I know that at least one of the two laptops here use the combined jack, Dave but it's not really an issue here.

Dad's needs are just playback and I think Bluetooth provides the best solution there. Or at least he can play to his headphones, the Yamaha base under the tv and to a Pioneer amp that way. At least when he wants to and I tend to have to set things up for him (not difficult but he can forget how to do things).

Of what we have, the Zoom H6 would be my most likely device if I wanted to record audio to the laptop. The base unit has 4 combined XLR/TRS and an 1/8" line in.