I used an old laptop for a few years as a tvpc. Only problem with my laptop was that it was so old that the hdmi port could only ouput 1080p. Anything made in the past 12 years should be good. KDE big screen mode would probably be your best bet for making it easiest for non-technical users.
Switched to mpv a decade ago. Love the minimal UI and how snappy it is. Used VLC or MPC-HC on Windows. Moved to linux and used SMplayer or VLC until mpv came around.
Close to what I normally use. I prefer CoMaps instead of Organic, Mullvad VPN instead of Proton & Artix instead of Arch.
Cosmic. It’s still a little buggy but getting better.
Libre kernel isn’t in my distro’s repo so I have to compile it every new version.
dinit is better and major distros should be looking at switching before ibm gets their hooks in even more.
xz exploited systemd’s bloated attack surface… Users of a sane init weren’t affected.
I’m using Mullvad with dinit on Artix. It’s fine. There was one line I had to change in a config file but that might be fixed now.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/detect-cloudflare/
You can block cloudflare, amazon, etc. with this one: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cloud-firewall/
I have the detect cloudlflare firefox extension. I avoid sites that use it. Haven’t tried blocking it completely yet but I could probably manage.
I haven’t had any issues with dinit. It’s similiar to systemdicks but without the bloat.
I’m using artix with cosmic desktop. It’s light enough for my 15 year old laptop. I haven’t tried it yet, but Chimera Linux seems to fit what you’re looking for.