Linux will never work properly on a laptop or any interesting consumer hardware. VM is always the way to go. The stable drivers on uniform virtual hardware solve the problem in a way real hardware driver will never be able to do.
Please stop the FUD. My experience has been that Linux support for most laptops by Lenovo, Dell, HP etc is pretty good. There are couple specific technologies that dont work well with Linux - Nvidia Optimus, any graphics hardware from Imagination Technologies (hardware is good but their driver story is unbelievably convoluted). If you buy a thinkpad and hold it for five years your chances of it being able to competently run the latest and greatest version of linux are far greater than your chances of doing the same with a with osx or windows.
