Yes, Debian prioritizes software freedom, and Ubuntu starts from Debian but prioritizes having the hardware actually work, so while Debian might be just fine an

Yes, Debian prioritizes software freedom, and Ubuntu starts from Debian but prioritizes having the hardware actually work, so while Debian might be just fine and quite stable for servers, probably not the best choice on laptops for most. Edit: perhaps this situation has improved for Debian now that non-free firmware support isn't hidden, but it's been a while since I installed Debian on a new machine.