This is why you do an internet search instead of just looking at what the vendor says, and/or look at what the vendor actually ships for support. If you see som

This is why you do an internet search instead of just looking at what the vendor says, and/or look at what the vendor actually ships for support. If you see something like a binary blob, run away. If you see stuff shipped upstream, go ahead. As a counterpoint to your experience, I've had great luck buying laptops off of Canonical's approved hardware list. As a corollary, I've had worse luck buying computers that come with Linux pre-installed, only to discover that the pre-installed distribution is very specifically and carefully configured and includes proprietary bits and it's impossible to install any other Linux on the device or upgrade it.