something strong enough to be a stable link in my entire network; if that makes sense. Because I have many plans for things I want to learn about and add to my network or system down the road.
You need to check out Fedora Podcast EP: Getting Fedora with your Lenovo. For the first time they take laptop compatibility with Fedora Linux ecosystem seriously and announce it with such a deep detail on how they do that.
how am I supposed to know which machines are better or even “compatible” with Linux? like all linux distros or flavors?
I think Thinkpad line seems to be your right choice. Not for all linux distros, but at least Thinkpad has used by many developers in the world, so probably more compatible than other laptop brand IMO.