Updating video drivers in Ubuntu is so so so much easier than under Windows it's ridiculous.

Windows has more drivers for more things, but if Linux has drivers (e.g. you buy a Laptop with Linux support) then driver management is massively easier.

I spent god knows how many hours getting the windows drivers for my last self built gaming PC working. Linux I just installed and was done. In reality the Windows experience was also a lot worse than having to drop to the console occasionally. It definitely required more in depth knowledge, even if everything was UI driven...

Unless you have very specialized needs, the driver experience on Windows is "turn the machine on". The driver update experience is "connect to the internet" and occasionally "reboot". That's it.

Linux is significantly easier than it was 20 years ago but still not as easy in general.

Tell me what happens if you run a Windows machine for say 12 months and decide to switch the GPU from NVIDIA to AMD (or vice versa)? Yeah.

In linux it tends to be a nonissue.

When is the last time you used Windows? XP? It hasn't been an issue for decades.

Graphics drivers moved out of kernel space in Windows Vista.

That's true if you buy a Laptop with all drivers preinstalled. But it's absolutely not true if you install on a machine you built yourself.

I've been building machines myself for nearly 30 years, including multiple in the last 5, and I assure you I've needed to do nothing besides connect to the internet and let it get updates each time.

It's been Year Of The Linux Handheld for gaming since 2022, the best platform to play games is Steam Deck where updates are clicking "Update" in the System panel. You can run either Bazzite or SteamOS on your own hardware, although I haven't tried that.

The best platform, provided the games you want to play actually work and work well. Many do not, even some popular ones.

I own a steam deck and love it, but please, let’s temper the enthusiasm with realism.

sure "best" is subjectively true for my criteria: it plays the largest number of games with about zero annoyance / friction. maybe desktop windows plays more games, but it certainly has a bazillion more frictions and annoyances

In some distros you have rolling updates where it happens for you and you're always on cutting edge.