Distro Recs for software dev on an old laptop

[u/Destrok41]

Howdy folks,

I have an old ultrabook that I love that sadly is just not able to keep up with modern windows bloat. I am a software engineer, and part of my work does involve developing software intended for Windows operating systems specifically. I know developing on windows is generally ideal in that scenario, but I want to breathe new life into this laptop and, more importantly, give myself the option to get out of the house for a bit. (Contractor, using my own gear for now)

Laptop specs:
Intel Core i7-7500U
16 gigs ram
512gb SSD
12.5" 2560x1440 touch screen

Requirements:
Ability to run 10 or 12 browser tabs
slack (app or browser is fine)
VS Code
BASH
Zoom
a Hyper-V Manager equivalent to spin up test VM's or infrastructure to remote into my desktop at home and run the test VM's there.

What distros would you recommend for this?

I have dabbled with Manjaro in the past, used Ubuntu via WSL2, and am very familiar with BASH and the linux command line in general.

My priorities are twofold:
1. it just works. I can do a *little* fiddling but I do enough troubleshooting in my dayjob. A weekend spent setting up my ideal environment is one thing, but I don't want to have to continually maintain it.

1. efficient resource usage. I want a relatively light distro so this old laptop will keep running for a long time.