In short
- Hard blockers: macro-heavy Excel, Adobe Creative Cloud, QuickBooks Desktop or Sage, Microsoft Access, competitive multiplayer games, and most CAD or industry software.
- If your PC is mostly browser, email, documents, photos and streaming, the switch is undramatic.
- Pick Zorin OS for the gentlest landing or Linux Mint for the biggest community. Ignore the other hundred.
- Test from a USB stick before installing. It changes nothing and answers most questions in ten minutes.
A 2015–2018 machine that fails the Windows 11 check almost always has more than enough power to run Linux well. The Windows 11 barrier is a policy rule about security chips, not a verdict on your hardware. So the hardware question mostly answers itself. The software question doesn't, which is why this guide starts there.
Who should not switch to Linux
Most guides bury this. If any of these describe you, Linux will cost you more than it gains on this machine:
| If you depend on | The position |
|---|---|
| Macro-heavy Excel | Hard blocker. LibreOffice has limited VBA support and OnlyOffice uses a different JavaScript macro system. Macros need rewriting, not porting. If your livelihood runs on a macro workbook, don't switch that machine. |
| Adobe Creative Cloud | Hard blocker. No Linux version of anything. GIMP, Darktable and Krita are real tools, but they're not drop-in replacements, and Darktable has no CMYK for print work. |
| QuickBooks Desktop or Sage | Hard blocker. Windows-only. The cloud versions run in a browser, but they're different products with different costs. |
| Microsoft Access | Hard blocker. No Linux version and no real equivalent. Commonly underestimated. |
| Competitive multiplayer games | Hard blocker. Valorant, League of Legends and similar are blocked by kernel-level anti-cheat. Single-player is a completely different story; see gaming. |
| CAD or industry software | Usually blocked. SolidWorks, Inventor, Revit, and most vertical software (dental, legal, veterinary, point-of-sale) are Windows-only, often with hardware drivers that fail even in a virtual machine. |
If none of those apply, and the PC is mostly a browser, email, documents, photos and streaming, you're in the large group for whom this switch is genuinely undramatic.
Which Linux to pick
There are hundreds. For someone coming from Windows 10, two are worth your attention and the rest are a distraction.
| Zorin OS | Linux Mint | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | The gentlest landing from Windows | People who like a big community and long-term stability |
| Looks like Windows? | Yes, with a built-in layout switcher that mimics Windows 10 | Familiar in shape (taskbar, start menu), its own style |
| Windows-app help | Recognizes hundreds of Windows installers and suggests the Linux equivalent | Not built in; the forums fill the gap |
| Older or low-memory PCs | Zorin OS Lite | Xfce or MATE editions |
| Documentation and help | Good | The largest body of beginner help anywhere in Linux |
Both are free, both are based on Ubuntu, and both will run for years on a 2015 laptop. If you want a step-by-step install, the Mint walkthrough covers it from download to first boot; Zorin's installer is nearly identical.
Test it without changing anything
This is the whole trick. You can run Linux from a USB stick without touching your existing installation. Ten minutes of this tells you more than any review.
- Download the ISO from zorin.com or linuxmint.com. It's a few gigabytes.
- Write it to a USB stick (8GB or larger) with balenaEtcher or Rufus. This erases the stick and touches nothing on your PC.
- Boot from the stick. Restart and press the boot-menu key, usually F12, sometimes F10, F2 or Esc. Choose the USB device.
- Pick "Try" rather than "Install". You're now running a complete Linux desktop from the stick, with Windows untouched.
- Test the things that actually break: Wi-Fi connects, sound plays, the printer prints, the scanner scans (a separate system from printing), the screen resolution is right, the webcam works. If all of those pass, the installation will almost certainly be fine.
For the test
- SanDisk Ultra 32GB USB 3.0 flash driveFor installers and rescue sticks. Amazon
Paid links. Prices change often, so we don't print them; the listing shows the current price. We earn a commission on purchases, at no cost to you.
