Mint is one of the more 'user-friendly' flavors that Windows users migrate to - there are a couple others, but Mint I think is the better known; it uses a GUI (graphical user interface) so you don't have to admin everything from the command-line. That said, there are option to run either a 'live disc' or a VM (virtual machine) to better get acquainted with how the OS (operating system) will operate - if that kinda thing interests you. As far as browsers, I believe Mint now comes with Firefox installed - you are free to select whichever you prefer - I typically use 'ungoogled' but I'm sure someone here can recommend a different one.

I am about average when it comes to tech and computers. I know enough to get done what I need done. I have an old laptop and I swapped in a new SSD and it ran flawlessly. I started noticing with every new stupid Microsoft update it ran slower and slower. I made the decision to commit to Linux. It may have been based on a post on old Voat. I knew NOTHING about Linux. I did go with Mint and the transition was really smooth. The laptop runs like it is brand new still to this day. I highly recommend giving it a shot.

I've been running Mint for a year or so now, maybe a bit longer. The first couple days took a lot of messing around with it and trying to learn stuff. I got a lot of help right here on Poal. But once I got it all running right I have not had to do anything at all with it. It runs great and I never have any problems. I use Firefox browser with uBlock Origin and AdGuard AdBlocker.

There is a learning curve though it's probably the smallest of all the distros. You could never use the terminal and just install all your programs and updates via the GUIs, but where's the fun in that?

Personally I would say Librewolf is the best browser, which is really just hardened Firefox (hardened just means that settings are tweaked and extensions are installed to increase your privacy and security) with a new coat of paint. As BigWhiteGiant mentioned, Firefox comes included with Mint so you could just harden that and essentially get the same experience as Librewolf. Both options are way better than anything that uses (((Chromium))) (e.g. Chrome, Brave, Opera).

people will tell you lots of things.

if you just do basic stuff like web browsing, email, poal, word processing, etc... basically any linux distro will do that for you.

its a different way of thinking. for example, you will use a package manager to install most of your software. its like an app store before app stores existed.

best browser to use is whatever comes with your distro.

the real best browser to use is google chrome. some open source browsers dont have the money to pay for licenses to play specific video codecs on the web. there is probably a work around, its probably technical. i had to use chrome.

but you can't just install chrome from your package manager. you will have to add it to your sources.list and use something like dpkg to extract and install it. all this is from the terminal emulator AKA command line. no double click the .exe for you.

so there is definitely a learning curve.

take all this with a grain of salt because i am by no means a linux pro. this is just the stuff i learned that isn't really intuitive from someone coming over from windows.

my advice: install your mint from a live CD or bootable USB. fuck around with it until you inevitably break it. keep reinstalling and learn from your mistakes.

oh, and linux has the best connect four game against the pc. i swear. you don't need to know anything to have it whip your ass on hard.

No real learning curve involved with Linux anymore. 90% of the time, everything works right out of the box and most of those 10% of problems will be related to how new the hardware is (older is better).

Use whatever browser you want.

I would settle for mint cinnamon instead, if your PC is reasonably powerful (8GB of RAM and above usually means it's fine), it's a bit more fancy which makes your PC look decent/normal, mate is a bit more "dry"/cheap/(too) old fashioned design bordering on cheap garbage too much

That being said it consumes less resources... But if your computer runs fine on cinnamon, then cinnamon is the better choice IMO. I mean it's not like it's going to be the shit you'll have under your nose everyday...

is there any real learning curve involved?

Not really, especially if all you do with your computer is mainstream stuffs such as shitposting, watching videos, make a resume and shit, play with image/video editors, games, stuffs like that

This is how you config your desktop theme for instance: https://pic8.co/sh/HmOeJL.png https://pic8.co/sh/nZhMpS.png

Pretty windowsih as you can see

It's only when you start coding stuffs or want to install special fancy stuffs, that you might need to switch to manual/command line installs for everything, and really that's not the most difficult part when it comes to command line/terminal usage, it's pretty straight forward you have 3 or 4 commands essentially, most of the time ("update"/"install"/"remove" a program and "add a special repository to download from")

Other than that particular case, you can just use the appstore and the graphical updater à la windows

It might be a week or two before I install , what is the best browser to use?

I'm happy with firefox

I have some moving around to do so I can fit two monitors on my desk with everything else but hope to install either tonite or tomorrow. its on another comp with 8 on it but if it works hope to install on even older comps. Thats why I went with mate.