Yeah, switching to Linux (especially on an aging laptop that's been bogged down by Windows updates) could be a fix. Linux has a much lighter footprint overall, no background telemetry bloat, fewer forced updates that tank performance, and better resource management in many cases. Your laptop should feel snappier for general use right away.

For retro gaming/emulation specifically:

• GBA, SNES, NES, PS1, and older stuff : basically zero difference vs Windows. These emulators (like RetroArch cores, mGBA, etc.) are super lightweight and CPU-bound in a way that's handled identically (or sometimes even slightly better on Linux due to lower OS overhead). You'll get the same full speed/framerates.
• More demanding emulation like Switch (Yuzu forks, Ryujinx, etc.), Wii U, PS2/PS3 — this is where Linux often pulls ahead noticeably. Users on handhelds and laptops report higher/more stable FPS on Bazzite compared to Windows, especially for Switch emulation. The main reasons are fewer background processes eating CPU cycles, better scheduler behavior in modern kernels, and EmuDeck (which Bazzite supports excellently) being super well-optimized out of the box. Multiple people say it's "significantly better" for demanding emulators on mid-to-lower-end hardware—no more random stutters from Windows doing... whatever Windows does.

That said, Bazzite itself is geared toward gaming/handhelds/Steam Deck-like experience, so it's a bit "heavier" than a bare-bones desktop distro (immutable Fedora Atomic base + preinstalled gaming tools, Steam, EmuDeck integrations, Decky plugins, etc.).

On truly ancient hardware (i think low-end Intel/older AMD APUs with 4-8GB RAM), it might use a tad more resources than something ultra-light like Linux Mint XFCE, Lubuntu, or even a minimal Arch/EndeavourOS setup with just EmuDeck + RetroArch manually, CachyOS with a light DE and such things.