I personally use Niagara after years of Nova. I like it's clean presentation and the alphabet on the side to quickly jump to less frequently used apps. I will say though, if you've experimented with other launchers and still come back to Pixel, there's nothing wrong with that. It sounds like it meets your needs.
I want to second this. Paid is only $2 a month or $20 a year. Excellent for blocking various trackers on all devices even those not on your home network.
In addition to dedicated lessons, remember to just play around and have fun too. You don't want to turn it into a chore. Spending some time diving in blind can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience as well.
I'd say if you plan on using it any public places, or if you don't have full control over all the computers/technology in your home network, it's a good idea to run one. It's a nice last resort should someone on the same lan have a piece of malicious software.
Absolutely not. Sure, neither will give you the Dallas Cowboys, but Elon wouldn't even give you the Denver Broncos.
For SF, I recommend Primer. Its definitely a challenging movie as there's no clear exposition, but I found myself wanting to watch it several times to piece it altogether.
Wanted to chime in again with this article I found that may give you some starting points.
There's pros and cons to both platforms and there's plenty of people willing to argue each side. I wouldn't necessarily focus on this as much as trying to find the laptop she's most physically comfortable typing on. Also for an aspiring writer you may want to look into a screen that's easy on the eyes over long periods.
I'm a fan of the "just dive in" approach. You may encounter issues, but researching the solutions is where you really begin to learn. I personally like Fedora, but any of the other distros mentioned are also great choices. The great thing, if you don't like it there's tons off other options to try.
Bit of a side note; when I've had users with low storage and too many apps, I've had some success moving them to PWA's. Social media apps in particular seem to be storage hogs.
I enjoyed season 4 as well, particularly in the original format. Season 5 on the other hand, I have no idea what that was.
Just adding that the base level is free up to 5 users is you want to sample it a bit before paying for more features.