Hard to make a real recommendation without knowing your budget and general likes/dislikes. Like screen size, weight, clamshell vs convertible, integrated graphics vs dedicated GPU. I know you said gaming but integrated is great for indie and retro gaming and can handle some.modern stuff but a dgpu is needed if you're playing AAA titles and care about graphics and framerate, etc.
For everyone who says Linux runs on anything, that's mostly true but specific hardware components are still problematic. Most fingerprint scanners won't work if the laptop comes with Windows and you're installing yourself, the same for any unique hardware feature.
I have the Thinkpad x1 yoga gen 7 and everything works including the OR camera for facial recognition and the fingerprint scanner.
Just double check the length and width of the GPU. But I have the same CPU and similar size CPU cooler and it runs great. I've had zero thermal issues so far, but I have been running pretty much entirely baldur's gate.
I have a Terra with a 7900 XT. What you have to do is look up the specs on the website that determine whether or not your graphics card can physically fit, but I'm not aware of any graphics or that doesn't have a single version that fits.
Dash to panel extension