I dunno, maybe I've just had good luck when it comes to hardware compatibility, but networking has always just worked for me. Along with audio and pretty much everything else.

Getting the apps you want installed is the same thing you'd have to go through with a fresh Windows install too. And I think Linux package management is way easier once you do the initial install. So I would argue that Linux is actually better in that regard.

No. Network connectivity just works unless you have some really esoteric hardware. I just installed a USB wifi ax 5400, total overkill for my telco router. CachyOS just took it in stride. Most apps, including many Window apps install painlessly. The moment Linux sees an .exe, it launches wine and installs the app.

Right now it's mostly "just works" most people use office and internet apps anyway.

I spent about 2 months on mint with cinnamon, switched to cachy with plasma on my main desktop a few weeks ago and honestly it's been working a lot better. Still have to poke a few things but overall I've got everything I'm regularly using going fine now.

Yeah, that's the thing - I remember installing Slackware 1.0 from floppies back in the day.

These days, I've had my enthusiasm for technology crushed out if me, and I just want to get stuff done with as little "computer" in the way as possible

Mint comes in debian, arch and bazzite?