Decent Linux Laptop

[Odipides]

I need a new laptop but I always go through snot and trauma getting everything to work on a hardware platform I haven't tried with Linux. I'm in South Africa and local retail suppliers don't usually let you install an arbitrary OS before you buy .

The specs I'm looking for are:

• 17" Full HD (1920 * 1080)
  Intel i7 (or whatever's good at the moment)
  Decent (ish) graphics card
  upgradeable to 16GB RAM (I use a lot of virtual machines as my dev environments)
  at least 1TB drive
  Full keyboard (i.e. the numberic pad and full sized shift keys)

Currently I use a Dell XPS lx 702 (works perfectly but it's getting a bit long in the tooth) but finding a device with much the same specs that DEFINITELY runs Mint is proving difficult. I've bought a couple of HP's in the past but they're usually equipped with ATI cards and the driver support (last time a tried it) was lousy. So, graphic card wise, I'd prefer nVidia as the driver seems pretty stable.

Any thoughts?

[Orbmiser]

Looks like fits the Bill and already tested and installed Ubuntu
https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/bonx6
.

[Odipides]

Thanks, looks perfect.

It's availability in SA is, however, more of a mystery I just get met by blank looks so far. I'll see if I can order direct.

Thanks again for the info