I have two HP laptops running Linux -- my work laptop is running Manjaro with i3, and the other is Linux Mint with MATE. I absolutely love these two machines, neither have any compatibility problems with Linux.

No experience with Fedora, but of the other distributions that I have tried (Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, CentOS...), Mint is my suggestion for beginners. Now though I like Manjaro for its rolling releases of the newest software.

Probably Ubuntu LTS or Mint. Whichever meets your desktop preferences better.

Fedora is my personal preference, but it is aggressively up to date, including updating to the latest kernels. Good for new hardware, possibly not as good for a 7yo machine, especially with Nvidia graphics.