Easiest (and cheapest) way to get into Linux and find out if you encounter any problems in your workflow is to try it out using a virtual machine. Basically you can run Linux (or any other OS) in a sandbox on your Windows machine. Virtualbox is a popular and easy-to-use tool for that, just download it and an ISO (basically a virtual CD) of the Linux distribution you want to try out, start up a new VM from inside Virtualbox and tell it to boot from the Linux ISO.
Install Linux inside the VM (the ISO is an installer) and then just try to do everything you would normally do on your Winows machine and see if there are any problems. If you choose that Linux sucks or is too much work to get into, you can just delete the VM and your Windows machine will be unaffected from the entire venture.
This is all free (and legal) and you get the 100 % Linux experience of your distribution (minus some performance, you’re running two operating systems after all).