Yes. Windows is and has always been larded down with all kinds of stuff going on in the background. I was amazed how fast an old laptop booted up and ran when I first got into Linux/Ubuntu. It was a very old laptop so I selected a “light” version of Zorin to install that had a reputation for not being to demanding on the hardware. Blazing fast compared to Windows.
The install was from several 3-1/2” floppy discs. It was command line only, no GUI. It was amazingly fast.
My first graphic version of Linux was Redhat 5.0.
I have run many versions of Linux since then.
Last install was Debian 8 with XFCE graphic interface.