ubuntu LTS does have hwe ( hardware enablement i think) kernels which get updated. I am running 6.5.0-41 right now for example. At launch it would have been older one.
Applications remain old more or less, so if there is a small bug, it becomes a stable bug
Also, Arch wiki is very good for linux info.
Oh yes, Ubuntu LTS is what I use (I mean distros that are based on that)... and cool thing is the latest 6.8 series kernels with 24.04 LTS (and I think also now with 22.04 series) has lots of improvements, including, to my pleasant surprise, better ACPI power management for Zen 2... My CPU used to idle at 2.2 Ghz now it idles at 500 Mhz at least makes me feel good, no difference in thermals that I can see.
I used to run Arch some time back but requires you to pay attention to the mailing lists regularly they say "dont update" or "after update check this and that" etc... With Tumbleweed much less maintenance burden which is why I'm a fan of it as a rolling distro.
For your "old applications" point, I have started to like Flatpaks (off flathub.org) because the latest and greatest stuff usually installs and runs just fine, as long as it's available. Else second option is to look for PPAs, for example Firefox I install from the mozillateam PPA instead of the ubuntu snap package.