I'm that average Joe! In fact, I'm using Linux Mint, which is extremely easy to use and navigate. In fact, I've found it much easier to learn than Windows.

So far, I haven't missed anything. I mostly stream content and use the internet. I haven't tried much gaming, but it seems to be well supported.

My only barrier I'm aware of for gaming are multiplayer games that require anti-cheat software, but I don't play such games anyway.

There are a few other little things. For example, since I use my mini PC for content streaming, I had to connect it directly to the TV via USB and use a wireless keyboard to navigate since that's my primary way to watch movies. (Screen mirroring isn't supported.) Another example is Proton VPN works on Linux but behaves weirdly. If I forget to disconnect, then next time I launch Linux I have to manually reconnect to wifi, which is weird, but the forums helped me immediately.

The Linux Mint forums are super good: https://forums.linuxmint.com/

So yeah, I literally just started using it, and my experience has been much less frustrating than trying to wrestle with Windows.

Edit: Linux Mint Cinnamon is what I'm using.

Linux is easier but it has a smaller gaming user base so there isn’t as much native games

The most common experience people have would be Android, Steamdeck, or ChromeOS

You're in luck. I have roughly 30 years experience. And first let me chime in with the other recommendations. Linux Mint is absolutely a good starting point. And making a "live" USB is a fantastic way to get an introduction and heads up on possible hardware issues. They're rare but they do exist for any OS. However installing software etc to a live distro is not usually an easy thing. If you want to explore the software side beyond what's on a live image. Try an install to virtualbox. You will get basic practice with actually installing a basic distro. And be able to fully explore the app repositories.

The biggest show stopper for switching to Linux these days is either that you have x rare oddball hardware, or you very specifically need y piece of software that refuses to run under wine, or obscure feature z of software package y.

One final recommendation. If you don't back up regularly or like you should to external media. You will always run the risk of damaging your windows install should you want to keep it around. It's a right of passage for many of us that did it back in the '90s. But not everyone wants that kind of stress just starting out. If you have a little bit of cash to spare. Go on eBay and pick up an old used HP Lenovo or Dell business system. You can get a fourth generation I7 with a decent amount of RAM and perhaps a hard disk and a windows license for almost $150. If you want to practice dual booting, it will make a perfect system. And with a $30 or so HDMI KVM. It can even use the same monitor. Keyboard and mouse as your main system. So you can use them side by side and see which one really stacks up. And in the end when you've made your decision. The old business system will be ready to make a great network file server. If nothing else. It's sort of a win-win-win win investment.

Used Linux Mint/Ubuntu after 20+ years of windows and it's very easy. Most programs have similar equivalents that can run on both windows and Linux (Word/Powerpoint/etc. -> Open Office or Libreoffice, Email client -> thunderbird, etc.), linux distrobutions have their own 'app store' so its easy as searching and clicking install.

Gaming is somewhat new to Linux but you can install Steam; for gaming specifically there are some os' that others know more about than me but Steam OS can be installed unofficially as Holoiso with amd pcs.

Overall you might want to try double booting (windows + linux on the same harddrive) first because of gaming. Linux does detect other os' and allow the dual booting installation process to be easier.

Three things to make sure of:

• getting to the linx installation disk from boot is a pain on pre-made windows machines, search for things to change in bios with a youtube video or wiki so it goes to the usb first

• on the live usb/disk (your installation disk) enable wifi, open a web browser to test the internet is working plus sound and other insert thumb drives/cd disks (it should work on common distros). Some distributions don't play nice or load on some pcs.

• create a backup windows disk and save important files before entering linux in case the installation goes wrong

uber geeks with 20 years of Linux need not apply…thx!

Well, I would have suggested trying out Linux Mint as a live system to see if it runs on your hardware and fits your needs before installation. Test out wifi, bluetooth, video streaming and printing especially.
Also checking out whether your games are supported on https://www.protondb.com/

But I guess my advice isn't welcome since I've used Linux for too long.

My thoughts exactly. Whatever small sacrifices I may have to make by switching to Linux are vastly outweighed by having an OS that doesn't harvest my data and which has a community that actually cares and provides real support.