On Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:08:27 +0000, wrote:

Rooting a phone is new to me so I have no idea how easy or
risky it
is, which ROM to use, and whether the benefits outweigh the
hassle.
All opinions and experiences gratefully received.

Why do you want to root it?

That is the question. For most people they have no requirment to have
a rooted phone. Changing or upgrading the ROM however can give
benefits like giving life back to an old phone/tablet.

I'm considering whether it's worth the time/pain/risk of rooting because
I've read that it allows the bloat-ware to be removed and that some ROMs
are faster than the standard Samsung ROM - but I'm in the difficult
situation of not knowing what I don't know about the subject. The more I
delve, the more I'm tempted not to bother.

It seems complex but it's not really. A lot of the apparent
complexity comes from the fact that the software tools and version(s)
of the firmware(s) required vary with the hardware you are trying to
upgrade.

Basically you use Odin on a PC to replace the phones bootloader with
TWRP (device specific) over a USB connection. Then boot into TWRP on
the phone to replace the ROM (device specific) from an SD card in the
phone.

--
Cheers
Dave.