If you have the right hardware, most Linux distros "just work" out of the box. I've deliberately bought Dell XPS machines for work because of this. But I've al

If you have the right hardware, most Linux distros "just work" out of the box. I've deliberately bought Dell XPS machines for work because of this. But I've also been helping older neighbours and friends gain or maintain connectivity by installing Linux for them on other hardware, and my experience has been that the "just works" label applies in most cases. Worst case there will be a single module that requires an additional hardware-specific package, most commonly the wireless card. The problem many moves to Linux encounter is that the device being migrating is the only device on hand apart from a phone, so when the newly migrated machine won't connect to the internet there's no way of easily identifying and downloading the driver or extension needed. I have migrated laptops which have multiple pain points, and it can be problematic. But, so far, I've not encountered a device where Linux won't "just work" once these initial pain points have been mitigated with the appropriate driver or package.