Skimmer

Last good version of Windows, RIP 🙏

They said Chrome specifically, not Chromium as a whole.

different distros

Isn't that a benefit of Linux, having all kinds of different distros and different options available? There isn't a "one size fits all". Just find the one you like and go from there.

broken repositories

How often does this actually happen? I can't think of a time I encountered broken repositories within the last few years of using Linux as a daily driver, I feel like you're exaggerating this. I think the repository system in general is amazing and installing software on Linux is so much better than Windows in about every way really.

software that doesn't work on Linux

This is a fair point, it depends on your use case. If anything you need is only tied to Windows, then yeah you don't have many options unfortunately. But I think for average people its probably fine since basically everything is on Linux nowadays, I guess biggest exceptions are like Microsoft Office and Adobe's suite.

proprietary drivers

I assume you mean NVIDIA? You can just get a distro that includes them already installed and ready to go like Nobara, or just use one that makes them easier to set-up like Pop OS, if you're uncomfortable installing them on a regular distro. (Though it really isn't that difficult).

Overall Linux isn't for everyone, but I do think it's improving more and more and about at a point now where average users could probably get away with using it instead of Windows in a lot of cases. But it does depend on your use case for sure at the end of the day. Hopefully I'm not out of touch here though lol.

Yeah, Chromecasts are much better than Fire TV's, due to the more control you have over them and how easy it is change the launcher vs. Amazon actively preventing it. Basically same price and budget as well. Plus Google running a newer version of Android in general vs. Amazon's, etc. Chromecasts are probably lesser of the two evils imo.

Pretty much unfortunately. The good thing is its trivially easy to change launchers on the NVIDIA Shield or Google TV devices, plus you can even go a step forward and debloat them entirely with ADB. Amazon's really the only manufacturer I'd say that forces home screen ads with no choice around it, since they actively prevent changing launchers and such. But Apple is probably the only one out of the box with no advertising.

If you have the money, I'd go for an NVIDIA Shield, or maybe an Apple TV. Well worth the money.

Otherwise, for budget, you could get a Chromecast, which gives you more control over it and has generally less garbage than the Fire TVs do for instance, since you can easily change its launcher and debloat with ADB.

You can easily change launchers on the Shield and remove all of Google's nonsense through ADB as well though, unlike Amazon who locks down the OS very tight. Plus like another commenter said, you can just flat out install LineageOS and you're good.

I agree yeah, I'd say in a lot of ways that Edge is much better than Chrome, due to its performance and also very good security, plus some tracking protection (though not a lot) vs. Chrome's none, etc. Between the 2, I'd probably always pick Edge.

But yeah just never use either tbh, Firefox ftw.

You don't even need to do that, all you have to do is hold shift when you right click, and it circumvents any hijacking.

Depends, but yes in most cases. Also just adds attack surface and consumes extra resources, so its generally a good practice to keep extensions to a minimum and only use what you need.

I prefer Calyx on my phone, for the sake of the extra privacy of Micro-G vs sandboxed Google Play Services.

You should give DivestOS a try tbh if you prefer microG to Sandboxed Play Services, since Divest's implementation of microG is sandboxed/unprivileged unlike Calyx's, which is a massive privacy and security benefit. Divest in general is a lot more private and secure then stock or Calyx, since it includes a lot of hardening and patches from Graphene, so I'd recommend it as the second best option to Graphene in general, and definitely by far the best option for using microG. Divest also covers most of the same phones Calyx and Graphene do, unfortunately no Pixel Tablet support though.

(I'm not trying to shill Divest or anything btw lol, I just think its a great underrated project that deserves a lot more recognition and support than it has, and seems to fit your use case)

For microG (what I would recommend, since its much more private than regular GAPPS/full Play Services), you can just flash a LineageOS for microG build for your device instead of the official LineageOS. You can get them here. It covers the same devices that Lineage itself does. Same installation process, just using their files instead of Lineage's.