The answer to the question; “Should I move to Linux form Windows ?” is highly subjective. You have to ask:

• What do you use the machine for?
• Are there applications to do what I want?
• Last but not least. Does your current machine performing well running Windows. Is everything is working to slowly?

What do you use the machine for?

The answer to the first question is, if you are doing an activity that is highly specialized like high end 3D gaming, or you are a professional video editor, stick with a with windows. If you are doing any activity with collaborators you may want to stick with Windows.

If you are a professional, or serious amateur photographer, and you use Lightroom you may what to stick with Windows.

It should be said, that there are pro photographers using GIMP, and RawTherapee, and video editors that use Lightworks on Linux, but these is not the industry standard applications.

Serious PC gamers maybe disappointed with the gaming experience on Linux. That said, I’ve heard good things about Steam (video game digital distribution service) on Linux. Casual gaming can be done for free of course.

Does Windows perform well?

You may have the software that you require, but does it run well your computer ?

The biggest problem with Windows is it slows down over time, and it can be a nuisance. waiting for operations to run or just waiting waiting for applications to start can be frustrating. This can be a particular problem if your computer is still using a spinning drive. A partial solution might be to upgrade to a SSD (solid-state drive). SSDs have come way down in cost, therefore it is maybe a viable partial solution.

The other big problem with windows is malware, viruses, and other security issues that may make you experience on Windows less fun and productive. There is no malware targeting Linux for the desktop users.

What software would you like to use?

We no most commercial software does not run on Linux, but there are lots of free applications that may do a great job for you, many of them maybe installed by Linux by default.

If you use MS Office, LibreOffice will do 99% of what you may want to do.

There are a plethora of web-browsers on Linux, many of them that are also on Windows. Firefox, or maybe Chromium (open-source Chrome) may be installed by default , but there are many you can choose from. Google Chrome is also an option.

Email – Thunderbird (most popular), Evolution, Geary, Kontact, and many others are available for download.

There are many media production and playing apps. I use Reaper as my DAW (digital audio workstation) of chaise, and VLC as my default media player, and Kdenlive to edit videos.

Go to Flathub to see if your favorite free application is available. Go to AlternativeTo to find alternatives to your favorite software.

My Opinion

As the subheading states this is only my opinion but, I think if your still on a spinning disk specifically, or old hardware in general you should for sure switch to Linux. Practically the time waisted waiting for Windows to work, and the time waisted with fixing problems and patching the security holes, you could be learning Linux.