Well, first of all let's start with noting that hardware can prevent you from ever getting a stable response. Some explanatory background on that here:

https://manual.ardour.org/setting-up-your-system/the-right-c...

On Linux you do not (as a rule) install device drivers for your devices. They come with the system or they (generally) don't exist. I know of only one audio interface manufacturer who ever maintained their own drivers outside of the kernel tree (i.e. not part of mainstream Linux) and even they have had their drivers integrated now.

Next, since you're on a laptop, you're relieved of the unenviable task of figuring out whether to use a PCI(.) bus device or a USB interface. USB is your only option. The good news here is that any USB audio interface that works with an iPad also works on Linux. Why? Because iPad doesn't allow driver installs, and so manufacturers have been forced to make sure their devices work with a generic USB audio class device driver, just like they need to do on Linux. With very few exceptions, you can more or less buy any contemporary USB audio interface these days, just plug it into your Linux laptop (or desktop or whatever), and it will work.

What can be an issue is a lack of ability to configure the internals of the device. Some manufacturers e.g. MOTU have taken the delightful step of doing this by putting an http server on the device, and thus allowing you to configure it from any browser on anything at all. Others have used just generic USB audio class features, allowing it to be controlled from the basic Linux utilities for this sort of thing. And still more continue to only provide Windows/macOS-native configuration utilities. For some devices, dedicated Linux equivalents exist. Best place to check on that would be to start at linuxmusicians.com and use their forums.

Beyond the hardware, it's hard to give more advice because it depends on the experience/workflow you want to use. If you're looking for something Ableton Live-like, Bitwig is likely your best option. If you want a more traditional linear timeline-y DAW ala ProTools, Logic etc., then Reaper, Ardour or Mixbus would probably be good choices. If you want to do software modular, VCV Rack is head and shoulders above anything else (and runs on other platforms too).

There's a very large suite of LV2 plugins on Linux. Stay away from CALF even though they look pretty. The others range from functional to excellent. Your rating will depend on your workflow and aesthetics. You will not find libre plugins that do what deeply-DSP-oriented proprietary plugins do (e.g. Izotope, Melodyne), though you may be satisfied with things in the same ballpark (e.g. Noise Repellent and AutoTalent).

There's a growing body of VST3 plugins for Linux. If you're looking for amazing (non-libre) synths, U-he has all (?) their products available in a perpetual beta for Linux. Great stuff. There are plenty of libre synths too. There's an LV2 version of Vital called Vitalium which is more stable than the VST3 version; this synth has had rave reviews from many different reviewers.

Sample libraries are a problem because most of them are created for Kontakt. You have a choice of running Kontakt inside a Windows VST adapter (e.g. yabridge) or using other formats such as SFZ or DecentSampler, both of which have both free and libre players. pianobook.co.uk has hundreds of somewhat interesting sample libraries, many (but definitely not even most) of them available in DS format.

Hope this helps.