what I want to know is...can I as a non-techie make this happen on my Dell Inspiron laptop, bought March 2017, Core I7??? I’ve allowed some Win10 updates....but am hesitant to continue for fear it will screw up my laptop...
try what?Linux? To ee if you’ll like it? Sure- download the .iso- burn it to a disk and ONLY run it from the diswk til yuo get an idea you will like it enough to switch- that’s what i did- i loved it- but it waqs kinda slow fro mthe4 disk so don;t let that dissuade you- it’s super fast when fully installed- you’;ll have a chocie to either isntall it when you boot up with the disk or to run the CD- make sure you salways choose the CD- till you decide youl ike it or not
You can make changes to the os but they will —not— affect your windows os- the changes you make will revert though once you reboot back into the disk again- so leave it going for a few days while you make changes and mess aroudn with the os - if you make mistake,s you can always just reboot and it will be back to normal disk os again-
I would keep Windows 10 on your laptop. Dell and Intel and Microsoft coordinate closely so that Dell equipment works. Plus you have Dell support. When I install windows 10 on a home brew computer I am on my own but have had no problems with Win 10 updates so far.
You can test drive Linux Mint by loading it onto an 8GB flash drive. Then upon computer booting up (starting) you have it boot via the flash drive rather than your hard drive with Win 10 on it.
It’s like a virtual form of Linux mint and does not touch or alter your windows 10 installation at all. It disappears when you turn your computer off.
Ask and I will give you more details on making the Mint flash drive.