I can absolutely recommend hyprland to you, tiling compositor with animations you likely know from macOS, lots of configurability and a good example of using it with nix (NixOS might be a good choice here) https://github.com/fufexan/dotfiles
Also quite a nice discord server or matrix if you have questions about it.
It can be, depends if you need proprietary software on a regular basis.
Or if you install one of the distros that have sane defaults for laymen.
Something like popOS is definitely more user friendly for regular use, it just has the usual limitations with ( insert random windows only software ), but that is another problem entirely.
Hehe, installed both nobara and windows on my brothers pc. Nobara installed without issues, immediately usable with wifi. Windows didn't recognize drives at first, had to reflash the iso, i assume that was an iso issue not necessarily windows but you never know. Then, 0 internet, no wifi drivers :) Hotspot with phone and cable in order to make the pc have basic functionality, the true windows experience.
Don't use linux with the expectation that it works like windows. If you want to use linux, be open to new ways of doing things, and you will likely have a great time, try the old methods and you will run into impassable walls.