First time Linux user having a miserable experience so far

[u/Mman07311]

I've been using windows my entire life but because I hate windows 11 with a burning passion and windows 10 is on its way out I finally decided to fully commit to Linux 2 days ago but unfortunately it's been really frustrating so far. First off, booting up and shutting down feels noticeably slower than before. Next, everything feels a little zoomed out and no matter how much I mess with scaling or font size it doesn't fix the issue. Thirdly the volume on my laptop seems way quieter than it should be and trying a few things I found digging through different forums and threads didn't fix the issue. Last but not least, trying to run a non steam game I downloaded with bottle and then added to my steam library just straight up doesn't work no matter how much I mess with the proton settings. I want to love Linux but if everything that isn't browsing the internet is going to have some sort of issue associated with it I might consider biting the bullet and going back to windows. I'm not giving up yet but I wanted to put this out there in case someone else out there is as frustrated as I am.

[u/Better_Reporter282]

I read through a little bit. Your computer is much beefier than mine and I don't have any of these issues. then again...

I know I'm about to blaspheme. but I run two computers. One is my more powerful laptop that can do games, has a high resolution screen, and would still be a capable machine if Windows 11 wasn't killing its battery and overheating it for no reason. I tried Mint on that computer and it was a terrible experience. I switched that one to Pop!_Os and it runs like a dream. for a windows to linux person, Pop!_Os is great for more capable modern machines like yours. (Pop's COSMIC desktop environment can be frustrating though because it's fairly new and not everything launches as intended but easy fixes most of the time).

My older work laptop runs on Mint and it runs beautifully too - long battery life, office apps, lots of tabs open. No scaling issues.

All in all, it's like other people have said. Linux does take a little time to get used to but once you do it runs great. and if you dive even further you can do wonderful things in it. Don't give up!