Been Through Distro Hop Hell

[LPBBEAR]

10. yep

You have to remember that the issues you're dealing with are not the fault of Linux. For instance Broadcom could have at any time taken the time and effort to release a working driver for Linux for this chipset. They apparently have not bothered. That leaves it up to the greater Linux community to try and figure how to make this chipset work. Without help and support from Broadcom thats a tough job.
In my experience what does work in Linux tends to work far better than the same gear in Windows. I've been a Linux user since around 1997 and no way would I go back to Windows. In addition Microsoft is far from being a company that supports progressive values Their treatment of other companies and Linux has been abysmal.
Currently I use PCLinuxOS and MXLinux. Both work really well. PCLinuxOS is a "rolling release" version of Linux. I've been using the same system for several years now with it updating itself all along the way.
I've used the usb wifi adapters in the same situation as yours and have had good luck with those. I believe the brand I used was "Edimax". Not sure what chipset but a search for "Linux USB wifi adapter" on Amazon should turn up something quickly.
With Microsoft prematurely obsoleting systems before their time there are plenty of dirt cheap computers/laptops out there to choose from. Even with this laptop you're having trouble doesn't work out its not hard to find another more suited to Linux.
Shopgoodwill has tons of them. I haven't bought a new laptop since the 90's. Keep finding free or next to free ones as I go. They all have worked fine with Linux. Good luck on the project.