Linux Mint Cinnamon blues :(!

[booman]

I understand your conclusion. It really comes down to cost for me. I have a lot more time to screw with Linux than spend money on Windows.
Hell if I had a bunch of money, I would probably go the Mac route.... but I don't.

The only way to really experience Linux is to keep using it.
I recommend using it on a casual internet browsing computer. Something you won't be doing any heavy gaming on. In time you will probably learn more and find some capabilities that Windows doesn't have.

I basically did exactly that. Was booting to Linux once a week or so and just messing around. I wasn't convinced my games would run and Wine alone seemed inconsistent.
But I stuck with it and found PlayOnLinux. I started getting excited and started working on Linux every morning.
I actually started with Fedora instead of Mint. I still had success with PlayOnLinux and games in Fedora, but Daniel convinced me that more people from Windows will probably like Mint better.
So I moved to Mint and havn't looked back. For games that is... I still use Fedora on my Server.

At this point there is nothing else I can say to convince you...
It will be up to you and a lot of tinkering around.

I was just happy to try something new (other than Windows) and later found my games could run too. Another bonus.