What’s the latest updated I could instal without bricking my laptop again?

Got this laptop around 15-16 and hadn’t used it for a few years because it was pretty much bricked from the storage being too full. Finally decided to clean everything and was able to update from Sierra to Big Sur after rebooting. Now I find I can’t download Chrome and some websites tell me I need an updated browser but can’t updated or download some browsers without a newer OS. Through some google searches I found some Mr Macintosh videos and OpenCore. I am now tempted to download the latest version of MacOS but am wondering if 1)I’ll even be able to. And 2) it’ll run smoothly on hardware this old. And if not, which is the latest version I could download? I don’t know much about computers (in fact I struggled a bit to even fully reboot the MacBook and update the MacOS lol) so I’m also wondering if I would be good just following a Mr Macintosh video or if there are any better resources out there to update my Mac.

Thank you in advanced!

TLDR: what’s the latest MacOS I could download on my MacBook Air and are there other resources like Mr Macintosh to make it as simple as possible? TYIA!