If you can wait just a little longer I would seriously consider the Framework 12 that is going for pre-order next month and being shipped “mid-2025”.
Of course, this isn’t an option if you need a laptop right now. In that case the current Framework 13 offerings are the best you can get but of course are not as affordable and possibly a bit overkill for a simple browsing machine.
Matrix is alright with clients like Element (X) and Cinny. But for me it’s rather a (still somewhat lacking) Discord replacement. Maybe at some point with better clients this improves. The protocol already allows for a lot of stuff but most clients don’t implement most functionality (yet).