linux is free. What is the catch?
Although this is very much about Linux on desktops.
Linux: easy things are easy, normal things require some googling, hard things are hard.
Worked out of the box for me (sound autoconfigured, sleep via thinkpad acpi autoconfigured, intel gpu autoconfigured, external monitor via thunderbolt autodetected, one network printer/scanner autodetected via bonjour, other network printer/scanner had driver package from the vendor on the web, were projectors ever a problem?).
Did I do something the wrong way?
Linux also works really well if your hardware isn't bleeding edge.
The part where Linux becomes hard to use and requires expertise is learning the new UX, understanding what software and tools are no longer available and figuring out how to live and work with the alternatives that exist.
The degree of technical proficiency that you have is probably relevant to your "out of the box" experience - you are reading and posting on HN, which means that your level of technical knowledge is probably higher than most users given the typical audience of this site.