You don't have to get rid of Windows and just dual boot them. Many of the linux ISO's have that option during installation. When the computer starts it gives a Grub menu and you have a choice of operating systems you can go in to. If not picked after so many seconds it will default to the linux operating system.
Also, the ISO's are usually live CD's/DVD's so you can run your computer from the ISO to test and see if you like that flavor of linux without installing it first.
I dual boot on several computers now and rarely do I use the Windows side of things for much since there is many apps in linux that does as good of job as anything in Windows.
CGato
Thanks a million.