Thank you for your recommendations, and thanks for your detailed response in your first comment.
I see your points regarding Ubuntu, I just thought it would be a good compromise because of the amount of advice you can find on how to fix problems in Ubuntu. But I suppose much of that advice can be used for Mint as well… I haven’t tried Ubuntu in a few years, but I trust your assessment.
I currently have MX installed on a seriously old HP laptop and have been quite happy with it. I’m not sure if my mom’s laptop is older or newer, but either way it’s not by much so that’s why I immediately thought of MX for her PC as well. I’ll put Mint on the Ventoy stick as well and see which one works best.