Before switching to LMDE, I did try just using Debian with Cinnamon, thinking it would be pretty much the same experience. I did not really enjoy the experience. There were too many niceties missing that I had taken for granted with Mint. I wasn’t interested in spending my time hunting down all the tweaks and packages to make those changes.
I love LMDE. Longtime fan of Mint, and recently changed all my ‘GUI’ machines over to LMDE. I tried pure Debian with Cinnamon, but it wasn’t the same. Mint makes it nicer, and I believe Debian is going to be their main base sooner than later, the way Ubuntu is going.
I frequently end up with magnet links stuck at “downloading metadata”. If I convert the magnet link to a torrent, it works fine. It is a real annoyance about the otherwise great qbittorrent.
I found normal Debian to be a little unpolished for my liking. Even using the Cinnamon DE, it was lacking some niceties that Mint brings. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble using Mint.
If your budget is tight, get a used/refurb, but recent model Thinkpad (T or P series) from EBay. Install Linux Mint (I say Debian Edition, since that is Mint’s future). It comes with LibreOffice preinstalled. You may want to install standard Microsoft fonts, which aren’t included for licensing reasons. You can search for how do do this.
The contradictions were too glaring by the time I turned 12. God is love but hell is eternal and full of millions of objectively good people who just practiced the ‘wrong’ religion? Those things can’t both be true.