With desktop computers, it's not too hard to find one with FreeDos
installed by default, or no OS. Linux usually works fine on these machines.

A few years ago I bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop with FreeDos installed
by default, and it was cheap. No money to Microsoft, and Linux worked like
a charm. But I don't know if Toshiba still sells these Windows-free models
now.

With Microsoft screwing things up with SecureBoot, I've wondered if a Mac
might be less risky. I found a good thread about this on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2sm5yk/more_and_more_people_at_my_uni_are_running_linux/

Since the Mac doesn't have a ctrl key, the following was a particularly
relevant post:

> I've mapped the left Cmd key on my MacBook Pro to Ctrl like so:
> xmodmap -e "remove mod4 = Super_L" xmodmap -e "add control = Super_L"
> Put that in the startup script for your X session, and you should be fine!

This little article also seems very relevant to this topic:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/choose-best-laptop-linuxubuntu/

cheers,
Robert