Noob Question re linux

[chili]

Windows user here never looked at or watched linux until now, just watched a video about linux mint 19 and it looks pretty cool. Now i dont want to instal it on my laptop in case i cannot get on with it.

So could i instal mint 19 on a usb drive and run it from that ie turn laptop on windows 10 boots up as normal, insert usb run linux ? or would i be better off installing it to a virtual machine and running it that way?

any basic advice appreciated

thanks