but the fact I had to mess around in terminal to fix the issues associated with my hardware means most casual users will just go straight back to Windows.

It's easier when all they do is browse the web, and you can just install linux for them (after they have agreed of course) with the necessary fixes applied by you. They won't want to go back, because it works fine. Especially when they asked your for maintenance and speeding up the machine, agreed to getting an SSD, and keeping windows on the HDD.