much of it developed primarily for it. I will keep the Windows partition for now in order to play games and do some other things but I’m slowly moving things over to the Linux side.
If you are considering dual-booting, it is surprisingly easy with little technical knowledge needed.
10/10, great experience. Now I need to go and update /uses.