mabie this will help,
hello there, i primarly work with laptops.prefer linux over winblows since I've been converted.when i diagnosis
a machine its usually with ultimate,can clamscan from a live disk,can check hd,ect... almost all dells
work with ubuntu(mabie a little wireless problems),hp has some video issues(mostly older models),
but my favorate would be ibm's i have a t42that just fly's no matter what!! its had coffee poured in it.
knocked over,kicked,droped,ect.. you get my drift.my daughter has a t41 that has been threw 2 schools and beat on ,her most recient delema was her dog was running and pulled her laptop off the desk and bounced on the floor!! of corse I got it after that and had to replace the hd, but that was it. so my advice would be go with a name brand(most use commom hardware mabie propritary but common)and make sure its with in the last few years old. good luck on your new purchase. heres some of the models i know it will work on.
dell m60,d800,all latitudes.hp 4000-6000, ibm all t series and netvista. hope that helps