So ive use windows pretty much for everything and ive kinda had a enough of windows. i was thinking of trying linux on an old laptop that i just upgraded to 8gb of ram and im not sure wha tos to put on it. i was thinking something lightweight maybe ubuntu mate? i need somethign like windows that will allow me to game and do other things liek gaming maybe even streaming or reading? idk. also what are some neede dsoftware, browser so rthigs needed for linux. i com efrom a family who has never trie dlinux and hates it because its “the smar advanced coders os” somethign liek that.
anyways im a noob so go easy on me please als i may have ben linux distro hopping but i still feel lost.
As far as out of the box usability, I’d go for Mint. Personally, I love Manjaro which is a bit more complex and PopOS which is another beginner-friendly option. You won’t really know what you like until you try a few. You can install them on to a flash drive and boot to that in order to test drive.
Your closeness to windows is going to be pretty directly limited to your desktop, “start” menu, and the look/feel of your windows and taskbar.
It’s still going to feel very much like Linux, but you can tweak almost anything to your liking.