My first hurdle is understanding that i need to add a boot sequence and navigate to the EFI file in my mounted pen drive.
second hurdle is understanding i need to disable secure boot so that the dell bios doesnt think something is wrong and always run the bios repair program.
third is understanding that i need to disable Intel rapid storage for the full install (luckily linux mint tells us this)
and honestly the hardest thing was installing fastfetch cuz theres a lot of outdated information out there on how to install it on Mint.
the process took about 4 hours, i consider it very lucky that i was able to do it so fast.
resources that helped me:
https://devicetests.com/boot-usb-uefi-mode-dell-inspiron-workaround
Welcome to Linux. Glad to see you’re not letting the hurdles get in your way and are working through solutions. There’s more to come.
You say “5 year old laptop” as if that’s ancient… 10th gen Intel 😄. I don’t even look at laptops newer than 5 years. Don’t need much more for internet tasks and office work.
One of my main workstations is a 2014 iMac running arch (btw). According to Apple it’s unusable ewaste.
One of my PCs which has Q4OS on it is likely 16+ years old. Really like Linux in general.
Ive got an HP Zbook g6 coming my way soon I’m excited about, and its way overkill for what I’m gonna use it for; i just need a bigger laptop because i have giant meat hooks for hands and I actually use the numpad
Tl;dr, you can get a lot of laptop at decent prices looking at “older” hardware