That sounds like you ran into a few hardware issues, which may just be bad luck with your machine. Sure, Mint isn't for everyone or every machine. But the vast majority of people gave good luck with it.

Not sure what your opinions are on AI, but I would guess that a day or so using paid tier Claude would have you safely running some Linux distro on nearly any laptop. I used it to guide me through a home server setup that took a couple hours total. If you're worried about bricking the machine or want the SSD back, it's an easy way to get that, one way or another.