Some are even worse. I'm not sure why exactly providing Linux would vary by region, I don't expect it to have any kind of regulatory issue, like say radios woul

Some are even worse. I'm not sure why exactly providing Linux would vary by region, I don't expect it to have any kind of regulatory issue, like say radios would. But a few months ago, I had bought an HP EliteBook 845 G8 for work. Note the 5, it's the AMD version. We went through an intermediary to buy (our usual supplier), and I suspected there was some funny business going on, since it physically had a Realtek WiFi card while the merchant's description said Intel and I specifically wanted Intel. This wasn't some kind of shady seller off Amazon, mind, but a reputable local business. Lo and behold, HP's site didn't have any such model. I was checking it from the computer in front of me. Not only did their online store not seem to carry any EB845, even the "models" only tangentially mentioned it. They wouldn't show any details when clicking on it. But if I went to Google and looked for the computer's manual, it would show up, on the local HP France site, in French. The warranty check would correctly identify the product, with the correct country and date of purchase. Digging around the manuals, with my SKU in hand, it was indeed supposed to have the RTL Wifi card.