Not sure about your machine, but I have a project box that is a 2008 MacBook Pro, it would get stuck on every distro I tried at initial ramdisk like yours EXCEPT Ubuntu and mint which it installs perfectly fine for whatever reason. Not even Debian worked, I have no idea why this was. Try that possibly?
EXACTLY! Got an Inspiron with an i7 1260p. Solid system, atrocious body. Dented the top with the charge cable in my bag THROUGH PADDING, the bottom case snapped while doing a drive change and a replacement also cracked, it’s buckled in the middle 3 times, stock screws fell out, and now it won’t recognize drives anymore. $1300 piese of shit. Switched to a used P50 and soooo much happier.