Looking to Switch from Windows 11 to Linux: What Should I Choose?

I recommend trying out Pop!_OS. It's user-friendly, based on Ubuntu, and great for gaming. It comes with Nvidia driver support out of the box, which is a big plus if you have a gaming setup. Plus, it has a desktop environment similar to Windows, making the transition easier. For MS Office, using the web version works well, and it has decent features.

Before you go ahead and wipe Windows off your laptop, I suggest trying Linux in a virtual machine (VM) first. This way, you can get comfortable with it before fully committing. Keep in mind that MS Office apps don't run natively on Linux, and since you're in college, it might be better to experiment on your work PC at first.

I went with Manjaro XFCE, and it runs super lightweight on my older laptop—I'm getting over 600 frames in Minecraft on max settings! It comes with LibreOffice preinstalled for document needs, which can save as DOCX, and it gives you most of the benefits of Arch Linux without the hassle.

Consider Fedora or Ultramarine if you're looking for something stable. I really like their KDE editions. For document tasks, try LibreOffice; it does the job and can save files in formats compatible with MS Office. VS Code is also available on Linux, and you might want to check out its open-source version called Codium.