Honestly, I just wait until they ask me how to do something with copilot. I can talk to them for 10 minutes about all the different AI I can use, even openai before explaining that I don’t have to reconfigure office, SharePoint, or M365 to use something else, then I use the L word, and that is why Windows 11 or 12 upgrades disrupt nothing for me. No I didn’t have to buy new devices, no my phone works fine with what I have, yes, I can edit that type of file. No, I am not a hacker. Macs are fine, I just haven’t needed Apple to get a small fast laptop.

I bought a very cheap N100 laptop that worked perfectly with EndeavourOS. If you don’t need a not of gaming prowess, or massive storage I recommend something modest. PM me and I will send you a link, I just don’t want to junk up the forum but 16 inch screen, 16gb of ram and a 512gb ssd and it is perfectly respectable, though the touchpad isn’t great it does work in Linux, I just think the design is a little too tight. I will agree that a lot of laptops work fine and you can “test” them with a USB stick instead of going through the full installation.

If you treat cast iron with the same care that a non stick pan requires with just a little bit of oil it will be better over time. With those same instructions an average non-stick pan, used daily will degrade in 5 to 10 years. Iron is heavy and inconvenient, but carbon steel pans run 90% of the Michelin rates kitchens you will find. Cast iron can do much of the same work at home and, in the US is much easier to find. A 10 inch Lodge cast iron pan can be found in any X-mart. A 10 inch Matfer Bourgeat is a bit pricier and harder to source. Good luck with pan fried fish in a non stick pan after a month. Same with cooking 40 burgers or omelets a day for a month. 2 of the items I mentioned could do that easily. The average non-stick pan could not.

Given the recent Dutch election I suspect trade unions may not be participating…