I hate Windows. I hate Microslop. I've hated them forever. Not using Windows helps, but I still have to deal with the consequences of everyone else using it!
What I hate most is people absolutely terrified of a *nix terminal, while willing to work around Windows problems via command prompt or messing with the goddamn fucking registry, which is just bloody ridiculous, why not just use fucking config files... but that's a rant for another time - and people looking at this kind of chatbot interface like cutting edge modern technology when it's actually just a CLI that doesn't fucking work. We had these at the dawn of personal computing, except that those ones worked and gave the same response to the same command every time! Look, I don't like using a terminal either, but at least be honest and consistent about it, people.
People who crap their dacks when they see *nix are probably not using the command prompt tbf. That said I would love to see a greater uptake of Linux, I'm half considering switching over with my laptop but I mostly use it for gaming and I (1) don't know just how many of my games work with WINE/proton (never used either) and (2) don't know how I would go about restoring my windows install if it goes south. Not really a show stopper. I have a legit license so obviously it's doable, plus my closest friend works as a sysadmin and is in the final year of his degree in computer science. But it has no removable drive which would be a first for me to install a new os on, and I don't want to have to sort it out, y'know? I'm confident installing Linux from USB but I don't know how it works with windows.
Once I'm back in the workforce I may put together a cheap, small form factor PC to run Linux on and get my confidence back with it - it must've been over a decade since I last used it in anger...
You can check game compatibility on ProtonDB and anticheat enabled games that support Linux on Are We Anti-Cheat Yet?
You can create a Windows USB install from Linux, but it's easier to just make one from Windows before formatting.
Dual booting does work, but I would advise you to have two boot partitions, one for Linux and one for Windows, the reason is that while you can just use a single boot partition for both, Windows is a piece of shit that will mess with your boot entries and delete the Linux entry after an update, forcing you to fix it manually which last I tried was hard to do from Windows.
I switched to Linux mint last year and haven't had much problems when gaming. Every game I've tried is compatible with proton or wine, the only complication I've had is modding Fallout 4 being a bit more complicated, but that works as well. I highly recommend switching, especially since Linux doesn't carry bloatware and spyware owned by Microsoft
Hell yeah
Nexus Mod Manager is coming to Linux, so it should be easier in the future. There's also a Linux native mod manager called Limo, which I used for Skyrim, but its a bit of pain to setup correctly. Mod managers for Thunderstore hosted mods, like Gale Mod Manager and r2modman are great under Linux.
(1) All of them that don't require you to install a rootkit will work fine, which means everything but AAA multiplayer shooter garbage
(2) Don't go back
Eh, you'd be surprised who you'll meet in certain "tech nerd" circles. Not a lot of people who are comfortable with Windows command prompt and other advanced tools, but shit a brick when they see *nix or just don't like it for reasons even they can't really articulate, but they do exist.
Your laptop's storage isn't removable??
There are laptops with soldered storage, not as common as soldered RAM but they're out there.
Well... No, not really. It's an SSD. I'm not replacing it if I can help it. No optical drive or equivalent.
This isn't really any of my business, so I don't mean to come across as judgemental, I only mean to propose an option that you have. The storage being an SSD doesn't make it unremovable, it just means you have to open the laptop's shell. Swapping the SSD would be the cheapest way to protect your windows installation, if you're really set on preserving it, while giving yourself the opportunity to switch to Linux and get your feet wet again. Gaming on Linux today is largely the same experience as gaming on Windows. If you use Steam, it isn't anymore complicated than installing the game from your library in the usual way you would on Windows.