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Thanks, i was considering sticking with linux as I could save ~150 bucks (framework laptop makes windows optional), but was concerned I wouldnt be able to run .exe things. If you are able to run such programs I may consider it. It could also motivate me to actually learn coding so i understand what im doing (I'm studying engineering, potentially electrical/robotics engineering yet I still have no how to code) 

For a lot of the general stuff, there’s good enough alternatives (or sometimes the best thing already is multiplatform, like coding IDEs). So I’d check those things to know if there are any deal breakers. Say, maybe you want to use some specific DAW you can’t get working. But, largely, it’s fine. If you use desktop office, there’s Libre Office, if you need Photoshop there’s GIMP and Krita, if you edit videos, there’s kdenlive… but it CAN be a sticking point

For gaming, things have come a LONG LONG way with Wine. Some titles CAN be a bit of a headache, but usually you’ll find what you need to sort out in protondb or something like that. That’s becoming rarer and rarer, though

As for Linux encouraging you to code… maybe in a way? it’s one of the things that’s WAY WAY better to do in Linux as opposed to Windows where none of the tools actually work properly. But day to day you won’t need to do much, if any. Maybe a shell script here and there to make something easier but for most distros these days, you don’t really need to be getting under the hood (even if it can be fun)

A lot of the fun in Linux is exploring and finding your comfort zone. If you don’t like something that Apple or MS did with their OS, screw you. But in Linux there’s a lot of distros with different ideas and goals (PopOS wants to be easy for gaming people, OpenSUSE wants to be stable and friendly, ClearLinux wants to be the fastest, Debian and Rocky want to be the basis for servers, Arch wants to be flexible and malleable…) as well as a lot of different desktop environments so while it can be a hassle to distro-hop, some exploration can be very valuable. If you’re not feeling what you’re on and don’t have a lot of setup already in place, might be worth checking other stuff out. I myself use Arch but the install of this distro is really rough if you’re not used to Linux already, and though it’s easy to work with, you do need to do a lot of things yourself, so not something I’d recommend to someone just getting into the space. Arch Wiki is a fantastic place to check for any Linux thing you want to know, though, well worth keeping in mind

Ty for all the pointers and information. Definitely something I'll seriously consider when I get around to getting the laptop. I also have an irl friend who I meet with quite frequently who is very into linux, iirc he was doing something steam and proton just the other day. As for what I meant with the coding, linux as far as I could tell is a much more involved process with the os and the programs, so learning some basic coding could help when trying to troubleshoot and the such. Also do you know if there are good 3d modeling softwares on linux ( i dont mean for animation, more designing models and prints)? This was one of the reasons im upgrading my laptop for context.

For 3D modelling, Blender is a given. Not sure what people use outside of that as that is already plenty and then some for the very little I need

Blender is very good, but it isnt designed around engineering or architecture, so other softwares are able to fill that niche very effectively, and im sure there are other similar cases unrelated to engineering.

Ah, you’re looking more for CAD stuff, now I get it. I know stuff exists but not really what’s good, I’m afraid. Not really my area =P

(+1)

yeah dw, i should really do more of my own research on that sort of thing

Hey, so i got the laptop, and turns out the university im going to requires windows, so I ended up not having a whole lot of a choice there. At some point i might end up dual booting linux just for the hell of it, but we'll see. Thanks again for all the help.

Urgh… I’m sorry to hear. Hopefully you can come over to the happy side of computing at some point, where things actually work and you can tell your computer what you want it to do instead of just paying for the privilege of getting ads shoved on your face all the while every single feature of the software you use just turns to garbage

Should only take a couple years... and yeah it really wants me to use its new ai assistant xd