I would drive it

We bought an “analog” washer and dryer for my wife and I when we moved into our first home. Hasn’t failed us yet. Her parents have a fancy set and they’ve had to get it fixed a few times already. Seems like the simpler the better for home appliances

That’s fair, especially if you’re using it for work as well. Just wanted to point out the option!

My personal favourite is qtile and it’s been my main WM for a long time. I3 is another good option. Wayland experience looks to vary from the other comments, but if you do use qtile and wanted to try wayland, you can get it to run using it (although I’ve never tried it myself).

I first experienced Linux around 2020 when Windows was getting super slow on my gaming pc at the time but couldn’t make the jump because I was still heavy into games like League of Legends. I started off hopping around with Mint, Elementary and Fedora.

Once I started moving towards playing retro games on emulator and gaming on Switch I made the switch. I did A LOT of distro hopping and was never satisfied. Now I’ve finally settled on Fedora and built it from the ground up with the Everything iso and running Qtile. Using Linux has made me realize I love tinkering with computers, electronics and it has made me interested in programming. It’s been a ride (though a short one), but it has helped me find new interests I didn’t know I had and learn there’s a lot more than just Windows.

Linux Mint is definitely the right choice here in my opinion. I installed it for my parent’s on their older laptop when they were having issues running windows. They were blown away by how fast it was and how they could do all of their usual tasks (i.e browsing, financing, basic games, etc.). It will be a great first experience for you!