Weird. I’m on Arch as well, and seeing nothing remotely like what you’re experiencing. It’s been buttery-smooth for me.

Ditto, but I’m glad the devs are taking the time to get it right.

Depends on the title and the nature of the anti-cheat code. If it basically acts as a system-level rootkit, then you may be out of luck.

I’d check the big community-driven games database that keeps track of compatible games here: https://www.protondb.com/

In some cases, minor tweaks and settings changes will make games work fine, even if they’re not officially supported.

As for GoG games, there’s Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher, both of which can use Steam’s compatibility layer for running Windows-only GoG games. Again, there may be tweaks involved and your mileage may vary, but the communities for both are extremely helpful.

Hardware support is pretty damn good now, but may require some research beforehand to ensure you get a system with no driver gotchas. Honestly, I have more trouble with driver setup on Windows than on Linux these days. That said, I won’t buy a computer that comes with any incompatibilities, so your experience may vary.

Gaming is easy on Linux now (assuming your system is set up properly) thanks to Steam’s Linux compatibility layer, which is built with WINE. They also have it on the Steam Deck, so you’ve actually probably used it already, you just didn’t know.

The only sticking point is Clip Studio Paint. Apparently it can be set up using WINE, but it’s not going to be as good as a native experience. Or at least, that would be my guess.

I’m curious when this was. A modern plasma desktop today just works. I have very, very little trouble with it. Conversely, my Windows machine (required for accessing my work VPN) is a nightmare of constant problems.