Sorry answered it elsewhere, yep windows 11.

The forced update took forever and failed and then it also fucked out with the Microsoft account. It was legit 2 hours from boot to seeing a desktop. I wanted to skip the updates and the Microsoft account.

The start menu is full of ads for software I don't want. If I buy software off you, stop trying to upsell me.

Linux Mint would like a word. Best choice tech wise I ever made. Shit just works and it's dead simple, polished, easy to learn and read programs. Fuck Windows. I will never go back. Make the jump!

I'm likely going to because windows update is embarrassingly bad if you have 32gb as your goddamn boot drive.

• Davinci? Yup
• Adobe? Not even remotely.
• Unreal....yes? I'm pretty sure th development tools still run on Linux at least.
• Crossplatform work? As long as it's in the same format from the same application, you should be fine. Just format the drive in something Windows can understand.
• Steam? Works flawlessly as do most games now. You will need to change one option in settings, because Steam will by default only show games that are verified by valve to work (most games do though). Your biggest hurdle will be the developers that specifically block Linux.
• Non-Steam games? You'll need to do some work, but you can get them running just as well as steam games
• Xbox App/Xbox GamePass? Nope.

I use pipewire with Ardour and Neural DSP VSTs (over wine) with zero issues on EndeavourOS. I really hadn't expected that. Now, I generally just use this stuff to not have to buy many physical pedals so I rarely do recording, but that has worked as well.

You seem to be way more advanced than me in that regard, so I can't say if it would work for you, but it was so much easier and better than when I tried the same thing years ago. I'd suspect that GuitarRig works as well, though I haven't tried. I may just do so this weekend, but can't promise.

I have GuitarPro running with wine as well.

That's good to know. Mint was going to be my distro of choice

Sounds like a personal skill issue. Especially if you bought some crappy off the shelf laptop.

Also you dont need any of that to use windows so again pushing false narrative since you can use windows with an offline account perfectly fine. Since I use mine for school and dont sign into Microsoft.

Yeah I’ve been considering switching to Linux but I’m not a tech person. I know enough to play some games and install some Minecraft mods and that’s it. Since I was thinking about getting a new lightweight laptop I was gonna get one with Linux instead of windows to give it a try but every time I found one that said Linux I’d look at the specs and it says the operating system is actually windows. I’d be willing to learn how to get Linux myself but I’m worried about ruining my computer because I don’t understand even half of the technical stuff. If anyone has any up to date very beginner friendly guides, I’d appreciate the recommendation

It doesn't have to be one or the other. You can do most of your work in linux and boot windows as a 'secondary' OS for stuff like adobe? I do this, and share NTFS SSDs/hard drives between them.

You are hitting weak points of linux though. I do all media work on linux (a lot through vapoursynth or 'lower level' frameworks than resolve I suppose), but TBH do most of my gaming on Windows, not just for convenience but for performance reasons too.

these articles offer ms office alternatives acting like most people write their shopping lists in excel or something. i remember my friend asking for a cheap key for office, and i asked him when was the last time he opened a file in office. after a few seconds of waiting he told me that he opened up an rtf manual for an ancient tomb raider game...told him that almost anything can open an rtf. he lives an officeless life since.

While I'm pretty sure you're correct on majority of cases, there's still some stuff, like non-steam games, which just won't work no matter what you do. So, on paper these things work but your mileage may vary.

photoshop, multiplayer games, excel specific macros, 99% of the accounting programs, drivers wificard soundcards, multimonitor support that doesnt shits itself within 10 seconds...2 years ago i tried mint, ubuntu, manjaro, they all failed.

If you are willing to learn, then you can check Linux laptops from Framework, Tuxedo and Entroware. Linux preinstalled, and hardware is compatible.

2 years is a long time. Driver issues are few and far between these days. Multi monitor support has greatly improved as well. I can't help you with your software requirements if you're stuck using proprietary programs like Photoshop. I can tell you that as a professional graphic designer and illustrator the alternatives to "industry standard" software are powerful and arguably better (Inkscape) on the Linux side. It does take time and effort to retrain years of shortcuts and workflow experience, but it's definitely doable.

Maybe one day when you're feeling adventurous give Linux another shot. I know for a lot of people the ethics of open source vs closed aren't really important, but it's still fun to see what else is out there.

Thanks! I’ll check those out!

It is possible, but I have problems with it. Number one, my current GPU is one affected by the AMD reset bug, so it would take even more tinkering than that tutorial to get working. Number two, I'd prefer to not have to choose between windows or linux having the GPU - having to shut down the VM to get back to my normal desktop and programs is not ideal.

Also, I just wish FreeCAD made more sense to me, as I don't trust Autodesk long-term to not take away the "free for personal use" license. They've already taken several anti-consumer steps already.