The NVIDIA problem nobody mentions
You'll read that NVIDIA drivers on Linux are fine now. That's true for recent graphics cards. It is least true for exactly the cards in the PCs this site is about.
If you have a GeForce GTX 900 or 1000 series card, those generations can't use NVIDIA's modern open driver and need the older proprietary branch, which is now in maintenance mode. It works, but it's the fiddliest part of a 2015–2018 era install. GTX 600 and 700 series cards lost NVIDIA driver support in 2026 and fall back to a basic open-source driver. Test from the USB stick before committing, and expect graphics to be the most likely thing to need help. The hardware check tells you where your card sits.
The Wi-Fi problem, and its cheap fix
Wi-Fi is the single most common install-day failure. Intel and Atheros cards just work; Realtek works on modern kernels; Broadcom is the trouble brand, needing a proprietary driver that's awkward to install when the machine has no internet connection. If the USB test shows no Wi-Fi networks, don't fight it. A USB adapter with a MediaTek chipset is supported by the Linux kernel itself and works the moment you plug it in. Which ones to buy.
Our pick for Linux
Alfa AWUS036ACM dual-band USB Wi-Fi adapter
Built on the MediaTek MT7612U, which the Linux kernel supports natively, so it works the moment you plug it in. Fixes the most common Linux install-day problem, and the external antenna gives real range.
See price on Amazon Paid link
Documents and Office files
- Microsoft 365 in a browser works on Linux and is officially supported. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook all run. No VBA macros, limited add-ins, no offline use.
- OnlyOffice is the best choice for fidelity with Microsoft formats;
.docxand.xlsxare its native formats and the interface closely resembles Office. - LibreOffice is more capable overall but uses its own format natively, which is where layout drift on complex documents comes from.
- Macros are the wall. Not a conversion problem, a rewriting problem.
Gaming: better than you think, with one hard limit
Valve's Proton has transformed this. Most Windows games launch on Linux, and the majority simply work when you press Play in Steam. The exception is absolute: games with kernel-level anti-cheat. Valorant and League of Legends are blocked by Riot's Vanguard, and Fortnite is unavailable because Epic chose not to enable it. Anti-cheat status changes, so look up your specific games on ProtonDB and GamingOnLinux's anti-cheat list before deciding.
Should you dual-boot?
Probably not, and this has become more true recently. Modern Windows installs encrypt the drive with BitLocker by default. Changing the boot sequence alters the measurements the encryption depends on, which can trigger demands for a 48-digit recovery key, potentially at every boot. The old advice to "just disable Secure Boot" actively causes this.
In order of preference: a live USB for testing; a second physical drive if you need both systems; a clean full switch once you're confident, after a complete backup; and same-disk dual-boot only if you're comfortable troubleshooting boot problems.
Before you touch the boot configuration, save your BitLocker recovery key. Sign in at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey and write it down somewhere that isn't the computer in question. Skipping this is how people lose access to their own files.
Getting help from actual humans
The End of 10 campaign, run by the non-profit KDE e.V., maintains a directory of repair cafés, hackerspaces and user groups who will help you install Linux, usually free. Coverage is strongest in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, with listings across the UK, US, Canada and Australia. If the Wi-Fi or graphics part sounds daunting, find somewhere near you and let someone who has done it fifty times do it with you.
What about ChromeOS Flex?
It comes up a lot as the "very old hardware" answer, but it's a narrower option than Linux, not a wider one. It needs UEFI boot, so genuinely old machines can't even start the installer; there are no Android apps; and machines from around 2013–2014 lose Flex support at the end of 2026, which sends the oldest hardware off one cliff onto another. It's a reasonable fit for someone who only uses a browser and wants zero maintenance. For everyone else, Zorin or Mint gives more and costs the same.
Product links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we earn a small commission at no cost to you, and the retailer's cookies apply once you're on their site (we run none). We link only to things that fit the advice above, and we never link to replacement computers as a fix for a working one.
