For a while in middle school I would spin up Ubuntu or something similar in a VM just to look at it, but never really used it. The first time I really used Linux was Raspbian on my Raspberry Pi 2 that I got in 8th grade. As I went on tinkering with Linux, I eventually replaced Windows with Ubuntu on my HP Stream since it ran better, and by my Junior year of high school I was daily driving it. Now I’m using Parrot OS Home on my laptop and GhostBSD (I know its not Linux, but Linux led to me trying it) on my desktop

Some recommendations I would suggest are: -Linux-specific laptops (HP Dev One, System76, etc.) as they are built specifically with running Linux in mind. -Framework Laptops, as Framework has worked hard to make sure Linux works well with their devices. -ThinkPads, as their hardware usually tends to work really well with Linux.

I personally use the Framework Laptop 13 running Debian, and I love it!

This might be cheating a bit since I am a computer science student, but we have Linux servers we can access for classes, and our university library has a maker space that has some computers running Ubuntu in it.