At the high end, Samsung has been pretty solid with their S lineup. The FE models are a good compromise as well. Pixels are a hit or miss, I'd recommend waiting for issues to surface before deciding on the 8/8 pro.
On the more budget - midrange side of things, Motorola has been doing a fairly solid job. They do have a lot of models, so some youtube videos should give you a fair idea on what's right for you.
A good general rule of thumb is to avoid the E and L series, and stick with the X, T or P series, or the X1 Carbons. Depending on your use case, choose one with the processor and display you want.
I have a T460 with linux on it that I use for work and it has been rock solid even when I spilled coffee on it.
Honestly straight arch was more stable for me.
I barely knew anything about the AUR back then, I didn't break it installing or tweaking anything. I just customised KDE a bit. I didn't even have a dedicated GPU - I was using Intel integrated
This came installed with my rom too, but I really need the option to sort the app drawer into categories or folders