About what is "better in linux". Let's try to summarize quickly pros and cons: Cons for Linux: -no gaming. If you are an hardcore gamer, Linux won't allow you to play easily. Only small games, just a very very few compatible big games (like Unreal) -hardware support; You will see this one all over the place. It can be solved in most cases, something the hard way. Most of the time, there is nothing to do. But if there is no support at all for your hardware, you can be just stuck. At least, it's usually a "once only" problem. You configure it during install, it works, you can enjoy the system. -lack of some specific softwares. You have a very specific need, maybe there is no software for you. Best exemple: video editing. You are using Premiere on Windows, you will NOT find anything close on Linux. This one is typically a no go. That's not the only one, so the best thing is probably to list your critical applications and see if Linux users think you can find a solution or not on Linux -learning curve: you can't get rid of 10 years of habits with Windows in a couple of days. It takes some time to learn. -too many distributions. How to choose? Especially when you are a newcomer, it's difficult to choose one. Pros: -too many distributions. You don't have just one Linux, you have the choice. Plenty of different flavors. That makes it possible to find one really fitting your taste. -you take control. If you like to know what's going on on your computer, then you will be happy. Things won't happen behind your back, you will know what happens everywhere. IF sometimes is not working, you will know why instead of having just a "Critical Error #1245741". You have the choice of everything everywhere. Interoperability is all over the place, you don't have to use one particular software if you don't want. -some operations are much simpler. If you are a very very basic user, you will love the maintenance low cost. Updates are really a breeze, everything is updated from internet in a few clicks. Just like for Windows, except that it includes also all the softwares on the computer. To install new softwares is also much easier. -Security. No need for antivirus, antispam. You just install safe softwares using the installer. No need to check if a software is safe, as long as you don't download them from an unknown website. Your computer will work faster as you won't use any RAM for those security software. -less ressources intensive in general. Especially compared to Vista. With your configuration, it should work really fine. Enough RAM, decent processor. That's difficult to summarize everything, but that's what is coming to my mind right now. Now it all depends on your needs. If you give us your typical usage of your laptop, maybe we can give you better advices.

There is no really such thing as "better", just "fitting your needs better". It really depends on you, how you use your computer, how comfortable you feel with each operating system. The beautiful thing with Linux is that you can easily try it, each and every version (consider them as different products with common things). No need to really switch. You can first begin to play a bit with it in a virtual system. This way no need to partition anything, just download the CD, install VirtualBox or VMware, and install the CD in a virtual partition. It won't be as fast, it won't be as multimedia (forget about bling bling, desktop effects and even heavy video playing), but at least you can discover it. Then if you want to go further, make some room on your harddrive, install it next to windows, and dual boot your computer. Then you can go a step further and really try everything. One last advice: take your time. To change is always a bit painful. You always want to do the same things with a different environment, just because of habits. That's confusing and frustrating. It takes some time to "think different" and discover a new way to use your computer. With dual booting you have all the time you want. And if you don't like it, then go back to Windows. There is no bad OS, just different needs and different solutions.

Hello!

I think you won't be disappointed when switching to Linux. There are lots of distributions out there for you to choose among. Maybe you should have a look at "www.distrowatch.com" for reviews. Furthermore, there are many distributions that provide a LiveCD with which you can test whether your hardware is supported without even affecting your HDD.

floba