> You are so eager to reply that you haven't even read the whole comment.

Of course I did. I didn't address your objections because I think they don't hold up, that is why.

> Which of those online stores have a physical address for the normal people to do as per my comment?

Leaving out Apple as computers are not its primary product line any more... that leaves Lenovo, the biggest PC vendor in the world, followed by HP, Dell, Asus, Acer.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/267018/global-market-sha...

That is the top 5.

Only Apple has retail shops worldwide. I do not know of physical stores for any of the others. Maybe some did once, years ago, but that stuff is fading away and dying now. It's all going online.

You can certainly buy Chromebooks in physical stores. Do they fix them? Only warranty repairs, but the point of Chromebooks is that you don't keep your stuff on them, and you don't upgrade them. Rightly or wrongly (that is, mostly wrongly) they are disposable tech.

It is perfectly possible to buy a computer with Linux on it: a choice of Linuxes, from a choice of vendors, in almost any country. No you can't walk into a shop and try it, but you mostly can't from any vendor. Online sales are the default for many things now. No you can't walk into the vendor's shop and get it fixed, but you can't for any of global PC brands either.

If you want that, go to a local small business. If you want Linux, go to a local small business. Same thing.

Sure there are different flavours and distros. That is _not_ a weakness of Linux. Choice is a good thing, even if sometimes it is scary. You can choose your toothpaste and your clothes and your car as well. We manage.