You’ll have to downscale the resolution unless you have super human vision. I suspect that the laptop is configured to ~150% ootb which would mean those battery estimates are based on that as well.

Don’t truly have a favorite artist, so to me, this is more of a question of how much money would it take for you to endure a minor in convenience for the rest of your life?

50k ?

Send me a laptop and I’ll spend a few hours a week helping on your forums or even tickets. But no one should work for free

Look at frame.work they have good documentation about various Linux distros on their machines

Control, precedent, bean counter analysis etc. Pick your poison.

100% chance you logged off/on

Basically if I add it to my fstab it goes to /mnt. I let the system handle /media for usb etc

Doesn’t sound like it needs web access to function. Block web and all other ports at switch/core/firewall etc.

Start looking for a new job. Don’t wait until you have certs, just look. And don’t describe this situation in any interview. Just say you’re looking for growth and new challenges