I decided to set my Microsoft Surface Pro free and install Mint dual boot along side (read: to boot instead of) Windows. It was a bit of a task but I am happy to report that I have it running up to and beyond my standards. The only real issue I had was everything was too small to see because of the resolution. Also, it couldn't be changed in the display settings, until I found out how to add more display modes to the machine. Now everything is functional, I can read the words on the screen without a microscope, and It is much quicker than the former OS was (looking at you, Bill Gates!)... I tell ya, I could learn to like this.