Coming from Windows, you have to forget most of what you’ve learned when coming into Linux otherwise you may hamper yourself. Volumes are not represented as drive letters, for example. The commands you’ve learned for command prompt or PowerShell don’t all translate to the bash terminal. The paradigm is different. It’s like learning a new language.

As long as you’re willing to “let old things go” you’ll have an easier time learning. There are some things that you can connect an equivalent to in Windows once you start getting into Linux, but don’t try to do that at the beginning.

That said, I suggest finding out which Desktop Environment you like first. Every distro has their own default desktop environment, and some are modified/custom version of an already established desktop environment.

I personally love Gnome because it’s simple. It has less options presenting themselves which makes it easier to learn and get your head around. It’s different enough from Windows that you don’t try to use it like Windows subconsciously.

KDE Plasma has a lot of options and customization settings but I felt overwhelmed when I tried it. It looks reminiscent of Windows which lulled me into a false sense of familiarity. I personally don’t think it’s a great place to start if you’re coming from Windows mostly because of that.

There are many other desktop environments so I suggest trying different distros out. You don’t need to install most of them since they typically have Live USB available to try without installing (boot into USB and play with it). Once you find something that you like, you can install it.

If you decide to go dual boot so you have Windows (for gaming for example), I suggest installing each OS into their own separate SSDs. If you’re using a FW13, then you don’t have that choice (but you can probably install Linux into one of those USB expansion cards or an external USB flash drive if you’re still not fully committed but still want a Linux OS that’s not read-only like a Live USB).

You can’t do the opposite (Windows on USB) because it is not allowed unless you trick it (search for Windows Go).

If you don’t game and don’t need Windows to be installed on bare metal, you can also install Linux on the internal SSD and run Windows in a virtual machine. This way you can fully commit to Linux while only booting Windows in a VM for those rare moments you need it.

Also most single player games work in Linux so if you’re not playing something that requires Windows for DRM (like the Call of Duty series), you should be good with Linux as the main OS on bare metal.