I've had several HP/Compaq notebooks over the years. Linux support has been mostly Ok. Last year I bought a MacBookPro with 4G RAM and VmWare Fusion. It tick

I've had several HP/Compaq notebooks over the years. Linux support has been mostly Ok. Last year I bought a MacBookPro with 4G RAM and VmWare Fusion. It ticks all all boxes, all metal case, good battery life, WiFi roaming works very well, including remembering where to use proxies and where not to. Based on my experiences I can recommend the MBP without reservations. Check out the student discounts on AppleStore site.