I get this from the perspective of not wanting to be IT support for windows issues (I've only used linux for the past 22 years, with a brief period of OSX at wo

I get this from the perspective of not wanting to be IT support for windows issues (I've only used linux for the past 22 years, with a brief period of OSX at work, and find windows generally really annoying, aside from having a philosophical hangover from 1990s MS). I put my computer phobic father on Linux 15 years ago, and he's been fine with it. Your issue is software. LibreOffice frankly looks bad compared to MS Office, and it will be a poor experience for her. If she's OK with google docs, then that friction at least is removed. What else does she use? Krita's good if she's a very light Photoshop user. You'll also want to make 100% sure that the hardware you get is well supported by Linux - you can't afford any wake from suspend, external monitor, or audio issues, or your credibility is shot (maybe get a Dell XPS developer edition with Ubuntu preinstalled). And be prepared to install Windows (promptly) if she encounters any issues or frustration other than a mild learning curve. You could also consider a powerful enough Chromebook.