id start a nuclear war for a dorito
Idk ive only used like MInt, Manjaro, Arch, and Debian personally. Mint doesnt support gnome, Majaro has options for gnome or KDE, Arch u just do it yourself how you want, and Debian you pick whatever one you want during install. Not sure what it matters anyway if you still have the option to use whatever you want tho. I mean Mint didnt support gnome, and i just installed it manually anyway and it worked fine.
The default? Most distros you select what DE you want when you get your image or during install. How is it the default? Do u just mean Ubuntu?
I personally have a grandmother i got setup using Mint Cinnamon and she hasnt had a single issue in months. So id go Mint.
People like you confuse me. Do you want gnome to be the same as KDE? If so why? KDE already exists. Whats the point of having multiple DEs if they arent different?
Do you absolutely require linux? If so something like a older microsoft surface would be best probably. Where its a full computer x86 based and has a detatchable keyboard, or a 2-in-1 that folds the keyboard back. Downside with this is worse battery life, and itll be a bit bulkier.
If what you want is just a tablet that does not spy on you id actually reccomend just getting a pixel tablet and putting graphene OS on it. Its a custom android ROM that strips a lot out and sandboxes things to give you more control over the device while still being based on android and bringing the advantages that has (battery life, mobile optimization, etc). Down side is you dont get the full Linux OS youd want.