"I use an HP Spectre as my Linux laptop now. Everything worked on a modern kernel out of the box and the quality seems way better."
I know that Martin Wimpress, the Ubuntu MATE lead, sometimes uses a Spectre. They look to be quite a different thing to what we might expect from a HP laptop.
Probooks and Elitebooks have generally been quite good, we used them for many years at my current workplace, before switching to Thinkpads around the end of the T430/X230 generation.
I certainly didn't have any complaints about them. Absolutely stay away from consumer models, obviously.
I know that Martin Wimpress, the Ubuntu MATE lead, sometimes uses a Spectre. They look to be quite a different thing to what we might expect from a HP laptop.