I was initially waiting for Windows 10 to be officially unsupported before I switched to Pop_OS, but today, I just got sick of looking at the Windows 10 UI and decided to jump the gun.
As a complete normie, I am so glad I didn't fuck up my computer because my laptops settings to get into the BIOS was completely different than how most videos instructed.
I've been playing around with it for a bit, and I most say that using this distro is a lot easier than I expected! The Pop Store is a lifesaver! I'm not sure if I could've made it if I had to manually install my browser and all that.
I feel like my laptop is now a bit slower and the graphics look a bit lower? Maybe I missed something when reading the rec specs. Oh well...
That is an older laptop. I run an even older HP laptop on Arch that still feels zippy, even compared to my gaming desktop pc. One thing to remember is POP_OS! is designed for newer computers as it is built by a company who sells them. There are known issues with POP_OS! and Mesa drivers. The Mesa driver might not be efficiently handling the graphical demands of the default POP_OS! desktop. I'm not suggesting to switch your distro, just keep in mind going forward that it is made for newer systems.
Some further troubleshooting you can try:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgradein the terminal .htop,btopor the built-in system monitor to see if the CPU or RAM is maxing out when opening a program.I'll try that out, tysm!
In regards to your last point, this is something I always overlooked and couldnt understand why my laptop was severely underperforming (thermal throttling)
Ive never seen a distro utilise any form of fan control that works with my hardware, but utilising NBFC and its GUI has completely fixed the issues that have been plaguing me for the past few years.