I disagree on both them counts. for an intermediate user, sure. for a try-to-dip-their-toes first-time user, absolutely not.

VMs are OK for one-off or compartmentalised tasks. running linux on anything but bare metal is a sub-optimal experience and off-putting. it’s essential for the user to get the feedback in snappy and satisfying response to their actions, which is easily accomplished even on 10-year old hardware, while being a tall order for any VM deployment. not to mention, any intense graphic use (an important part of OP’s spec) is nothing but crap in that scenario.

dual-boot scenarios are not for beginners. a) you can fuck something up and thus relieve you of a safe fall-back and b) you can’t switch between workstation #1 and #2 concurrently, reboots are jarring focus breakers.

the list of things you’d like to be able to seamlessly transition over is kinda… well, that’s a lot of stuff. anyone claiming you can pull this off whilst maintaining any semblance of productivity is deluded.

my advice would be, get yourself a second machine. powerful hardware is stupid cheap nowadays and you can get a semi-competent laptop in the $100 region. take your time setting it up, always having the option to tear everything down and start over as it’s not your primary rig. start with a beginner friendly distro, Mint or Ubuntu, try 'em both and see which you like better.

then, just start doing the things from the list. item 1, easy-peasy. item 7 next, huh that was easy. next item 4, then 5… you’re gradually transitioning, without any downtime and always having the fallback option of your existing setup. before you know it, you’re a Linux user!

by the time you figure all this stuff out, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to nuke windows for good and jump in both feet, not to mention - your laptop as a fallback.

for games that fell off a truck or something, maybe look here. I’ve found almost all of those I’ve found in the mentioned way to work without issues with lutris.

as to upgrading the games, hadn’t tried that. I know there are periodic updates for popular titles (like Cyberpunk 2077) released and you can find them in the same place you found the game, but seems too much hassle.

I haven’t flashed my T480s yet, as it’s my daily, and I’m waiting for a couple versions to bring additional functionality. anyhow, I was hesitant for the longest time about dicking around with this sorta activity, on the basis that if it’s not software flashable/moddable, I’m out. but the total cost of the hardware (raspberry pico, SOIC clamp, some wires) is under $10 in total and the procedure couldn’t be any more straightforward; also it has a multitude of uses after you’re done. my point, if you were similarly hesitant, take another look, it’s easy and this post is very detailed.

all-AMD system and don’t buy new stuff, go a gen or two back; new keyboards and mice and case.

• better OS support
• way cheaper
• you fuck something up assembling, no biggie
• the hardware is more than adequate for their needs
• no esoteric distros, something widely used and documented, with fresh mesa and friends and sane defaults - Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.

can’t help with the mentioned games. weening them off that corpo spyware is good in the long run but it’s detrimental to their social life.