There is one potential (small) hurdle you should be aware off: Secure Boot.
Basically some laptops came with Secure Boot locked to only allow booting Windows. These days Linux distros should still be able to boot even if the laptop was windows-only back then (thanks to the so-called shim bootloader). If you get an error about secure boot, just go in to BIOS/UEFI menu and disable secure boot for now (after installing Linux you can google the steps to enroll a key to re-enable Secure Boot).
Beyond that, just flash a USB stick with Linux Mint, boot the laptop, smash the keyboard to find the button for BIOS menu or Boot Device selection, then follow the installer. Installing Linux should take less than an hour. Way less if your computer is fast.
There is one potential (small) hurdle you should be aware off: Secure Boot.
Basically some laptops came with Secure Boot locked to only allow booting Windows. These days Linux distros should still be able to boot even if the laptop was windows-only back then (thanks to the so-called shim bootloader). If you get an error about secure boot, just go in to BIOS/UEFI menu and disable secure boot for now (after installing Linux you can google the steps to enroll a key to re-enable Secure Boot).
Beyond that, just flash a USB stick with Linux Mint, boot the laptop, smash the keyboard to find the button for BIOS menu or Boot Device selection, then follow the installer. Installing Linux should take less than an hour. Way less if your computer is fast.