unused RAM is wasted RAM. Just idle desktop browsing it can look like Linux is using more than the same task on Windows, but Linux does a better job actually feeling fast.

Just my experience but i’m not the first person to notice this. Could definitely vary by distro or setup, but comparing memory usage between Windows and Linux is very “Apples and Oranges”

i mostly see immutables recommended to beginners on here

Mint is a good suggestion for a new user. An underrated distro, but solid, simple, and works well for any purpose.

Go with an AMD graphics card over Nvidia, even if it costs significantly more. with Nvidia you will need to deal with shitty drivers (similar to Windows) and eventually your GPU will stop being supported. Also niche distros may have extra steps required to get everything working.

With AMD your card just works great no matter the distro, no matter how old the card gets. I never think about my GPU because it works at full performance every time with zero setup

CPU matters less: Intel and AMD are both solid on Linux

Linux can live with less RAM than Windows and work fine, but with more RAM Linux will intelligently cache frequently accessed files to speed up pretty much every program. Linux looks like it’s using more resources but it’s actually using them for something useful, and Linux will still back off if something you are doing actually needs more RAM