If you have an open drive, dual-boot is a easy risk-free way to try it out without losing anything. Of course, after trying the linux install for the first time a few months back, the only reason I opened Windows was to pull files off of before I wiped it.

Pro tip: If you dual boot, don’t just wipe the windows drive when you’re done with it without a plan. I erased my boot loader and my PC didn’t know where linux was any more and it was a whole thing.