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Normally if I were recommending Linux to a friend, I would encourage them to use their existing computer rather than going out and buying new hardware just for Linux.

ChromeOS Flex might fit the bill though, and the installation process is probably the most straightforward and handhold-y out of the Linuxes. https://chromeenterprise.google/intl/en_uk/os/chromeosflex/

I recently installed Chrome OS Flex on an old Lenovo laptop. It's really quite snappy. I did it mainly out of curiosity. It was easy to install and bring up for the first time, and it's not loaded with crapware.

For a lot of home users, a "the browser is the new OS." If they're doing everything with cloud apps, then they really don't need to interact with a conventional desktop very much. Assuming they don't run Windows software such as games.

Battery life is no different than it was with Windows.

Linux mode was easy to set up, and hard for me to damage. ;-) And it doesn't seem to do anything to the Chrome OS machine, so you can wipe it and start over without re-installing the entire machine. Jupyter Notebook runs just fine, so I'm pretty much all set. Jupyter is practically my OS these days.

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