What distro should I move toward?

I've used Fedora, Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, and some others. I've been on Debian for a while, but I moved toward Ubuntu because it had a more recent kernel.

I care more about the hardware working than anything else.
In general, I have a laptop that is about 1.5 years old. The sound driver still does not work. ALSA never fixed the problem... Maybe it's fixed in a newer kernel or some newer software upgrades, but I wouldn't know, because Debian does not continually build a stable OS with a newer kernel and newer packages.

Thus, I'm thinking of moving to something else.

It's really got to meet these criteria:

1. Emphasis on using a fairly recent kernel
2. Making sure the OS is very stable with that fairly recent kernel
3. Provides ease of usage with a window manager, such as gnome
4. Provide a large package repository

I thought about moving to Arch, but I wasn't sure if that's what I should do.

No one can tell you what you **should** do.

I really like Arch and I think it meets your criteria---but I have no way of knowing if it will fit you. Why not try it?

I think pixellany is correct sounds like Arch meets your criteria. My experience with Arch has been good. Make sure you check the Arch wiki/forums you may need while doing the install. Good luck on your distro hunt

Well recent kernel isn't a big deal. You can compile your kernel in any distro. I think you can alsotry Debian sid or Sidux which uses newer kernel.

More generally, you can start with ANY distro and wind up with the system you want. It's only a question of how long it takes.

What's relatively unique about Arch is that it starts with essentially nothing--you have to make the overt decision to install just about any functionality beyond the shell and a few basic utilities. (That approach "fits my brain" (as the Python folks like to say))