Linux

I'm not sure which distro would work with your laptop. I would suggest experimenting with live USB images. Maybe using something like Ventoy which enables you to try out multiple live images from one USB stick. But as far as applications go:

• GIMP is native to Linux and should work fine. You might also want to give Krita and Inkscape a whirl. Also, massive props for ditching Adobe. I hate that company as much as it hates their customers.
• Blender works on linux.
• So does Davinci. Allegedly. Haven't used it, but their website says Linux support is available.
• I don't code so, um, no idea. Sorry. Hopefully someone else will weigh in.
• Good news, Linux has working file explorers!
• No ads, at least for the most part. Ubuntu had Amazon's search integrated into their search bar a while back, which caused quite a kerfuffle. Later, they added a toggle to turn this off, but this was years ago. Might want to check just in case.

Try Linux Mint.

I'm not a graphics designer and idk any of the graphics related apps you listed except gimp but everything should work fine as long as it have a native Linux version. You may need to replace Davinci with something else though because it can be a pain to get working on Linux.

For distros, I'd recommend Mint because it's just pretty much the most beginner-friendly one you can get and it's quite conservative but it has very old drivers so performance may not be the best, EndeavourOS (based on Arch btw but quite stable) if you have very very recent hardware or if you want newest performance optimizations (driver versions) and Pop!_OS if you have an NVidia GPU. I wouldn't recommend Fedora or Ubuntu because the first one rushes major bleeding edge changes (including AI) and the second one is known for some questionable choices (including ads and pushing proprietary app stores with poor moderation).

P. S. We do not like clickbait or any other kinds of bait here. Please follow the rules of ethical posting

Take something user-friendly, like Linux Mint, or Fedora.

Visual Studio is not available on Linux and not really working in Wine, sadly. You can use IntelliJ IDEA as a good alternative, it supports Linux officially and has a Flutter plugin.

For a beginner, Linux Mint is perfect. It is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian, so you can follow most tutorials written for either distribution (like the installation instructions for IntelliJ IDEA or other software that is not available from the APT package manager).

No-one has commented on your mentioning VS and Flutter... I haven't used it but I think VS is available for Linux?

I contribute to the Thunder client for Lemmy from my system running EndeavourOS with KDE.

I personally use android studio for this. I hit a pitfall on installing the android, flutter and dart SDKs from the AUR, but that turned out to be the lesser method. It was much easier to just let android studio install them to a folder, and thereby have it manage their versions.

The one downside was having to add their folders to PATH, so terminal commands like adb, dart, emulator, flutter, etc. work, but that's not a big deal.

Debian probably

I'm going to toss in another recommendation for Linux Mint. The interface is very similar to classic Windows and it has a large user base so it shouldn't be hard to find instructions online if you get stuck. Software-wise, Linux Mint 21.3 is entirely compatible with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Use the default Cinnamon version.

Coming from Windows, the only other very important non-obvious thing is that you should look for software on the app store application first instead of downloading packages from the Internet. Unlike the Microsoft Store, Linux app stores are often connected to a variety of software sources, and they will also update your software to the latest versions automatically whenever you download system updates. Almost all of the software you mentioned can be found in the app store. It's very convenient!

I would say to just try it out and see how it is! The live USB works nicely and you can decide you don't like a distro and move on rapidly. There are also tools out there that let you load up multiple distros on the USB at once, and then pick which one to use when you boot up.

I went through my own struggles with dual booting Linux some time ago. If you search on Lemmy, you can find those embarrassing posts. It was my fault, I got confident and messed with 'grub' in all the wrong ways, before cutting my losses early and reverting everything because I had other commitments to deal with.

The good thing though is that it's totally possible to put Windows back 100% the way it was before, even after messing up as badly as I did (I couldn't boot into either operating system because the machine couldn't find the boot entry). Once you're ready to replace windows with Linux (or dual boot etc.), make a good backup with something like Macrium Reflect and you should be safe to go for it. I highly doubt you'll make the mistakes I did, the story is to say that you can mess up and be just fine!

As for your use case:

• affinity programs aren't on Linux from what I remember, you might want to experiment and see if you can run it with Wine or if you have an alternative (ex. Dual boot, different programs)
• Not sure about Davinci, comments suggest that it runs ok on Linux. I like KdenLive

As for what people recommended, and what I'm planning to try soon

• Kubuntu (if you want Ubuntu that looks similar to windows)
• Fedora (what I tried last time)
• Linux Mint

The most obvious difference for the end-user compared to Windows is that you can choose different desktop environments, such as KDE, GNOME, XFCE, LXQt, Mate or Cinnamon to name the most prominent among others. As you are used to the look-and-feel of Windows, I'd suggest giving KDE a try.

For a beginner, I'd recommend using a 'beginner friendly' distribution such as Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE) or Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu using Mate/Cinnamon DE). Fedora, Linux Mint Debian Edition or plain Debian are also suitable, but for a more experienced user.

Just grab yourself some Linux Mint, and try to ignore Arch and Gentoo crowd here.

Half of the apps you mentioned have Linux version right in the system package manager. Davinci has Linux version on their website.

CorelDraw might be a problem, WineHQ lists it's compatibility for the latest version as garbage, so you will probably need to switch to Inkscape.

Anyway, I heard about this new company called Linux

Pedantic explanation about GNU/Linux is coming in 3... 2... 1...

Hi. So, not all of the software you use will work on Linux (which btw isn’t a company but to put it simply a family of open source operating systems sharing a common core):

• Affinity don’t offer a Linux version so you will need to try something like WINE to run the Windows versions.

• Blender will defo work, not sure about the others

• Davinci will work, has a Linux version

• VSCode has a Linux version

• File explorers work.

Ubuntu sadly is not what it was.

I’d suggest Pop_OS or Fedora- I think Fedora used to have a media oriented “Fedora Design Suite” version.

First of all Linux isn't a company, but the name some dude named Linus gave his code he put for free on the internet.

Most modern Linux distros are still not run by companies, that's why they don't force the data collection, ads, ai etc down your throat.

That said: Linux is made from thousands of interlocking programs, scripts, services and libraries, made mostly by some guys or gurls in their free time. So with a lot of stuff you need to fit it to your needs, as granular customization is to troublesome to have working out of the box for every different usecase there could be. So with most stuff you should not be afraid to learn the basics of terminal commands (packet manager, editor, foldermanagment)

Some OS like Ubuntu and manjaro do a lot for you, but if you have weird double monitors, you may need to manually do some stuff.

If you want as much as possible easy install options I would go with manjaro - then you can install everything where users made an AUR (arch user repository) package. Check if they have all programs you want, if not look for alternatives.

If you want a more stable system but with a bit less possibilities, go for Ubuntu, debian, popOS or something like that.

Some things may never run, for example for my music daw(ableton) with low latency and not native support on Linux or the htc vive wireless (where there isn't a driver for the PCI card for Linux) I keep a win machine around. Day to day use is on debian on my side

Yeah, well just go ahead and see if it works for you now. I doubt much has changed, but some bits are probably more polished these days.
Most distros support some kind of LiveCD, so you can try it out without having to reinstall your machine, it's painless and quick to evaluate before you take the plunge.

zenbook duo pro

A quick search reveals this. Might be helpful. https://davejansen.com/asus-zenbook-duo-and-fedora-linux/