What should I pay particular attention to if I want to switch my laptop from Windows 7 to a Linux distribution?
Microsoft wants to sell me a new PC, which I don't quite see because the laptop is quite powerful.
That, if you have peripheral devices such as printers or scanners, you can get functional drivers with a reasonable range of functions for them.
And that if you use graphics / drawing programs or databases (e.g. Acess), the files can also be used with Linux programs (if necessary convert beforehand)
This was the main problem a few years ago when I was working on Linux.
Word / Excel / or PowerPoint files were processed by Libre-Office without any problems.
If in doubt, try a "live DVD" of the respective distribution, from which you can start the computer without installing it.
I'm pretty sure that Microsoft doesn't sell PCs and therefore doesn't want to sell you any.
Obviously you have misunderstood something that you should switch to Windows 10 in a timely manner. Windows 7 should still be able to do this for free.
Otherwise you can of course switch to Linux. There are different versions. Please note that all data on the hard disk will then be deleted. So back up all of your personal information. Windows programs logically do not work under Linux. But there's often an alternative.
I recommend the ubuntu based Linux Mint. This is one of the most used Linux distributions. The installation is very easy. And this is how you do it:
First go to https://linuxmint.com/...xmint.com/ Here you can download Linux Mint. I recommend the Cinnamon Edition 64bit. After downloading the ISO you have to flash it with this tool https://www.balena.io/...io/etcher/ on an empty formatted USB stick. Then you have a bootable stick.
Then simply boot this stick and follow the instructions of the installer. He is setting up the WLAN right away. Have the WLAN key ready. In addition, it offers the possibility to completely erase the hard disk. I recommend a full installation. Firefox, LibreOffice, multimedia components, codecs and tools are also installed.
After completing the installation and restarting for the first time, the update manager will appear in the task bar next to the clock. You should install these updates. Programs can be installed and uninstalled via application management. Here you can find e.g. Spotify, WhatsApp, Skype, Minecraft and much more.
If you want to download from Youtube, simply install this Firefox addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/...-download/ This not only allows you to download individual YouTube videos, but also entire playlists. You can choose between MP3, M4A and MP4. It is always downloaded automatically in the highest quality available.
Here is a video of what Linux Mint looks like:
May I ask for a few stick points, why Mint and not Ubuntu?
As far as I know, at least earlier, mint was propagated as quite slim and minimalistic '
Linux Mint also has the MATE and xfce editions. These are slimmer than the Cinnamon edition.
