I spent the better part of 4 years on Linux between 2012-2016, using various distros ranging from Ubuntu, to Manjaro, to PCLinuxOS, and plenty in between. In 2016, I swapped back to Windows 7 for a "Last Harrah" of sorts with games that I was sad to see go, which included Fallout NV and 4, Starcraft 2, etc. This year, with the SP2 announcement for Windows 7 and all the lovely spying additions that would be included, I finally decided it was time to sunset Windows for the final time, and return to Opensoruce. I spent weeks searching and trying various distros. I won't go in depth on everything in tried, but suffice to say that everything had an issue. Crashes, sluggishness, odd interactions with my front ends of choice. I was so frustrated that I decided to look into distros I normally wouldn't have considered. Top of that list was Linux Mint. I've tried Mint numerous times in the past. It always was lacking compared to it's parent distro, Ubuntu. On my system, it was sluggish. Cinnamon was too early in it's development to be useful. It's development cycle seemed too haphazard and would often break for the exact same reasons Ubuntu would. But I was desperate. So I pumped the ISO into a USB, and timidly booted up. I can't remember what I was expecting, but none of it was true. The first thing I noticed was the speed. It was fast. Faster than a clean install Arch. Faster than ANY distro I'd previously tried. I thought this had to be wrong, or that this speed wouldn't translate over to the full install, but I pressed on. The next thing I noticed was just how far the Cinnamon desktop has come. Previously, it had always been a kind of retarded cousin of the MATE desktop, my previous first choice. But now, it has become a user friendly powerhouse. Not only is it snappy, but every procedure I'd normally need a separate program or command like to do is now flawlessly added into the GUI. Format a thumb stick? Right click away. Open a folder as SU? Also right click away. Auto connect to a network drive? It's a small folder flag away. Easy to set up dark theme that doesn't bork typing in field boxes? Done and Done. After a short test drive, I said ok: lets see if this distro has legs. The install was flawless, and it was as quick and responsive as it had been on the USB Stick. It was everything I've been hoping Linux would be since my first attempt of trying Linux in 2010: A 100% valid replacement for Windows. Better. An UPGRADE to Windows. I could go on and on about all the new Mint features, such as snapshot, flappak installs, new Cinnamon features, etc. But I think what it breaks down to at the base is: Is this Distro good? Absolutely. Can it replace windows for "Normies" coming from that landscape? YES! Is it a solid daily driver? Better than solid. The devs worked hard to add so many quality of life features to this distro, that you may never fully find them all. I can give a fantastic example. After my install had finished, I went to G Drive to get all my dank memes, and music, and furry pornz. However, 4 gigs and >5k files was making the web interface move slower than shit. There was easily a 10 second delay in key strokes, and trying to get my stuff out was looking more and more bleak. So in desperation, I went to the web to see if there was a third party program that would let me access G Drive to get my documents without using a browser. Imagine my shock when I found that the feature had already been built into Cinnamon. It was literally a 1 minute process to set up my google credentials, and the file browser was able to flawlessly access my drive, get all my documents, and get me back to a state of Cloud Backed bliss. I think this experience was what helped me cement Mint as my OS of choice for at least the foreseeable future. If your scared to try Linux, don't be. It's come amazingly far in the past 10 years. And if you've got preconceived notions of Linux Mint, suspend them and give it a second try. I think you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.