If you’re planning to use Linux, you have to first start considering the hardware you have. There are certain known devices which seem to be problematic when it comes to working with Linux.
For laptop users, you could check out Linux on Laptops. They are sorted by brand. You could also look at TuxMobil so that you have other ideas when it comes to laptops. I am not sure how deep the coverage is of both sites, but there’s pretty much a lot of information in both of them. Again, the lists are grouped according to manufacturer. You could also look at the information available on the various user forums and wikis. For Ubuntu users, there’s the Ubuntu Laptop Testing team wiki. If you want to know if your laptop is compatible with OpenSuse, they also have a list of laptop compatibility [...]

Full story: Clair