Peter G

I got an off-lease dell latitude 7400. Tbh, got it for free, but you can snag one on eBay for under $400. i5, 16 Gb ram, got a 1TB drive for $50 on Amazon. Runs Linux very well! I’d go with a light weight is like EndeavourOS or Arch.

EndeavourOS for the win! The speed of Arch Linux without the installation pain! Especially for older hardware?

Gimp, OpenOffice.org, VLC, Slackware, and on and on after that. Every flavor of Linux: RedHat, SuSe, Ubuntu, now on Manjaro and Endeavour.

Gnome online accounts are also in Cinnamon if you like a more traditional desktop paradigm. Using it now on Manjaro. Works well.