for games that fell off a truck or something, maybe look here. I've found almost all of those I've found in the mentioned way to work without issues with lutris.
as to upgrading the games, hadn't tried that. I know there are periodic updates for popular titles (like Cyberpunk 2077) released and you can find them in the same place you found the game, but seems too much hassle.
I haven't flashed my T480s yet, as it's my daily, and I'm waiting for a couple versions to bring additional functionality. anyhow, I was hesitant for the longest time about dicking around with this sorta activity, on the basis that if it's not software flashable/moddable, I'm out. but the total cost of the hardware (raspberry pico, SOIC clamp, some wires) is under $10 in total and the procedure couldn't be any more straightforward; also it has a multitude of uses after you're done. my point, if you were similarly hesitant, take another look, it's easy and this post is very detailed.
which ones?
all-AMD system and don't buy new stuff, go a gen or two back; new keyboards and mice and case.
can't help with the mentioned games. weening them off that corpo spyware is good in the long run but it's detrimental to their social life.
don't forget the homeopathy bullshit
dios mio, with the "sign petition" and "vote harder", a waste of energy and dulling the blade of revolt.
don't have one of those. doesn't hurt to try.
happens with AMD and HDMI. solution for pipewire/wireplumber is setting:
["node.pause-on-idle"] = false,
["session.suspend-timeout-seconds"] = 0,like a commercially available one? negative, you have to tinker and make it such.
if you have linux on the player (like with said PC or Raspberry) you have full control and can set it up to boot directly into jellyfin-media-player in fullscreen TV mode (that's the one where remotes work).
if you want a hassle-free experience, go for a used Thinkpad a generation or two back, especially if you want Debian. if you buy a new Thinkpad, a) the software support isn't there yet and b) you're paying the corpo extortion tax for stuff you don't need (IME and friends).
as to Intel vs AMD, whatever you choose will do fine for the vast majority of use cases; even the 1st gen T14 meets your specs (6-core, 16 GB on-board) and those can be had for $200ish; even less if you're willing to tinker.
the list of things you'd like to be able to seamlessly transition over is kinda... well, that's a lot of stuff. anyone claiming you can pull this off whilst maintaining any semblance of productivity is deluded.
my advice would be, get yourself a second machine. powerful hardware is stupid cheap nowadays and you can get a semi-competent laptop in the $100 region. take your time setting it up, always having the option to tear everything down and start over as it's not your primary rig. start with a beginner friendly distro, Mint or Ubuntu, try 'em both and see which you like better.
then, just start doing the things from the list. item 1, easy-peasy. item 7 next, huh that was easy. next item 4, then 5... you're gradually transitioning, without any downtime and always having the fallback option of your existing setup. before you know it, you're a Linux user!
by the time you figure all this stuff out, you'll have the knowledge and confidence to nuke windows for good and jump in both feet, not to mention - your laptop as a fallback.