I have the same problem with modern theming. Absolutely hate the flat, same-dark-color look. I need contrast. Unfortunately, the accessibility "contrast" themes that usually come with most DEs, are absolutely hideous and bare bones. What I need is a normal looking theme (round corners etc), but with a clear difference between title bars/widgets/menu bars in terms of colors. I could make my own back in the old days, but now that it's all gtk+ API calls code, now it's unnecessarily complicated.
If you need games, use the OS that gives you these games. And if that OS gives you headaches, you need to decide if you want games, or a working OS. Maybe you can't have both always. Or maybe an XBox or PS5 is a better option for you.
I'm an artist and I need photoshop. Adobe is evil, but Photoshop just works. But I still stayed with Linux. Now I use a combination of Gimp and Photopea. While Photopea is 90% there to what I need, Gimp is a disaster in terms of usability (I've been using Linux since 1999 btw, off and on, so I'm not new on Gimp). But I still stay with Linux, because it aligns with my beliefs that software should be open. I want nothing to do with corporations injecting tracking or ads on my OS.
I go as far as using a Macbook Air because I like the how its trackpad feels, but I don't always run MacOS. Most of my actual work happens on Debian on my other computers.
As for Fedora, for games you might want to try Nobara, which is based on Fedora. The default Fedora might, or might not have everything setup for you to run games at higher speeds or compatibility. Running Windows games is not Linux distros's first priority you see, but Nobara's is.
I have the same problem with an older macbook air and linux, and I bought a new SSD for it (will be here at the end of the month, since it's a special pre-ssd model). Husband, who's an engineer, said that such hard freezes are usually the ssd's fault, and not the memory's (he said memory creates other kinds of crashes, but not this kind of hard freeze).
The "unknown" is Windows. If you change the graph to see the whole range from 2008 to date, you will see that whenever there's a big spike or dip on Unknown, it's the exact opposite for Windows.
I love Mint because it really is the best option for new users, however, they seem to be a bit of control freaks. I posted a comment on their latest blog to ask if they could include their data about the number of downloads per month, since they installed a tracker on their site in March. They only included the numbers of the first month, and then nothing. I simply suggested that they could have that data as part of their monthly blog update. They deleted my comment. Sometimes they give me vibes of Gnome's non-transparency, or at the very least, control freakiness.
I had some chromebooks from 2014 to 2019, and these specifically worked with the MrChromebox's firmware. There's a list on his website about the models supported.
You need something like DamnSmallLinux, not Debian. Debian users about 800 MB of RAM with XFce, on a clean boot. It requires a minimum of 2 GB with a modern browser (one tab, 4+ GB with more tabs). DamnSmallLinux uses about 128 MB RAM on a clean boot, and with the Netfront browser about half a gig. Definitely better for such a laptop than any modern distro.
I'm a woman, and have talked to him via email 2-3 times in the last 20 years. While I've met Torvalds, Jobs, and others in the industry when I was living in the Bay Area and working as a tech journalist, I never got to meet RMS -- only via email. I think he has social issues, maybe he's on the autistic side or something similar. I don't think he understands clearly some of the things he's saying when it comes to social stuff. He doesn't get a pass, but at the same time, he's a bit different as an individual, so that needs to be taken into account. When it comes to software, his heart is in the right place, and in fact, if it was me, I'd be even more strict (or more "Free" -- depends how you see it), with GPL.
The tricky point to your needs is getting the app's menu bar in the top bar. The rest are easy to do with almost all desktop environments. But getting the menu bar on the top bar, I think currently only KDE supports it (with a plugin), and MATE (with another plugin).
However, if you want the general feel of how MacOS 9/X feels, then Gnome with extensions would be your best bet. The rest feel more like simpler Windows, but in a mac skin. Gnome+extensions feel more accurately like a Mac, in terms of overall usability (even if the looks aren't 100% there). So it depends what you're after more: the feeling of using a mac, or the exact looks of it.
That's fast enough to run the latest Linux Mint with Cinnamon. I have two laptops with the exact same cpu speed (passmark score) and 4 GB of ram. With 2 GB swap file you will be in business.
I always suggest Mint Edge edition, that has a newer kernel, not the default Mint. But I still suggest Mint, because simply, it's more user friendly than any of the other ones. It has gui panels for almost everything.
You never know how the kernel would behave compared to how the BIOS is setup. There might be some bios settings that force the kernel to behave a specific way.
I have the same problem with modern theming. Absolutely hate the flat, same-dark-color look. I need contrast. Unfortunately, the accessibility "contrast" themes that usually come with most DEs, are absolutely hideous and bare bones. What I need is a normal looking theme (round corners etc), but with a clear difference between title bars/widgets/menu bars in terms of colors. I could make my own back in the old days, but now that it's all gtk+ API calls code, now it's unnecessarily complicated.