I'm planning to build my own computer in a month or two. It'd mostly be used for WoW, though possibly some other games down the road. I'd also need to be able to run Vent.
From what I've seen, quite a few Linux users do that by running Wine or by just dual-booting.
I'm new to Linux, but the idea of not having to run Windows is appealing. I'm not incredibly computer savvy, but I wouldn't qualify as a novice either.
Realistically, I think that running Windows would just be easier. That's why I've stayed with it this far. I hate the idea of a patch screwing me up, running into weird glitches with no simple fixes, decreased performance, etc. I imagine that for most stuff like that, there are fixes, but they would not always be readily available (and I don't see myself debugging without fixes others suggest). If I'm missing raids because I'm trying to figure out how to get my system operating properly again, it's not worth it to me.
So, this is a calculated risk, but I'm not sure of how much of a risk it is. For those who go the Wine route, how often is it a problem for you? How much extra maintenance is it? Do you dread patches? Do you have quality of life issues that plague or pester you?
A couple of other things to keep in mind:
-Before I'd go the dual boot route, I'd just as soon run Windows only.
-I will have my older computer as a back-up if I run into a complication.
A secondary uncertainty is, if I choose to go with Linux, which distro I should go with. I figure the most widely used would mean an easier time finding for solutions to problems I encounter. Any solid reasons to pick one over the other: Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, etc? [I realize you can do trial runs in a browser or virtual machine or whatever else, but I'm not sure just test-driving it will inform me as well as educated reviews.]
Suggestions?
TL;DR-Linux noob wondering if avoiding Windows is a bad idea. If not, which distro?
I searched this topic earlier but didn't find what I was looking for. Sorry if this is a beaten dead horse.